76 Scamp A/C

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76Scamp

76Scamp

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Bradenton, Fl
I have a 76 Scamp with the slant 6 and the a/c system on my car has been open for the past 10 years or so and I was wondering about the compressor. It's the RV2 and it does spin by hand, but it looks very brown and nasty inside from what I can see through the inlet on it. I removed the EPR valve and put it back on the car and hooked it up the the condenser and it seems to work extremely well. I poured a bottle of ester oil into the suction port and with the engine idling I was able to blow a lot of brown water out of it, but it's very quiet and doesn't drag the engine down any. When I cover the line coming out of the condenser, it builds pressure really fast and it will hold it. I'm currently getting a new expansion valve and drier, but everything else is original. Depending on what happens, I may have the hoses rebuilt if possible. But now with the question: with what I described of the compressor, does anyone think I'm going to have problems with it? I'm going to hook everything up and vacuum it down to see what happens because of how hard it is to get parts, but I'm wondering if it'd even be worth the Freon to see if this thing will cool down. From what I was told, the compressor was removed to replace the water pump and put a new head gasket on the engine, but was never put back on.
 
Hello there, here is what I did and you be the judge. I got a factory service manual for my year of car, then found a re-seal kit from either Ebay or maybe RockAuto its been a while but they are out there. Pulled the compressor tore it down and cleaned. Following along with manual for all the torque specs you then re install. I would get the hoses rebuilt if your going to run 134? if not and you using 12 then you should be good. As for the expansion valve try to find a NOS part the new after market I never had much luck with them, plus its an original Chrysler piece so it will fit and work as it should. As for the EPR valve I believe if its giving you troubles then you can ditch it and install a cycle switch there is a few article's about it on Slantsix.org I hope this is at least a start in the right direction.:glasses7:
 
Its a gamble. Reed valves aren't made of much. Very thin tempered steel limbs. Water/rust is their number 1 worst enemy. I have to think new valve plates and gaskets are available.
 
Hi,

I think 429duster has outlined a good plan. Get a factory service manual. Change the front shaft cartridge seal an big O ring, you will want a R-134A compatible O ring. Find a RV-2 gasket set an drop the oil sump pan and clean things out. RV-2's are one tough compressor as long as they don't run out of oil. Redfish makes a good point on the reed valves though, water an rust can really do them in. Valve plates are really hard to come by these days. Watch the little check ball valve and spring when you pull the sump off. After you put the RV-2 back together, fill it with 8 to 10 oz of ester based oil. I would use ester based oil because it is compatible with either R-134A or R-12. I like BVA 100 Ester Glo because it has UV dye in it for leak detection.

R-12 is getting really pricey and you need a 609 certificate to buy it so you may be better off with R-134A. Change out all the old O rings in the system to R-134A compatible types you will be doing this anyway when you replace the drier an expansion valve. The EPR valve is calibrated for R-12 so, you might be better off leaving it out an installing a cycling switch in the evaporator as the older A body cars did if you use R-134A.
 
Okay, I've found a service manual online and I've gone ahead and ordered it. It seems that the compressor is in good working order, just full of muck it seems. When I can, I'm going to take it apart and see what it looks like. While running, I slowly poured ester oil in it and let it blow it out and it did quite well at that. It would also seem that the condenser is good because it held pressure as well. I just need to hook it up and test out the evaporator. As for R12, I have two 30lb tanks that my grandfather bought back before the stuff went out, so I may use that. The drier had a pin hole in it so I'm gonna have to get that as well, but I don't have any money for another couple of days, so it's gonna have to wait. There is a switch on the drier, but I would think that's just so the system doesn't run when it's empty. And honestly, because of the warranty on the expansion valve and the drier, I'm just gonna put the system together as is and see what happens. If it works, awesome, if not, swap those out and I can get a new compressor on eBay for $100 and the evaporator for $40 and I'll replace the heater while I'm in there too. The only part I can't find is a new condenser.
 
"full of muck" i would not waste my time. you should be able to find another compressor.
 
DDodger said:
"full of muck" i would not waste my time. you should be able to find another compressor.
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I'm gonna take it apart anyway to see what's in it, but I'm thinking I'll probably order a reman unit from eBay since I found one for $100. I was at the junkyard today and there was a '65 Fury that still had the a/c in tact, but the compressor was locked up.
 
I will say this, enter that reman at your own risk. There is many members on here that have had nothing but bad luck with them and I would not waste the money period...With that being said find a kit re-seal it and I bet you it will work for you. I could be wrong have been in the past but anymore this stuff out there for these cars its just junk, if you can re use and or restore then sometimes its worth the extra work.
 
429duster said:
I will say this, enter that reman at your own risk. There is many members on here that have had nothing but bad luck with them and I would not waste the money period...With that being said find a kit re-seal it and I bet you it will work for you. I could be wrong have been in the past but anymore this stuff out there for these cars its just junk, if you can re use and or restore then sometimes its worth the extra work.
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I tossed it back and forth in my head a few times and I ended up buying a seal kit on eBay for $55. It should be here Wednesday and then I'll get to figure out how the thing comes apart. I've been told that rebuild is similar to a Briggs engine, which I've done tons of. If this is true, it should be a piece of cake. I've never done an a/c compressor before, so I really don't know what to expect. I tried to take apart the one on my S15 truck when I had to replace it, but I couldn't figure out how it opened up. But then again, it was that little R4 model that GM put on just about everything from the 70's up until '94 or so. Being it pumps air quite well and builds pressure, should I be worried about the cylinder bores and the piston rings? Like I said in an earlier post, there's a 65 Fury in the junkyard with one of these compressors, but it's frozen and I don't know why. The car is mostly all there from what I can tell, so I'll see if anything interchanges. Unfortunately, there were big holes cut into the door panels for aftermarket speakers. The asking price of $600 was on the car still and if I knew where it was, I would've paid that even though I can't afford what I'm doing already.
 
As Redfish mentioned in his post, the reed valves are the most fragile part of these compressors. The rings and cylinder bores are likely okay. The FSM will tell you about cleaning up the bores if need be. Yes, these compressors are very much like small engines.

On the seized compressor in that 65 Fury, if it's locked up, it's very likely scrap metal and not worth anything in terms of parts. They usually lock up like that if they run out of oil. At that point everything inside is pretty much destroyed.
 
Do what you can afford first and for most, What engine is in this Scamp? second take your time follow with the service manual is the kit just a re-seal? or a real re-build kit with rod bearings? either way take your time for mine I just did what the kit offered I did not take out the crank or pistons. If it looks good in there I would not mess with it JMO..:glasses7:
 
If anyone knows of a source of RV-2 compressor parts and complete re-build kits I'd love to know about it. The only source I've come up with is to hunt for NOS Chrysler parts by factory part number. But, I have to wonder if the commercial rebuilders have other sources.
 
429duster said:
Do what you can afford first and for most, What engine is in this Scamp? second take your time follow with the service manual is the kit just a re-seal? or a real re-build kit with rod bearings? either way take your time for mine I just did what the kit offered I did not take out the crank or pistons. If it looks good in there I would not mess with it JMO..:glasses7:
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Yeah, I'm just doing what I can afford to it. The car has the 225 in it and it's unfortunately not a super six, but it's still a very nice engine. The kit is just a seal kit, I couldn't find one that was a true rebuild kit. I'm going to strip the whole thing down and clean it up, but I'm just getting seals. I'm also thinking I might just get the compressor from the Fury in the junkyard just so I know how it comes apart before I strip mine apart and forget where something important goes. Plus, it's a sealed system and I may end up using parts from it because I would think it's in better condition on the top end. Why it's locked up, I don't know; it may just be the bearing is frozen and I'm trying to turn the engine over.
 
Pete in NH said:
If anyone knows of a source of RV-2 compressor parts and complete re-build kits I'd love to know about it. The only source I've come up with is to hunt for NOS Chrysler parts by factory part number. But, I have to wonder if the commercial rebuilders have other sources.
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That's what I was trying to find, but I can only come up with the seal kits and then NOS everything else.
 
Didn't get the compressor from the Fury because they moved it inside, but it's still waiting to go in the yard. I went ahead and figured "why not?" and took the one I had apart. I must say, wow that was nasty, but that thing is simple. Other than the 1/4" of muck in the sump, everything's in good shape. The seal kit should be here Wednesday, but the tracking number doesn't bring up anything on the USPS website. I took it completely apart and I'll just need the seal kit and to borrow a ring compressor and it should be as good as new.
 
If you don't replace the drier and exp valve, you are being "penny wise & pound foolish". If the system has been opened for just a couple of days, the drier is shot, already. You said the system has been open for about 10 years, so the chances are excelent the exp valve will be stuck. Changing both of these parts at the getgo will be cheaper then the R-12 you waste, when you have to open the system, again.
 
Charrlie_S said:
If you don't replace the drier and exp valve, you are being "penny wise & pound foolish". If the system has been opened for just a couple of days, the drier is shot, already. You said the system has been open for about 10 years, so the chances are excelent the exp valve will be stuck. Changing both of these parts at the getgo will be cheaper then the R-12 you waste, when you have to open the system, again.
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I already have a new drier and expansion valve. Since I moved, all of my stuff is packed away somewhere that I can't find anything, so I'll be going with R134a. There's a place not far from me that builds custom hoses for machinery and I'm going to stop in to see if they can rebuild the a/c hoses on this. They're still very flexible and don't make any kind of noise that you would expect from old rotted hoses, but I don't think they'll hold for very long. There were already 134 fittings on it so it had run the stuff before, so I expect it to work. I'm gonna flush the lines and condenser, but I just don't know the condition of the evaporator.
 
I'm a fair distance from you, but if you can't find anyone in your area to rebuild your hoses, I can do it. I don't know about shops in the Bradenton area, but there a several shops in Tampa.
 
Charrlie_S said:
I'm a fair distance from you, but if you can't find anyone in your area to rebuild your hoses, I can do it. I don't know about shops in the Bradenton area, but there a several shops in Tampa.
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I know of shops up in Tampa, I'm going to a place down the road from me after work to see if they'll do it. How far away are you and how much would you charge?
 
76Scamp said:
I know of shops up in Tampa, I'm going to a place down the road from me after work to see if they'll do it. How far away are you and how much would you charge?
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I went down to the place that apparently makes every kind of hose, but they don't do A/C hoses anymore.
 
I believe this company is in your state of Florida they gave me a quote of I believe $120 a hose..http://www.classicautoair.com/MOPAR_OEM_Parts_Hose-Lines.html

Also this link is also worth the read as well.
http://www.allpar.com/eek/ac.html

Also another question have you gave slantsix.org a visit? Sorry for the late response I work nights its hard keeping up. I have not found any "re-build kits" for these if the you ever wanted to change out the compressor for a small sandan there is kits out there for the slant as well..
 
I'm roughly 150 miles from bradenton. I can rebuild your hoses for about $50.00-$60.00 ea. as long as they don't have to be "show quality correct".
 
I think a modern reciprocating compressor would pay for itself in fuel millage savings.
 
Charrlie_S said:
I'm roughly 150 miles from bradenton. I can rebuild your hoses for about $50.00-$60.00 ea. as long as they don't have to be "show quality correct".
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I don't care how the look as long as they work.

RedFish said:
I think a modern reciprocating compressor would pay for itself in fuel millage savings.
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I know that it would, but I don't want to try to get everything to work with a new compressor or piece together a system. This one is complete and it should work. My seal kit comes in today so I'm gonna put it together and see what happens as it is.
 
The kit came in and the compressor is rebuilt. There were a few pieces in the kit that I didn't know where they went, so yeah, there's a couple spare parts. It's just two o-rings that didn't fit anywhere and what looks like a big aluminum bushing. I filled it with ester oil, vacuumed for two hours and it held it for two hours. Charged up and it gets down to freezing in about three minutes at idle. But there is something that has confused me: I put in a single 12 ounce can and it seems to be working perfectly. I'm thinking that since it's a little cool out that that might have something to do with it, so I'm going to try it during the day to see if it's the same, but right now vent temperature is around 30 degrees. I'm also going to see if it still has pressure in it tomorrow as well. I had it on my truck that it held vacuum all day but it wouldn't hold pressure for more than a few hours.
 
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