Taking A/C off

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soaringcowman

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I'm taking my A/C off my duster, now whats the best way to release whats left in the lines out of the lines? and is there any other good ideas i'll need too know about taking off my A/C?
thanks
adam
 
i loosen the valve core in the filler valve a tad alet the freon slowly flow out.also you can llose a fitting on rhe hi pressure side a tad \ WEARE FACE AND HAND PROTECTION!!!! . ---what are you going to do with the air system ?
 
I agree with Mike, take it to a shop and have it evacuated. I have been able to get a local shop to do it for free because they want the R-12.


Chuck
 
The best, safest, and ONLY LEGAL WAY to do it is to have the Freon reclaimed. Any a/c shop will salvage the Freon for free.
 
thanks for the advice guys, after its all off i'm gonna get it all redone, and then wrap and box it away till i put it back in
 
C130 Chief said:
The best, safest, and ONLY LEGAL WAY to do it is to have the Freon reclaimed. Any a/c shop will salvage the Freon for free.
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I agree 100% but the truth is most just crack the line and say "Damn there was still stuff in there, oh well........."

Be cool, be green, take it to a shop.
 
The legislation banning R-12 refrigerant was enacted; not so coincidentally; right after the very politically connected DuPont family's patent on Freon expired.

R-12 was much safer than 134a, and it's supposed negative effects on the environment have never been scientifically proven.

134a; on the other hand; has a flash point much lower than R-12 and is not only very hazardous in gas form, but is pretty close to the traditional "mustard gas" when it burns.... and it burns hot enough to melt aluminum.

The banning of Freon has forced NASA to change the insulation on the outside of all of the shuttle fuel tanks, which has resulted in damage to the heat shield tiles on take-off due to the insulation coming loose. Remember how the early missions never had a problem with that? The banning of Feon resulted in the deaths of one shuttle crew on reentry, and the mission this month was made more hazardous by damaged tiles.

Stupid.

I would not advise intentionally dumping the Freon because it is now against the law. However, if it would accidentally discharge I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. The birds, bees, squirrels and trees will be just fine.

Personally, I've had great results using a product called Duracool. It contains butane, but has a higher flash point (less flammable) than 134a. It cools with lower compressor temperature and pressure, and is relatively inexpensive.

Stay cool!
 
Butter ball, let's not turn this into a political issue. Regardless of the law, the responsible thing to do it have a shop purge the system. The more responsible we are about are hobby the less chance the law makers that disapprove of our hobby will have of doing away with it.


Chuck
 
I'll just end up taking it to my performance shop and have them drain it for me.
 
soaringcowman said:
I'll just end up taking it to my performance shop and have them drain it for me.
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They should be MORE than happy to recover it for free. The going price of a 30lb. can of R-12 is well in excess of $600 the last I heard....That's like $20 per pound.

If your planning on ditching the factory A/C heater box and replacing it with a non-A/C box I have some advice for you. The firewalls are different between the A/C and non-A/C cars and the boxes bolt up a little differently. You have to add the support rod that's inside the r/s fresh air box and you'll only have 2 bolts holding it against the firewall. The blower motors are different too and your going to have a nasty gap when you bolt in the non-A/C box. You'll need to fabricate a new blower motor opening cover. Test fit the box too as you'll either have to weld or plug 2 bolt holes that will be left un-used after the swap.

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This is how it looks when you mount the non-A/C box. Not exactly a clean swap, huh?
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I took the factory opening cover and modified it like this. Now your going to flip it over and mount it from the INSIDE so the box has a solid contact with the edge of the firewall. You'll need to install and trim the metal spacer tubes that go on the blower motor studs under the flipped plate. This is easy to determine with the help of a friend to hold the box while you measure and mark the spacers to sit flush with the firewall.
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I then made a new surround to mount on the firewall around the blower motor. The piece on the left is notched so you'll clear the wiring exiting the side of the blower motor. The left piece is mounted backwards from the inside, the piece on the right goes on the outside like stock. These 2 pieces sandwich the firewall and give you a solid mount. I also made a new foam gasket from some packing material I got at work.

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With everything mounted you'd be hard pressed to notice the modification once everything is installed. The studs have to be trimmed about 3/8". I'll run a tap over the threads, cut it, and bevel the tip. Run the tap off and your ready to spin a nut on.
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And that's how I hacked a non-A/C heater box into a A/C firewall car. :cheers:

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Barracuda301-vi.jpg


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Barracuda342-vi.jpg


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thanks alot Fastback340 for all the great advice on swapping all of it. it will come in really helpfull down the road!!
 
There is only one refrigerant approved for use in vehicles that originally had R12 and this is R134a, period! Actually the United States Environmental Protection Agency had ban the sale of refrigerants that contain Butane or Propane for automotive use. Anyone that would put a refrigerant in their vehicle that contained butane or propane sure doesn't valve their life of the lives of anyone else in their vehicle. We all know about butane cigarette lighters...one little spark and it creates a fire....same with propane grilles, one little spark and you've got a roaring fire. Do you want either of those gases inside your car or under the hood with 8 spark plugs and smoking inside your car?? I think not! You can't go wrong with R134a.

My 2 cents worth!
 
You'll probably want to get new crank and water pump pulleys. I got a non-AC water pump pulley to do my A/C removal and was dismayed to find that the crank pulley was too large to fit the deeper water pump pulley. Ended up fabbing a custom idler pulley to run the alternatoron the stock A/C pulleys after the A/C compressor was gone. Maybe get a non-A/C crank pulley and do it right one of these days...

http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/duster_47.jpg
 
The whole mess, compressor, condensor, dryer, lines, etc. weighs about 70lbs.
 
that is not true.

440Ken said:
There is only one refrigerant approved for use in vehicles that originally had R12 and this is R134a, period! Actually the United States Environmental Protection Agency had ban the sale of refrigerants that contain Butane or Propane for automotive use. Anyone that would put a refrigerant in their vehicle that contained butane or propane sure doesn't valve their life of the lives of anyone else in their vehicle. We all know about butane cigarette lighters...one little spark and it creates a fire....same with propane grilles, one little spark and you've got a roaring fire. Do you want either of those gases inside your car or under the hood with 8 spark plugs and smoking inside your car?? I think not! You can't go wrong with R134a.

My 2 cents worth!
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ted_sweet said:
that is not true.
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I beg to differ with you. Go to the USEPA web site and type in "SNAP Alternatives". At the top of the list of unacceptable alternative refrigerants you will find all the "Hydrocarbon" based alternatives, which is what Duracool is.
It is listed in the Federal Register as part of the EPA's final ruling.
 
I run propane in the older r12 systems now. Wonder exactly how "compliant" or "legal" that is. I can just hear the trooper now after he pulls me over and walks up to the window:

"Ya know bwoy, we don't like y'all rednecks running propane in ya car AC 'round these parts."

"Yessir officer, I'll get that fixed right away..."

BWaaa, haaa, haaa.....
 
440Ken said:
There is only one refrigerant approved for use in vehicles that originally had R12 and this is R134a, period! Actually the United States Environmental Protection Agency had ban the sale of refrigerants that contain Butane or Propane for automotive use. Anyone that would put a refrigerant in their vehicle that contained butane or propane sure doesn't valve their life of the lives of anyone else in their vehicle. We all know about butane cigarette lighters...one little spark and it creates a fire....same with propane grilles, one little spark and you've got a roaring fire. Do you want either of those gases inside your car or under the hood with 8 spark plugs and smoking inside your car?? I think not! You can't go wrong with R134a.

My 2 cents worth!
Click to expand...

we use stuff called hot shot all the time. mixes with 12 and works just fine. you can also use 409a.
 
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