Classic Auto Air Install Experience

Sometimes it just feels like my car doesn't want to have A/C... Finally got everything installed Friday and hooked up my vacuum pump to get things pulled down to check for leaks. Ran it for a good 15-30 minutes and it was sitting at 30 in on the gauge, so shut everything off to let it sit and walked away for a bit to do other stuff. Came back to it sitting at only 20 in, so had a bit of a think. I pulled vacuum again and this time figured I'd close all the valves off and let it sit, then open them up later to see if the leak was in the system or the gauges. Came back again and when I started opening things, you could hear a leak, so back to the drawing board one more time. I had only tightened the hoses as much as I could by hand, so I grabbed a pair of pliers to snug things up. Pulled vacuum one more time and shut off as many valves as I could while leaving the low side port gauge open, so the only leak point should be the service port itself or the hose from it to the gauges. Came back in the morning and it was still holding steady at 30 in, so looked like I was going to be good to fill it. Got the first can hooked up and started loading it into the system and could only get maybe a half can with nothing running before pressures equalized, so pushed the car out of the garage to start it up and get the compressor going. Flipped the compressor switch and I got nothing, so started double checking my wiring. I later learned that I don't think I've actually enabled the compressor output control on my Megasquirt yet, but that was only the start of the issue. Grabbed the meter and started checking things and it looked like it was all wired fine, so just decided to bypass the relay and hotwire the clutch on for the time being (the pressure switch is still in the system, so I still had some kind of safety). Pop the jumper wire in the relay, see the brief arc, and still nothing on the compressor. Check the fuse and sure enough, it's blown. Check the resistance on the compressor coil and it's a dead short, so looks like my used compressor wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It has great compression based off of how many times it blew my dust cap off when I forgot about it while turning it over by hand. Looked to see if I could buy just a clutch kit and wasn't having much luck, or prices just weren't that different from a full compressor, so I ordered a new one on Rock Auto. A little while later my dad finds some clutches on Amazon for a reasonable price, so I cancelled my order (though it looks like it already shipped, so I guess I have a backup plan) and ordered up a clutch kit. Figured the return shipping on the compressor saves me the cost of having to buy another can of refrigerant if I had to break the system open, so fingers crossed I can finally get it all working later this week when stuff shows up (just in time for the temps to drop into the 60s...).

On a brighter note, I did get my oil filter relocated in a place I'm pretty happy with. I ended up mounting it to the small brace between the k frame and the lower radiator support. Plenty of room, nice hose routing, in decent airflow so it could get some cooling, easy to access, still protected, and hopefully minimal mess during a change. I did have to order some new hose though. Probably better I did as my fittings were spinning inside the hose (they are push lock style), so I think they were starting to seep. Was going to use some used hose I had, but it was similarly aged and on the stiffer side, so I wasn't super comfortable with it. Looked at buying some more and found that it was only rated for 180 degrees to begin with, so probably a blessing in disguise that I had to replace it. Bought some Aeroquip AQP series hose that I believe should be higher rated, though it also won't be here till mid-week, so the waiting game continues.