Hey everybody reading this. I am so glad this forum is still going strong. I haven't posted since 2004 so I am overdue. I decided to give my 1987 GTA one final build and then will it off to my oldest son who just made Army Space Captain. I'm very proud of him.
I made the mistake of buying a crap ton of parts and then sitting on them till time to install. I am working on the AC system. I bought a new accumulator bottle and when I went to install it, the darn thing is too tall and is sitting on the hard AC evaporator line below it. I already threw away my old bottle so I don't have it to compare to. I DID replace the evaporator but I swear it is identical to the old one so I don't think the problem lies there. I called Summit the other day to order another bottle (assuming I had the wrong one) and they sent me one that has the same issue, too tall. They don't show specs on their website for it.
Does anyone have an accumulator bottle they can measure the height and post it please? That would be a huge help. I replaced the darn thing back in 2004 when I built the car last but I don't know where I got it. Thanks for any help !

 

Not sure which one you bought off Summit, but these are the units Rock Auto list as being compatible with an 87 V8 car.

 

Thanks Fast355 for checking Rock Auto on those. I did the same a couple of days ago and all the ones on the website that have a length measurement are the same as mine, 9" (230mm). I attached the images of my setup to give more clarity of my situation. If someone has one in service and can take a measurement for me, I would appreciate it. If others are 9" or 230mm then I am doing something wrong, just not sure what.

 

I'm redoing the a/c in mine as well. The lower pipe from the aftermarket evaporator is angled higher than the factory one, which makes it bump into the accumulator. I had to bend that pipe downwards just a bit to make it fit, however my bracket still touches it. To keep it from causing damage I cut a piece of rubber hose and wrapped the pipe where it touches the bracket.

Be ready to have to bend the hard liquid line some too to make the connections line up. My old one had a hole in it and I'm waiting on a new one to show up, but I'm sure I'll have to tweak it some.

 

Wow thanks 80schild! I guess you are right. Why would they make a few shorts accumulators and the rest a longer standard size that fits different applications. The weird thing is my liquid line lined up perfect where the old one did. I do recall mine looking like yours pictured. Thanks for sharing the photo. I also didn't remember that piece sticking out of the bracket being an issue with my old one. That is another factor that caused some confusion.

So just to be clear, your bottle is also 9" right?

Thanks again!!

 

I haven't measured it, but it's that GPD one listed on the Rock Auto pic above. Seemed the same size as the stock one. My bracket has a little screw on bottom of it that I can't remember what it goes to. I've looked everywhere to try to figure it out.

Did you add any foam to the backside of your new evaporator? The aftermarket one is slightly smaller, so I had to add a piece of weatherstripping to close up the gap on the backside at the firewall.

 

Low quality junk coming from the ac suppliers now. I also had to add foam to the evaporator core I put in the 87 G20 I just rebuilt the ac system on. I used the wide, peel and stick, adhesive backed dense foam style. I also ended up adapting a Peterbilt condenser to mine that actually fit better and had mounting brackets on both sides opposed to the one that was supposed to be a direct replacement and completely missing a driverside mounting bracket.

Another tip, get an accumulator blanket for a new model Express van as well as some foam wrapping for exterior pumbing that has peel and stick adhesive to hold it together. You want to keep as much heat out of the low side hoses as possible for the system to operate as efficiently as possible.

 

Yeah I used a Spectra condenser and it didn't really have mounting brackets. I just sat the tabs down into the rubber pieces but it seems stable enough.

I have an '06 Express 2500, I'll have to look to see if it has one of those blankets. Compressor is fine in it, but the clutch just went bad.

I did just buy some of that pipe insulation from Home Depot. It's up to $9 a stick now 😯. My strut tower has the paint worn off from that ac line rubbing against it. The original foam deteriorated years ago.

 

I was able to use my original foam thankfully. it was in great shape and as I recall the fit was perfect. I like the idea of wrapping the bottle in foam. I'll have to do that myself.

 

Fast355, Man that HPS hose is the stuff!!. It is pricey but awesome looking when finished. I needed 3ft. of the 3/4 and I was only able to buy the last 2ft offline. I hope they make more of it soon. I wanted to convert all of my heater hose to it but they don't have enough stock. My wallet is thankful !!

 

If the HPS OBS C1500 radiator hoses had been available when I was looking, these interchange and it would have the same radiator hoses.

I bought 25 ft rolls of both 5/8" and 3/4" a few years ago for like $75 a roll. The hoses are such a pain to get to, I gladly used some of it.