What is the canister looking thing and what does it do? I'de like to remove it temporarily to polish it. What steps need to be taken to take it out?
Thanks =)

P.S. This is not my engine.

 

A/C accumulator. You gotta discharge the freon if the system is even still functional and retaining freon. Then you'd have to recharge the system-- if its R12 then you have to convert the whole system to R134. Get the Haynes "Air Conditioning" manual for a much better description than what I gave here. I might have names and numbers mixed up.

But it's for sure an A/C component.

 

Yes that's the A/C accumulator, but that and the heater box are about all that are left of the system. Compressor has been deleted since it's not present on the driver's side of the motor...

 

this is not my car. I have the whole system in mine. would this be a difficult thing to do?

 

I missed that part of the post

You can't remove the accumulator without first evacuating the A/C system.

If the system is still retaining freon (R12), If you have it evacuated, it can be put back in if done at an authorized service shop. If it's not, then Like 402 GTA says, it may be more economical to change over to R134a, but that may require changing the compressor, orifice filter, O-rings and other components since the lubricants R12 and R134a use are not compatible. Had this done to my car when the compressor froze, so for me it was less expensive since I was getting the new compressor anyway.