Was going to test if there was any sealant in my A/C R12(according to the label and assuming it was still r12) and the r12 end from the tester kit was a bit bigger than the fitting that was on it on the High Pressure service port. So then my professor thought that was strange, so we went and ran the Refrigerant Identifier test , and that end fit just fine on my system on the Low Pressure service port, and results came out to r134a(97%) and r12(3%) . The A/C has been running just fine since 2007 til now and i was both glad to have learned this and disappointed that I did not get to do a sealant test . So does this mean the previous owner did not use an adapter for the High pressure side nor the Low pressure, but was still able to pump r134a into the system even though the fittings aren't supposed to be interchangeable?

 

Decided to do a complete replacement of the A/C system with a stage 3 kit from Original Air part # 22-230D . Will post photo comparison since im in a HVAC course this summer and figured it’d be “cool” to do this and get access to the equipment for evacuating and recharging the system. 😎

 

I look forward to following that.

 

Ill do my best to show everything i do with side my side photo comparisons of this direct replacement upgrade. it’s all a part of my LS3 conversion as i get to that point of my project daily driver lol 😂

 

So my teacher and i finally found an adapter at school that i could use to figure out how to connect this smaller than normal r12 service port connecter.
Evacuated the system into a contaminated refrigerant container and got the system to 0 PSI .

Now i am left with two options here. i will be using one of those retrofit kits for the service ports since this system already had r134a 97% and r12 3% in it since 2007, but only the Low side was converted. i can do the change and recharge with r134a and see how that holds.
2nd option is to do the entire system swap with the Original air system .
Currently the system has the R4 compressor so everything is stock other than the low side port and the refrigerant it had. Still waiting on the Original Air kit to arrive. So in mean time any advice ? Any idea how long it would take to swap everything out ?😂 or should i wait to do it when i get around to doing an LS3 swap?

 

I am not sure why anyone decides to switch the AC stuff in these cars, the factory AC works very well and is easy to service

 

How did they get R-134a into a R-12 system? the ports are totally different.



If your system is working now, but just need refrigerant, just do R-134a and hold off on the new hardware stuff till you do your motor swap IMHO

 

@scooter for myself it’s for my HVAC class in automotive and i wanted to upgrade it while i have access to the equipment and testing tools they have while im there. And also wanted to just start up a cool little progress thread so people can get a visual on the before and after of the parts from the kit i purchased. My A/C was fine before but once i found it wwas unserviceable at school because of the contamination it had, i wanted to do it the right way for myself as i plan to restomod this car over the time i am going to school.
Thanks for any help or tips anyone has as i go through this direct fit swap.

 

ill take a picture today and show what the ports look like once im home. possibly wasnt evacuated properly or maybe used the manifold set vs the robinair machines?? im not sure

 

this should be interesting. Take pics of the components and the service ports if you can!

 

Basically my high side port was r12 but a smaller than usual fitting size, and the low side port was an r134a fitting. for evacuating had to get an adapter to be able to connect the larger R12 fitment from the machine to the smaller r12 fitment on the car and evacuated it. and possibly the previous owner did not evacuate from both sides and just evacuated from the low side end ? what so you think?

Also if i stay with the current system(R4 compressor) and only retrofit the service port ends , should i use the Ester 100 synthetic that came with the kit since i didnt drain the oil it had , or drain the oil and put in Pag 150?

 

here are pics i took of the current components and info it has .

 

Looks like you got a standard system where the low side fitting was converted to R-134a like my truck way..just use one of those cheap adapters and shoot R-134a into it and see if it'll hold the charge. if it does just drive it like that till you do your motor swap.


if it leaks out, if its simple. Id fix the leak and keep it wit hR-134 a on the old system...no sense installing all the new stuff if you're gonna do your motor soon.

 

KIIIIIIINNNNNNNDDAAAA looks like your compressor seal is leaking though.


can see wet / oiliness around the perimeter of the compressor case

 

yes, that is what i will be doing for the sake of just seeing if the current system will hold pressure, leak test , and see if i properly add the oil i see on the Tech service bulletins being PAG 150 for an R4 compressor. Hopefully i dont mess anything up by adding more oil to the system.

But the issue i had at first was trying to figure out how i could evacuate the system properly to add the adapter on the High side port.

Any idea why they wouldnt of also converted it to an r134a adapter fitting for the high side? Was that how it was done back then or was it someone being lazy about it and only converting one port? 🤔

 

Probably just didnt bother putting an adapter on the high side since you only need to connect to it for testing/troubleshooting with gauges. The entire conversion and charging is all done using the low side port. It's not a big deal.

 

Makes sense if they didn’t think they’d ever have to evacuate the system in the long run. im only keeping the system on and recharging to complete some of the assignments we get but i think i will evacuate it again before my course ends and install the new system and charge that one up and post the progress with photos and text.

 

Might be. If the OP is pulling the system down anyway, it would be an ideal time to take that one apart and reseal it. Might even get some extra course credit for doing so. And the kits are cheap as I recall.

 

Once i recharge it tomorrow hopefully and check it for leaks and if it stays that way after a week ill be good to go and can then reevacuate it all and take it apart as im doing the upgrade kit from Original air. ill take that compressor apart and figure out how to do the sealing and whatnot once i learn about it this coming week.
At least with swapping out to a fresh new system that i know will have only one type of PAG oil and refrigerant going into a system .

 

Thank you for pointing that out ill check it out today

 

RockAuto sells this kit for a little under $20. The only thing I'm not sure about is that they say it's for a DA6 compressor....not sure what that is.

Rock Auto Link

 

ill see on ShopkeyPro or AllData if they list the seal parts and see if they match those. If i can find anything on it ill get back to you on that

 

91Vert. What makes you think aftermarket AC is an upgrade, from the system GM designed, for your car?

 

The fact that if i mess it up while learning how to repair any issues on an a/c system ill at least have something that i can swap in everything new with it that is listed as a kit for the third gens and has had a article on Hotrod magazine i believe of it in a trans am. The description mentioned that the conpressor was an upgrade since the “pancake” compressors were prone to failure . Does anyone else agree with that or are they misleading?
My purpose was for my hvac course and to post photos for anyone not lucky to have a working ac system in their car, and was looking for info and end results on one of the kits out there for our third gens. 😅

 

I have heard that the pancake compressors are not that good, but millions of them are operating in vehicles, still today. The aftermarket has been claiming to be “better” , since I bought my first tube of Breaker Point Grease, in 1969.

 

i havent had issues with the ac system before but i figured it’d be nice to do the testing and all that ac stuff on what i have and then do the swap for practice and to see if i actually feel a difference with the system and any overheating maybe ? my car has somewhat of an issue with that and read that the ac system could cause issues with that as well but i have to look more into that . for right now its just the ac system. then with the swap ill also do a heater core replacement so its all new and shiny lol

 

So i was able to evacuate the system into a Contaminated refrigerant container/machine and removed the High side R12 port and installed the R134a high side service port and charged it with AC.
funny thing happened where one of the lines from the compressor did this while i was doing a performance test 😅


Did the Sealant and identifier test and proceeded to recover and evacuate the system , and put another charge into the system. Pressures and vent temperatures were great. Blew out colder than before .

 

What does it mean when the line gets that cold and frosted?? that its working super good?



if anything Id change the accumulator...that thing looks like its the OE one so mabe it might e worth to change??...uness you already sealed up the system lol

 

It could have been due to the Big fan i had in the front blowing kept any of the engine heat from melting off any condensation on the outside on that piece . had it on to simulate the car in motion and air passing through the condenser.
Lol good idea, i wasnt focused on replacing that since at the time i had in mind swapping out the entire system but now i kept it and recharged it along with swapping the service ports. if i have a chance after i work on the other car i have, ill come back and swap the accumulator .

 

Original Air kit just came in 🤗

 

So you gonan run the old system for now or you gonan convert it to OA system?

 

For now i am going to run the old system and see if any leaks out as i use the car once i recover the refrigerant again to see if what i put in matches what i recover. Called Original Air to make sure if the compressor had all the oil i needed already in it or not and what specs i needed for the system. for their Sanden Rotary Compressor it had Pag 46 with 135 cc(4.565 fl oz) and 25-28 oz of R134a. So pretty much a plug a play 👍🏻

 

let us know how it goes!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i will and i do my best to respond with posts fast lol. ill check back in a week or so to see what numbers i get with the ac machine

 

I did a "low side" only conversion on my 1987 Trans Am. All I was trying to do was get refrigerant in. I knew I had a small leak, and I didn't want to invest in a totally new A/C system. My R12 system was working fine, but R12 was hard to get and I just wanted to top off my system.

Because the fittings would not allow me to put in "Freeze 12", I just added an adaptor on the low side and added it. It worked like a champ. I didn't need to do anything on the "High Side" so I didn't put an adaptor on it.

I think that is what happed to your car.....Someone just wanted to top off the system.....