Kbeefy's 78 Royale

Hooked up the magic machine, gauges read zero.

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Pulled and held a vacuum for 15 minutes, then let it sit another 20 minutes.
Held vacuum so I recharged it, 46oz of R134a per the conversion sticker under the hood.

AC is blowing cold, considering I'm stationary inside my shop with an ambient temp of 66*, I have outlet temps of 42*. Hopefully it does a little better when moving, we'll see.
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My pressures seem a bit low, if it's less than awesome in real life I might try adding a few more ounces of refrigerant and see how it behaves.

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I also discovered the thermostat knob on my fridge was stripped, so it was set to high regardless of where the knob was positioned.
I swapped the Electric thermostat knob for the the stripped gas one and was able to turn the thermostat. I set it to a pretty high temp, I'll see what happens next weekend.
 
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I got impatient and added 4 more oz of r134.
My low side low pressures came up to about 25, instead of the 10 it was dropping too. High side didn't seem to change (about 110#). I'll run it like that and see what happens....
 
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Gave it a bath before a weekend camping trip.

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Camping trip went well, everything more or less worked. AC worked great.

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I got to experience the poor traction driving up a gravel road out of the camping spot.
I slowed down due to washboard and lost all my momentum, managed to creep up the hill at about 1 mph to avoid spinning the tires... wasn't sure we were gonna make it.
Might have to put the 3.7 final drive and posi up the wish list a bit.
 
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I got impatient and added 4 more oz of r134.
My low side low pressures came up to about 25, instead of the 10 it was dropping too. High side didn't seem to change (about 110#). I'll run it like that and see what happens....
I'll be topping off my R134a system with R152A from here on in. Running it in a couple of other vehicles with great success.
 
What's 152? I've been running Duracool, works great
R152A is computer "duster" - you can only run it if you've converted to R134A, not compatible in an OEM R12 system. It mixes with R134A with no issues.
I can't get R134A any longer in Canada - my last shipment from the US was seized at the border but the R152A is a much better refrigerant anyway so all good.
 
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R152A is computer "duster" - you can only run it if you've converted to R134A, not compatible in an OEM R12 system. It mixes with R134A with no issues.
I can't get R134A any longer in Canada - my last shipment from the US was seized at the border but the R152A is a much better refrigerant anyway so all good.

I got an old R22 window A/C unit running again by pumping it down and installing a few ounces of propane, which is a non-chlorinated replacement for R22
 
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Time for the vent renovation....

First drill out a bunch of rivets... fortunately they are aluminum.
Size 10 drill bit worked perfect.

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Clean up the mess.

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I used the new fan as a template, I was only able to pick up 2 of the original holes.
Put some new butyl tape on.

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Drop it in and line it up. Make sure no wires are pinched from beneath.

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IIRC 3/16 x 1/2 aluminuim pull rivets worked. Goobered it up with some fresh sealant.

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Looks better and works great!

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