Dont know what its called, but its a floaty thing that sits on the top of the fluid in the upright reservoir. My 94 has it, and the 99 I took engine from did too.

 

It's the float that goes inside the reservoir. Got it on my 87.

 

Cool deal. I just put it in mine. Someone told me it's to help with any fluid splashing into the breather and seeping out and helping plug it during off camber situations.

 

Well alternator died so my interior refresh is put on hold for a bit. Today I went to investigate a non-working brake light and ended up down a rabbit hole. Turns out it was for trailer lights but geez.

 

Code approved.

 

Went to replace the alternator with a brand new, not reman, acdelco yesterday. About 5mins of run time it started making a whining noise and then started to smoke. Got too hot to even touch. Guess we’ll see how easy it is to RMA through Rockauto.

 

Alternator replaced. Seems to be surviving. Replaced the idler arm. Ordered some r12 to r134 conversion valves. Now to see if I can find a vac pump and gauges for a decent price or see what a shop will charge to vac and fill.

 

I just 'rented' guages and a pump from Autozone. finishing up work and time to see if I got AC correct. (Nope probably lol).
It was a 60-90 day rental they said, and put $375 on card. System was empty so I'm just looking for leaks. (did not take long)

 

That sounds like a way better option than buying. I’ll see if the one here does that.

 

Finally got not scorching weather to work on the AC on this thing. The AC conversion valves I got didn’t fit. I’ve got a funky 3/16 and 1/4 and had trouble finding some. I think I’ve got some and we’ll find out Monday.

I went ahead and bought a new compressor thinking it may come with the valves and it didn’t. Of course I got the model specific to my VIN but my compressor has the older compressor on it. Mid year change strikes again (look at where the allen heads are).

Went to pull the evaporator out to replace the expansion valve and found it packed full of crap along with the blower motor packed full of crap. So now I need to go get some cleaner and get the evaporator cleaned up.

Also found rust on the passenger floorboard. It’s not all the way through but there’s a couple of spots I’m not thrilled with. Gonna have to wire wheel it and go from there. Guess I got my excuse to order new carpet and pad now.

All the foam in this system is rotten and falling apart so I need to source some new stuff to seal it back up.

At least I’ve got all new seals and everything is apart so easy to replace all those.

Maybe one day I’ll drive this thing with AC.

 

Valve success.

Sherco-auto.com. 3/16” high side r12-r134 and 1/4” low side r12-r134. $14+shipping and got here in 2 days standard USPS.

 

Started the hvac rehab. Replacing foam on the vents. Also got the evaporator coil cleaned out with some foaming cleaner and letting it dry. Tomorrow my plan is to remove the manifold on the compressor and let it drain out any oil there may be in it and then refill it and start reassembling.

 

Interior is done. Tomorrow going to shoot for compressor o-rings, flush condenser, add oil, and then put a vac on it.

 

Looks great! I think mine has some junk in it, possibly obstructing the drain hole. But everything still works. Is it possible to clean out the junk without letting the r-12 out?

 

I don’t think so. The evap box does split but the screws and clips are almost impossible to access when everything is installed.

 

Got it all assembled and oiled and put a vac on it. Ran the vac pump for about 20mins before shutting it off and then left to a friends house and 5 hours later it’s still at the exact same reading. Tomorrow I’ll run the vacuum for a while longer and then charge it and see what happens.

 

Added about 20oz of refrigerant from the searching I did online. Got the compressor to kick on and the air cools off and condensation goes to the garage floor. But for some reason I can’t get a gauge reading using the gauge manifold. Only the gauge on the can of refrigerant. And the high idle isn’t working so the engine bogs.

 

Well it was cool on the way to o’reilly’s to drop the rental stuff off. Bought a temp gauge and drove home. Best it would do is 10* below ambient and it was noticeably warmer than when I went there. The no idle up thing sucks but that’s going to take some engineering because the part has been long discontinued and it looks like mine isn’t working.

 

On the bottom of this post a user lists a part number that will work but is upside down??

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f115...c-help-318947/

I have also seen another thread where a user bought one and replaced the insides of the old one and was successful, the thread exists but I didn’t find it, worth a search on here when time allows

 

I came across that on earlier today in some searching. Going to do some investigating on mine before I rule it dead. Maybe the vac line is just unplugged or something.