I see a lot of posts/questions about retrofitting air conditioning to accept R134 and maintain performance. Most are short on details. When I put my W108 back on the road 7 years ago, I did a quick flush and retrofit to R134 and have been living with moderate cooling performance. Two weeks ago, my compressor finally died and I decided to do a bit more work to try to make everything "better".
First, I had already changed my hoses to new barrier hoses with the flare fittings which were common 45 years ago. I have an original evaporator and expansion valve in the car.
I wanted to replace the antiquated serpentine condenser with a modern design, install a better compressor, and get more cooling. Here is the parts list of what I purchased ($500)
New 16"x19" parallel flow aluminum condenser from Radiator Pro PN 9011249
New 4 seasons compressor - (new, not rebuilt, all aluminum with upgraded pistons) PN 58098
New 4 seasons drier - PN 33397
New PROFORM fan from summit racing - 16", 2100CFM, PN PRO-67016
Vintage Air - U-BEND-IT - aluminum tubing #8 male/female 12" PN VTA-12513-VCD
Vintage Air - U-BEND-IT - aluminum tubing #6 female/female 12" PN VTA-125741
#6 Flare to O-ring adapter PN ATC2606
#8 O-ring to Flare adapter PN ATC6242
The #8 hose from the compressor runs through the #8 adapter and #8 tubing into the condenser. This tubing has a 200 degree bend in it so the inlet is in the same place as the old condenser inlet.
The bottom of the condenser feeds into the drier via the #6 aluminum tubing and attaches to the drier with the #6 adapter. This tubing has a 135 degree bend followed by a 45 bend in the opposite direction so it ends under the drier. The outlet of the drier hooks direct to the flare fittings on the hose to the cabin.
I mounted the drier to the side of the condenser with a small piece of sheet metal bent to a 45 using the mounting tabs that come with the condenser.
I made some Z brackets from the old mount points on the front of the car to the mount tabs on the top/bottom of the condenser. The fan mounts to those same Z brackets.
All tube bending was done on a spare 4" pulley I had in the shop so the tubing didn't kink.
I now have condensation on the vents in the car....never saw that before. I also can not tell when the compressor is running or not running. It is very quiet and seems to take much less power. Because of the improved efficiency of the condenser, the aux fan no longer runs. (but I tested it to make sure it does) The aux fan runs fine off the old controls with no modifications required.
First, I had already changed my hoses to new barrier hoses with the flare fittings which were common 45 years ago. I have an original evaporator and expansion valve in the car.
I wanted to replace the antiquated serpentine condenser with a modern design, install a better compressor, and get more cooling. Here is the parts list of what I purchased ($500)
New 16"x19" parallel flow aluminum condenser from Radiator Pro PN 9011249
New 4 seasons compressor - (new, not rebuilt, all aluminum with upgraded pistons) PN 58098
New 4 seasons drier - PN 33397
New PROFORM fan from summit racing - 16", 2100CFM, PN PRO-67016
Vintage Air - U-BEND-IT - aluminum tubing #8 male/female 12" PN VTA-12513-VCD
Vintage Air - U-BEND-IT - aluminum tubing #6 female/female 12" PN VTA-125741
#6 Flare to O-ring adapter PN ATC2606
#8 O-ring to Flare adapter PN ATC6242
The #8 hose from the compressor runs through the #8 adapter and #8 tubing into the condenser. This tubing has a 200 degree bend in it so the inlet is in the same place as the old condenser inlet.
The bottom of the condenser feeds into the drier via the #6 aluminum tubing and attaches to the drier with the #6 adapter. This tubing has a 135 degree bend followed by a 45 bend in the opposite direction so it ends under the drier. The outlet of the drier hooks direct to the flare fittings on the hose to the cabin.
I mounted the drier to the side of the condenser with a small piece of sheet metal bent to a 45 using the mounting tabs that come with the condenser.
I made some Z brackets from the old mount points on the front of the car to the mount tabs on the top/bottom of the condenser. The fan mounts to those same Z brackets.
All tube bending was done on a spare 4" pulley I had in the shop so the tubing didn't kink.
I now have condensation on the vents in the car....never saw that before. I also can not tell when the compressor is running or not running. It is very quiet and seems to take much less power. Because of the improved efficiency of the condenser, the aux fan no longer runs. (but I tested it to make sure it does) The aux fan runs fine off the old controls with no modifications required.
