Adding A/C to Manta.

[GoinManta]

Good idea. But could you print out sanden's drawings from their site?
Product Model 4663
Buttons at bottom of page for different views of my SD7 compressor.

I'll e-mail you my dwg file if you provide an e-mail address. I've had no luck
with attachments on PM's.
I don't appear to have yours in my contacts yet.

I miss working with inventor since retiring. I could have provided a great
3D layout.

If you do 3D, I'd appreciate seeing the results.

I should be able to open the files.. I havent found a file I cant open usually. Im the office guru that everyone sends stuff to print and open when they cant

cdgoin@yahoo.com works (Its my "spam" email so I am not afraid of posting here)

I run ACAD 2008 MEP and can even do a small animation.. nothing like solidworks or inventor.. but it will do the job.

Got any dimesions of the arms ?

[Aardvaark]

Got any dimesions of the arms ?

I'll have to try measuring them on the car. I just sort of wingged it when making them. Should be able to get close though....

[GoinManta]

Think I found the car..

VOLVO
1990 - 1993 240
1985 - 1990 760
1985 - 1989 244
1988 - 1991 780
1985 - 1989 245
1991 - 1994 940
1985 - 1992 740
1992 - 1993 960
1985 745

Now the trick is to cross which came with R12 and which with R134a

And if this compressor the Dks15ch which looks to be a OEM knock off of the Sanden is dimensionally the same.

Also early 90s VW Golf has the same configuration.. was Sanden, and was 134a, but has the hoses coming off the rear.. so may conflict with te exhaust manifold...

Charles

[Aardvaark]

Think I found the car..

Now the trick is to cross which came with R12 and which with R134a

Also early 90s VW Golf has the same configuration.. was Sanden, and was 134a, but has the hoses coming off the rear.. so may conflict with te exhaust manifold...

Charles

Rear would be an issue. I sent you an e-mail on clearance issues with rear ports before reading this. When my hoses come back for CCA, hopefully later this week, I'll snap and post a picture of the compressor with the service port fittings and gauge fittings in place so you can see how it looks to work on. My dry run before crimping had everything okay but not real far from the exhaust manifold. For a test, I used one of the extra 90 deg fittings and a short piece of hose with a extra plastic cap
wire tied to the fitting where the gauge port protective cap would be and drove the car several miles then let it idle for half an hour to see if anything would be damaged by heat. Looked good. Soooo, in a worse case, I'll have to buy a small heat shield patch, like one of the 12"x12" from a race supplier and use it. Don't think it'll be necessary though. Just mentioning it.

If you find a good R12 unit, just change the shaft seal and compressor oil and you should be good to go with R134A. With this Sanden compressor, you start out with only a topped up oil level in the compressor without adding any more oil to the system. You can find the compressor oil capacity on the sanyo/sanden site drawings. You can buy most compressor repair parts fron Polar Air or maybe Napa locally.
Truth be known, the reason I popped $240 shipped for a new SD7 were these issues and the running around to correct them.

-Mark

Closeups of mounting fasteners and obstacles:

[GoinManta]

Did I mention I am making my son pay for the parts

It is his car after all..

Well I am giving him any parts I have in my garage.. so other than the new hoses, evaporator, dryer, and the compressor I have most everything else. Hoping to get him AC for under about $250 installed.

Charles

[Aardvaark]

Actually, if you use an R12 compressor you'll only need to change the oil and not the shaft seal according to sandens retrofit proceedure. untitled

BTW.
Two years ago I converted my 44 year old 1963 Thunderbird's factory air that uses a big old York compressor to R134A and only changed the oil and reciever/dryer to R134A after a good flush of the system with compressed air.
The hoses appear to be originals that use compression fittings and no rubber o-rings. So far it still works great with no apparent loss of refrigerant. Whatever does migrate through the hoses and compressor seal seems to be very slight. This is the same experience I've heard from other friends who do a/c work.

[Aardvaark]

Welp, this afternoon I wrapped up the installation of this new AC system on my '75 Manta. Charged the system and took it for a road test. This is my first
experience with the small 7 piston Sanden compressor and I must say, I'm
impressed. It's very smooth in operation and hardly effects the idle when the
clutch engages. I'm mentally comparing it to the ARA system with the small
York compressor I put on my new 1973 Manta Luxus. Compressor design has come a long way. It's as seamless in operation as the one on my 2002 Honda
Odyssey. This setup really puts out the cold air too. On the two lower fan speeds the only thing I could hear is the rush of air. On the high speed fan, then the blower becomes audible. Can't wait for hot weather to return for
a real test. A few stats and wrap up pics below. Total cost with my labor,
except for hose end fitting bubble crimping came to a little less then $1200.

Pics:
-evap connections
-rear floor hose routing
-dash controls panel below radio
-service gauges connections (actually easier to work on then it looks)
-receiver/drier/binary safety switch

[BQS4]

One thing you're going to have to do during the winter is to every now and then run the a/c to keep the various seals and all oiled and sealing. Modern a/c system have been changed so that when using the heater, it will turn on the a/c compressor to keep the oil running through the system. The thing that killed the old a/c systems was non use during the winter and seals dried up, thus losing charge and burning up the system.

[Aardvaark]

One thing you're going to have to do during the winter is to every now and then run the a/c to keep the various seals and all oiled and sealing. Modern a/c system have been changed so that when using the heater, it will turn on the a/c compressor to keep the oil running through the system. The thing that killed the old a/c systems was non use during the winter and seals dried up, thus losing charge and burning up the system.

Yup. That's what I've always done with my cars. I start my '63 T-bird and run it's ac for about five min every 14 days or so. Plan to do the same with
the Manta. Good practice.

[Aardvaark]

A couple of refinements to my system after driving around enjoying
the cool comfort this summer.
1. A vacuum cutout for the compressor clutch to gain back a slight
loss of performance under hard accelaration. Set to cut in at about
half throttle. Still playing with it. The GM system used one I think.

2. Auxillary radiator. In above 90F temps the cooling system would
climb to above 3/4 on the guage. Now it stays around 1/2 except after a
long time idling in really hot weather with the AC running when it climes
to around 3/4 on the temp guage.

[tomking]

Mark my Manta has the vacuum cut out switch and a hi-low freon pressure switch. I presume the dealer installed the AC but no way to be sure. And it is the ARA system. FYI.

[Aardvaark]

Mark my Manta has the vacuum cut out switch and a hi-low freon pressure switch. I presume the dealer installed the AC but no way to be sure. And it is the ARA system. FYI.

Thanks Tom.
I was pretty sure the GM system and ARA system had the cutout. The AMC system from Australia I installed on my first Manta didn't have the cutout switch so I bought one of those aftermarket 'Pass Masters' cutouts they used to sell in the JC Whitney cat. back then.