I'v got a 79 Elco that I got a March serpentine system for. It changes the compressor to the right side. I intend to replace the condenser and have been told that some Gbody Cutlasses are right side connections. I'd like to keep the hoses as short as possible. The March kit came with a Sanden 7176 compressor, do I buy the adapters for the Sanden, and what hoses?
Changing A/C
- Thread starter Doug Chahoy
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When I swapped my 82 El C to a S Blazer serp belt set I had a hose made at the local hose maker place and I am happy with that. I recently had to change the liquid line and found an OEM clone that work just fine. Cool guy riding again
If you use a Cutlass condensor, you can use a Cutlass accumulator and liquid line. That gets you halfway there. You can get all the fittings and hose material you need from Vintage Air. Mock the new hoses up and mark them for clocking. Then take them somewhere local to have them crimped. That's what we did on my brother's LS swapped 78 Z28.
In an Olds Cutlass, which side of the engine is the a/c compressor on.? Hoping to get factory hoses for right side. On my Elco the battery is on the right side. That won't be in the way of the hoses will it?
It has more to do with the source division's engine than the car it ended up in. Chevy engines had the compressor on the left (driver's) side. Buick and Olds engines had the compressor on the right. Condensers and lines were fitted accordingly.
The factory compressor (R4) uses a "manifold" to attach the two hoses (suction and discharge). I guess you could buy a stock hose assembly and cut the crimps off of the hoses at the manifold and then adapt them to the Sanden compressor, but I think it would be easier to buy the fittings and material you need for each hose and then mock them up with exactly the routing you want and then have it crimped together. Many if not all of the Olds hose assemblies include a muffler on the discharge line, just downstream of the compressor. Those take a little room....
Boy do I remember how the engine source mattered. In the 80s I was working in a bodyshop and they gave me a mid 80s Regal that needed a whole front clip. When the salvage clip arrived, EVERYTHING under the hood was on the opposite side of the wrecked car.
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