Getting my AC/Heat up and running again.

Bmwz389 · Mar 8, 2010

Hey guys!

Yall may notice I'm posting alot. I have about 2 weeks to get the II in decent enough daily condition until I can start driving my warrior and park this and dive in haha. So I'm trying to keep my posts sectioned in the right threads.

The good news is out of the 3 sites that I've found, yall are the only ones willing to help another II out!

So to start. The guy says the heat blows and the AC is cold, but I started to look and alot of things are weird with the whole system.

I found a rats nest in the driver's vent and cleaned it out today, so that's a start haha. The AC isn't even ran on a belt, so I dunno how he can say it blows cold if it's not hooked up, but that's an easy fix.

Let's start with this:

Is that unit factory? I chased one of the looms and it runs to ac box. There's a thick black (14ga) that's cut open and wrapped in a bunch, and multiple other wires.

The blower motor isn't very loud thus sounds like it doesn't blow alot of air. It goes through all 3 stages so I'm pretty sure its not the resistor pack. Could it be just a weak motor?

And when I was looking under the dash there is a director door link that's disconnected from somewhere. I can't find its mate, or could it just pulled waaayyyy to far away from the heater control box? It's sitting right in the middle of the dash.

Then next are the two weird black pull levers under the dash, they move something, but I dunno what. Is that to move the air to the floor?

I think that's all. For now haha. i hope that wasn't overwhelming and I really hope to hear back as I don't wanna throw money in the dark on parts haha.

Thanks so much guys.

- Brandon

78CobraII · Mar 9, 2010

Brandon, that is definately an aftermarket air conditioning system. The two black levers are probably the air inlet controls for the factory ventillation system. I can't tell you a lot about your aftermarket AC system, but if you can find some part numbers on the controls, an Internet search might turn up something.

The defroster vents and recirculation dampers, etc. are controlled by a vacuum switch in the driver's side vent controls. Vaccum is stored in a canister in the passenger side wheel well which is made like a steel coffee can. You can see it if you open the passenger side door and look into the wheel well.

Vaccuum is stored for times when the engine does not produce enough vaccuum, like during wide-open-throttle. The can is known to rust severely, and is not likely to be holding vacuum anymore in your car. You can tell your resevoir is shot if you have the air flowing through the dash vents and hit the gas (like going up a hill) and the vents change to defrost.

Ford used to stock a replacement...the one I bought 20 years ago was from the Fairmont! They don't likely stock a replacement anymore, so you can pull the plastic sphere vacuum resevoir from a Fox Mustang or purchase a nice aftermarket aluminum one.

Wart · Mar 9, 2010

If the AC is non-factory I believe the car came with a cable operated heater box.

78CobraII · Mar 12, 2010

I must plead ignorance...all 3 of mine came with factory AC. I wonder what the overall proportion of AC/Non-AC production was?

Bmwz389 · Mar 12, 2010

Yeah another forum said it wasn't a factory ac either. I'm not sure if my parts car has one. As soon as it got warmer snow turned into rain haha, so I still haven't been able to go look at it.

If at all possible, how hard would it be to install the factory AC/Heat system? I don't wanna deal with the aftermarket one as half the wiring is missing, and dont trust it in general.

Also, the odds of that reserve being rusted is highly likely as I cannot get air to blow through the vents, only defrost, and in defrost, it barely pushes out air. It doesn't get very hot either. When I pulled the top plate off the dash I could see the vent box and could see the heater core, and it looks almost brand new. I don't even think I saw any corrosion.

I can start by trying to figure out where that cable connects to the back of the control box, but its really far from it, and was either pulled way over, or something broke big time haha.

Thanks for the help so far! Anymore is appreciated!

- Brandon

78CobraII · Mar 16, 2010

I found an article from a guy that swapped a factory AC system from one MII to another. It sounds like a lot of work, but its going to be the best fit for your car.

The Mustang II Organization

I've seen folks do an R-134A conversion on their MII using the Sanden rotary compressor instead of the old piston type. These weigh less, but with the R-134A freon, them may not get as cold unless you increase the size of the condenser.

Some of the auto air places like Classic Auto Air (Classic Auto Air - Air Conditioning & Heating for 70’s & Older Cars & Trucks.), Vintage Air (Vintage Air - Inventors of Performance Air Conditioning - www.vintageair.com), or Old Air Products (Old Air Products) might be good sources of information or kits.

There are some good articles listed on Google under "retrofit auto air" about changing to R-134A.

From a work standpoint, it might be easier to repair your current system and retrofit it for R-134A. It depends on how much time and money you have. The factory system you have likely needs a compressor, receiver, and dryer at the least, plus the pretty durn expensive R-12 refrigerant.

Let us know what you do.

Wart · Mar 16, 2010

Bmwz389 said:
Also, the odds of that reserve being rusted is highly likely as I cannot get air to blow through the vents, only defrost, and in defrost, it barely pushes out air. It doesn't get very hot either.

Theres a reason their called squirrel cage fans.

Squirrels love living in them, storing nuts in them, or just generally being around them.

Another reason for lack of air being blown could be the resister block in the heater box. Connections corrode, coils corrode, increase in resistance, slower motor, though that shouldnt matter on high.

And I don't know if an aftermarket would have it's own blower control.

I think your getting familiar with dash and heater box removal is in your future. You can get the heater box out with only flexing the dash but these cars dashes have 30+ years of outgassing on them, I wouldn't wan to take the chance, and it's only hard the first time you do it.

And if your pulling the box you might as well replace the heater core while your at it. OTOH if you didn't replace the core you would probably get to find out what I mean by pulling the dash and box is easier the second time.

1970impala · Mar 16, 2010

78CobraII said:
I've seen folks do an R-134A conversion on their MII using the Sanden rotary compressor instead of the old piston type. These weigh less, but with the R-134A freon, them may not get as cold unless you increase the size of the condenser.

From a work standpoint, it might be easier to repair your current system and retrofit it for R-134A. It depends on how much time and money you have. The factory system you have likely needs a compressor, receiver, and dryer at the least, plus the pretty durn expensive R-12 refrigerant.

Let us know what you do.

yup,yup my mechanic changed mine to r-134 using the original equipment for the car shows. he replaced the seals,etc. he did all the work and its fine. cannot take credit for that one.

Bmwz389 · Mar 16, 2010

Yeah. I just took a look at my parts car today and it still has the FACTORY box and blower motor, all the wiring, vacuum lines and even a different control box. It didn't have the under dash pull levers either.

I was debating about pulling the dash, as I've done it with another car, and it takes a while, and alot of patients (sp?). But, I've got another car to drive, and I wanted to refinish the dash anyways. So pulling it isnt a big deal to me.

ESPECIALLY if I can get a great working heater/ac system out of it.

My compressor does NOT look like the one on the parts car though. It looks like a newer model, as the one on the parts car was I gigantic piece, and I've never seen one like it haha.

So it's possible my system was converted , but I haven't ran across the mandated r134a conversion sticker. I'll have to check the connections and see what they look like on my explorer to see if the connections are different.

- Brandon

78CobraII · Mar 17, 2010

The old Ford York and Tecumseh compressors are pretty big. They look like a small lawn mower engine! And Ford used the same basic AC design whether you had a 2.3-powered Pinto or a 429-powered Galaxie.

The new cylindrical rotary compressors like the Sanden are a lot smaller and lighter and use less power. If you have one of these, I would consider rebuilding that system or at the least using the Sanden compressor with the factory interior AC system. The Vintage air companies sell an adapter to mount the Sanden compressor in place of the original Tecumseh/York compressors.

Bmwz389 · Mar 17, 2010

Yeah the one in my II isn't the size of a mower engine hahaha:

I'm trying to upload a picture of the compressor in the parts car to here, but its not working right now.

I'm not sure what bracket he used, or if he built one, or what. But one bolt hole doesn't have a bolt, nor does it look like a bolt hole is there behind the bracket haha. I'll take a closer look later, I have to go change by brakes right now.

Thanks!

- Brandon

78CobraII · Mar 18, 2010

Nice!

I need to get one of those rotary compressors for my 2.3L Ghia so I can quit lugging around the big factory Tecumseh.

I'm sure that bracket is something generic from the aftermarket AC catalog, so its not surprising all the bolt holes don't line up.

Its nice having the receiver/dryer and sight glass out where you can see it. I think that the factory hides them under the fender.

Bmwz389 · Mar 18, 2010

Yeah I need to run a belt to make sure it still works haha.

The scary thing is, I have no idea what that system came off of. So if anything ever breaks, I'm stuck in a rut until I figure it out. I guess I'll start lookin for part numbers lol.

- Brandon

Wart · Mar 21, 2010

Your after market AC could have come out of a J.C. Whitney catalog.

If you plan on doing anything with this I suggest having some hoses made (and ditching the hose clamps, especially on the high side).

Getting my AC/Heat up and running again.

Bmwz389

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78CobraII

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Wart

I'm Mad as HELL and I'M not Gonna Take it ANYMORE!

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Please God, somebody find me some WHITE CARGO PANE

Bmwz389

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