Has any one changed the Evaporator on their Stang?

[hivolt5.0]

I'm in the middle of converting my car's AC to R-134a and I need some help with the evaporator. I bought the AC conversion kit from 5.0 resto, which is a pretty nice kit, and I have it mostly put together. I also had to change the heater core, it was leaking badly, and I thought since I have to tear the dash out any way I might as well replace the evaporator while I'm in there; the AC kit doesn't come with the evaporator. Well, now that I have everything apart I realize the heater/AC box (what ever you call it) doesn't have an opening to change the evaporator. Do I just cut a hole in the box and then try to seal it back up?

thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Daggar]

Unless it's broke, don't fix it. I mean, why change the evaporator?

 

[Fett]

Unless you NEEDED new parts (condensor, compressor, lines, ect) then you wasted your money on that kit. You don't need to change any of those parts to convert to R134. The only thing you needed was a set of R134 charging port adapters....which can be purchaced at any auto parts store for about $15.

As far as changing your evap...if you are already pulling your dash out completly to change the heater core, I wouldn't waste even more money. You can simply pull your dash back to change the heater core, it is very simple. But if you already have plans on pulling the dash out, then it's only a few more steps to change the evap core. But like mentioned above, if it isn't broken, why replace it?

Either way, if you haven't installed any of the 50resto kit....you should return it. $700 is WAY too much money for those components. If you needed them, you can buy them seperatly for much less. And again, there is no need to replace ANY of those parts just to convert to R134. Just buy the fittings, suck the system down well, add R134.

 

[Mike92GT]

I replaced mine awhile back while I was doing my heater core. I already had the evaporator case out of the car so I figured it would be a good time to replace it. They don't last forever, and didn't want to have to pull my dash a second time. Yes, you will have to cut the case to get it to come out. I used a hot glue gun to put it back together.

 

[hivolt5.0]

Thanks guys for the replys!

To answer some of your questions, I already tried the $15 adaptors. The freon leaked out within the day. Not knowing where the leak was I wasn't sure where to start replacing things so when I saw the kit I bought it. I agree it is pretty expensive. $700 is better spent on something that will make the car go faster right?!?! Anyway, I did end up cutting the case and extracting the evaporator and then sealing it back up with blue silcone. Boy what a pain it was to pull the dash and stuff apart to get it. The AC kit actually went together very well, and it doesn't look bad at all. It is obviously not stock, but it looks nice. I have the car at the shop right now getting the system sucked down and R-134a installed.