What are these pipes under Bill K's car?

[wshawn]

What are the thick pipes under here that run down either side of the car for?

[Single 60]

I believe they are for air conditioning lines going from compressor on engine to front of auto.

[wshawn]

Thanks for that, sounds very plausible

[raygreenwood]

Yup!..and its time to change some of those fuel lines. It looks like the ones to the "Y" have the original crimp type clamps. Do not trash the AC if its still there. It worked well enough that its worth saving. Ray

[albert]

yes,,, they are for the air cond,, but if you want to put in fonction your old ac,, make attention beefore to start that,, d,t trust the first mécanic men on that,,, first the old car ac ,work with the old kind of gaz ,,fr12,, and tooday it is very rare ,,( if you can find ,,buy that fast ,,it is the best,,, but never put the new gaz R134 in your old car ac,,, wy???,,, the old compressor was fill with the minéral oil and the new gaz,,r134 ,,destroyed the minéral oil and afther 2- 3 ,weeks of working the compressor ,,,squize,,(sisze) or burn,,, and afther it is finish,, but for 1/2 hrs more job ,,change the compressor oil for the synthétic oil ,,spécial ref. oil for compressor ,i d,t can reemember the quantity but you can find ,,not many,, 1/2 quarts i thing ,,,sometime the compressor is good but we burn that with the bad gaz for the oil,,,, plus d,t forget too,, tooday with the new gaz we never can keep the gaz for long time in the systhem,, the mollécule for the new fr134 is very small compared to the old fr12 ,,and it is very easy to leak,,change all the hoses ring seals ,, and compressor seals if you d,t want to put the gaz every week,, anayway it is good only for 3 years in your systhem,,afther 3 years we have a leak,, albert

[raygreenwood]

What albert is getting at is very correct. The new compressors use a PAG type synthetic ester oil.
Some newer compressors can be stripped and cleaned and can then be re-filled with PAG type oil. Some old ones can and some can't.

The other issue is that you can convert an R-12 system to R-134a....but most people do not realize that its not just the o-ring materials that must be changed. You also need to change the metering orifice in the expansion valve.

This is because the molecules of R-134a are so much smaller that it requires a smaller diameter orifice to properly spray the compressed liquid in the evaporator. This orifice can usualyy be changed in minutes if you bring the expansion valve assembly down to the shop....or many of them are changed with an allen key just like changing a seat in a sink faucet. Or...you can just buy a newer up to date expansion valve....usually something like $100 or less...and bolt it right in. Ray

[albert]

yes ray i have forget the expention valve ,, but on some rare model we can adjust this valve for the new gaz ,,but that take a spécialist for that but if we buy a new valve for the r134 that is the best plus never forget a new gaz filter ,,for my oppignion,,the ac in a car is a very expensive lux,, we never can up-grading the car ac for a minimum of 1000.$ the comp.can cost 3-400$ or condensor or évaporator is appx same price ,,each time we open the ac systhem we are in obligation to change the gaz filter,,and do vaccum,, ,wy?? but if we have the air in the hoses,,air=humidity ,,and wend the humidity arrive in the expention valve she freeze and the systhem block for 5-10 minutes ,,the time the humidity defrost and geeve a chance for the gaz circulation ,,and the same trouble come-back afther 5-10 minutes ,,and that play yo,yo,, the compressor start and stop évery 5-10 minutes ,,albert

[raygreenwood]

Yes...an expensive luxury....but then again when I lived in Dallas, we could easily see 10 days in a row of 103-105F outdoor temps while sitting still in traffic for hours.

I am working on a compressor system right now for my car. It will use a small saden compressor....and a 35lb flywheel. The flywheel will be started sprinning (clutch off) by a small hitachi starter I have from a riding lawn mower. It has to spin for 20 seconds. Starter turns off and a 10 amp 12 volt motor takes over.
The whole start up cycle is about 1.5 minutes. It will use a dual timing relay. Press the AC starter button...you automatically get 20-25 sconds of starter crank time. Starter turns off and 10 amp motor turns on. Another minute of spin time to stabilize rpm. Then the clutch kicks in. It should drag 2500-3000 shaft rpm down to about 1800-2000 shaft rpm of the ball bearing and rulon supported flywheel.

The whole package should fit nicely between the strut towers on the package shelf in the trunk. The fywheel will be about 8" in diameter and about 16" long...so it could weigh more than 35 lbs. As long as it does not get stupid...the more weight/torque conversion teh better.

The object is to get the rotating mass/torque potential up to speed and maintain it with a 12 volt motor. This AC would be thermostatic.......but only in the repect that as a given temp is reached.....the clutch relay uncouples the compressor....but on a timed interval...not a thermostatic one. It must not be allowed to recouple until the flywheel regains its max rpm. That may be up to a minute.

I'll let you know how this is going. The math all works. The only reason we could do a system like this that does not become a parasite to the engine...is because we have space in our cars for the whole rig. Ray

[albert]

yes ,,RAY,, your systhem can geeve you a good performance,, but for me with a small motor like the412,, the 4 way gaz valve and the hight pressure swith can geeve you the same thing,, example ,,if you have a hight pressure swith max,150 pound of pressure on the condensor line ( liquid line ) ,,,, the hy.p.s. action the 4 way valve for to reduce the hy pressure on the compressor ,,by the same time that keep your rpm on the motor ,, wend the gaz stay to 130 pound of pressure the rpm is not bad but wend the compressor start on the hyway to 60 mils hrs,, the pressure can go up to 500 pound of pressure ,,with the 4way valve she split the gaz r134 load bitwen the hy and low pressure and the compressor turn free and wend the pressure come down to 150 the systhem start to cooling inside ,,, it is the same systhem for the home heathing pump ,,WE CAN BUY ON THE MARKET 4 WAY VALVE TO 12 VOLTS ,, look on this side,,albert

[albert]

oh,,RAY,, i have said 4 way valve but the 3 way can do the same thing for the car,,albert

[raygreenwood]

Very very good information albert. I may have to ask you more about that. A valve like that could make for quick restarts. Ray

[albert]

yes,,RAY,, the fonction of this valve is not complicate,, she do a bypass for the hy and low pressure on the compressor,, in many lux car tooday ,likke audi,, the ac is a heat pump ,, wy ,but wend you geeve the cpu compuiter program ,,example,,70 d.f. this valve reverse the direction of the gaz,(r134) if it is cold houtside the compressor geeve you the heat inside beefore the wather in the radiator,, and wend your car is to the good temp this valve change the direction of the gaz she can play ,,cooling or heathing in a few minutes ,,but the compressor stay on all the time in the summer or winther excepted wend you have outside -15 cel or -10 d.fr. that reeduce the hytork on the compressor piston ( rotative comp.is the same ) for you if you d,t want to work with the car ,,rpm,, that take this kind of valve,, wend the hy side on the compressor is to 300 p.p. this valve push the pressure in the low side (suction side ) who is to 50 pound example ,, the 2 side comme equal and the compressor turn free ,, and the valve close the section for what you want ,,tryed to find a ,,audi,,ac diagram ,, you can see the full tech information for that ,, that is too long for me and my english,,but with the auto ac we can geeve a heat plus in the 412 ,,albert