Hi Guy's just a quick one,
I've finally got round to replacing my coolant, and decided to replace the radiator and hoses at the same time seeing how their now nearly 30 years old. Once I got the radiator out I found that the old A/C condenser in front of it is well beaten up and in a pretty poor state.
So I know that the system is completely depressurised as I tested it last year and got absolutely nothing on the gauge (which you'd expect after 30 years I guess!) So I've disconnected the condenser and taken it out so that I can repaint everything in the nose of the car where the condenser and radiator sit. What I'd like to do seeing how it's obviously never going to work again, is to leave the old condenser out and fit a wire mesh grille in front of the water cooled radiator to protect it. I'd like to leave everything else (hoses, compressor etc) in there to keep it looking original should I wish to convert it to R-134 in future....If that is even possible?
Anyway, what I was wondering is, with the low and high pressure hoses disconnected at the front, can I run the car like this or will something bad happen?

All the best.
UK.

 

Of course , other than having no A/C , leaving the condenser out will be fine (cars built without A/C do fairly well without an A/C condenser) .....

BUT !!!!!! If you ever plan on having A/C in the future , you'd do best to secure the parts now , it was just last week that I read up in the "cooling" subforum that new condensers are becoming a rare species indeed .

 

Thanks Orange bird.
I just didn't want to go to all the trouble of putting everything back in just to find that I'd need to take it all back out to put a crabby condenser back in!!

 

Yeah , it'll run fine without it , up in the cooling subforum there are a number of threads where people have entirely deleted their A/C with no detrimental effects , except perhaps being uncomfortable on a hot day .

The thing is , only you know whether or not the future use of the A/C matters to you , or if you'll sell the car in the future which of course will be more valuable with a working A/C . Whereas the newest of our cars are 28 almost 29 model years old , securing the parts now would be best . Also of note , if you do plan to ever restore the A/C , make sure you seal the refrigerant lines that were connected to the condenser , leaving those open will allow all kinds of nasty moisture to infiltrate and destroy the rest of the system . Even if it's plastic bags over the ends of the lines wrapped tight with rubber bands , SOMETHING must be done to seal those lines way sooner than later .

 

Well here in the UK we don't really need the A/C anyway, I usually just take the tops off and put the heating on full hot if you know what I mean!! Not worried about the re-sale value of the car as I'll be buried in her first!! But yes I've already capped the ends and put the old condenser in bubble wrap under the roof.

 

Great , your all set then . I spent a couple of week in Hyde Park and did the whole tourist thing in your wonderful country , visited stonehedge , rode the London eye (and on the top of a double deck bus) , spent a couple of days waking around piccadily circus (Spelling ?) , toured an ancient church with some kings graves built into the floors , that sort of thing . I did this in July and I don't recall it being all that hot , but don't you still get the occasional heatwave ?

 

Ah typical tourist only go as far as London!
There is sooo much more to Blighty than London Orange! If you get chance to come here again, fly into Manchester and explore the north of England. We're more friendly than them in the south. Heatwave, what's a heatwave? We had two days this summer, sometime in July when we had 26'C (78'F) on one day and 31'C (87'F) on the other and then it threw it down for a week! That was our summer.....Well that's generally every summer!

 

Believe me I'd love to come back and see the rest of the UK , but age & health are not on my side (it was a full 25 years ago when I visited and I wasn't all that young then ) . I found that in England , France , Greece , and every other country I visited that if you approach people in a friendly manner it will be returned in kind . I saw so many pushy demanding tourists get the cold shoulder that at times the locals and I had a good laugh after the huffy tourist angrily stormed off , that's how well I got along with everyone I encountered by simply treating them as equals rather than servants .

 

Yep you're right Orange it always pays to treat folk with respect.