Hey Guys,
I went this route with all my A/C components when I did my LS Swap.
For starters I went stock system, but with an R134A Unit. I called up Cold Hose and they walked me through what I needed. so I am hoping this helps someone.
below you will see my bracket and ac unit that I used. plus all the hosing and fittings.
I bought a hose crimp on amazon. you can either keep it or send it back, that's up to you. I decided to keep it as I will be using it for other projects down the road.
the bracket has instructions, so just go through it carefully to build it and the AC Unit will bolt right up with the whole kit, it comes with all the necessary parts to install and bolt the Unit to the bracket. you will have left over parts as it has a few options depending on the setup.
so the hose setup is simple, I bought extra hose length and cut it to what I wanted/needed.
the hosing is #8 to 8# for the high side and #10 to #10 on the low side (you can see as you build it what fits where)
after hoses are measured and installed you can proceed to crimp, just double-check and triple-check it all
A/C Electrical
so this part is not hard but took me a while to figure out on my own.
A/C Unit to power on (Stock Gbody AC request)
to get my 134a ac unit to work I had to tap into the pressure switch on the original system's dryer. I spliced into the dark green wire to get a signal for the AC Unit (single wire on the unit) to turn on. while this allows you to keep things intact it does not solve the fact that your ac pulls the motor's rpm and can stall you at a light (especially if you have a non-electric trans like me)
A/C RPM Bump (LS1 A/C Idle Bump Signal)
so to fix this, I found the signal wire on the LS1 Pressure switch pigtail (Red Black) and cut it, and spliced that into the original g body pressure switch connector (Light green side, see pic).
so now when I turn on the AC it bumps up my idle.
So far a little over 5k miles with no issues.
i broke my AC unit in the process of all this(the price of experimenting and figuring things out) it still works but it grinds every now and then so I know I burnt it out when I was trying to figure things out and probably ran it with not enough oil when I was first figuring out how to vacuum the system properly due to no idle bump it was not letting me recharge the system properly. when it finally dies I will replace it but it has been holding up nicely so far, so I am not going to spend the money until it dies on me.
so to summarize I am using a stock AC system with a modern r134a unit with full heat and AC with no issues (aside from my issue when recharging the system) but the idle bumps up and the ac is cold.
I only replaced the cables and the unit, the ac control, condenser, evaporator, and dryer are still original. I will probably replace them when they fail but no need to do it if it works.
I hope this helps someone out there and if you find a way to do more advanced things then go right ahead, I don't mind this being a stepping stone for someone else.
sorry for the mess of wires, I will be cleaning things up little by little. I am on a budget so I am just making things work with what little money I have and enjoying the process.
A/C Hose Crimp
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FY43CM4/?tag=gbody-20
AC Unit
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083BBBR3D/?tag=gbody-20
AC Bracket
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1441103345...d=link&campid=5335822911&toolid=20001&mkevt=1
A/C Fittings
#10 90 Degree
https://coldhose.com/products/10-90-degree-o-ring-fitting-1?variant=35531662753952
#8 90 Degree Discharge Port (r134a High side)
https://coldhose.com/products/8-90-...-16mm-discharge-port-3?variant=35531626348704
#10 Straight Fitting
https://coldhose.com/products/12-10-straight-o-ring-fitting-1?variant=35531619762336
#8 Straight Fitting
https://coldhose.com/products/8-straight-o-ring-fitting-3?variant=35531633197216
A/C Hoses
#10 Standard Barrier a/c hose
https://coldhose.com/products/10-1-2-barrier-a-c-hose-per-foot?variant=35531674288288
#8 Standard Barrier a/c hose
https://coldhose.com/products/8-13-32-barrier-a-c-hose-per-foot?variant=35531676221600
I went this route with all my A/C components when I did my LS Swap.
For starters I went stock system, but with an R134A Unit. I called up Cold Hose and they walked me through what I needed. so I am hoping this helps someone.
below you will see my bracket and ac unit that I used. plus all the hosing and fittings.
I bought a hose crimp on amazon. you can either keep it or send it back, that's up to you. I decided to keep it as I will be using it for other projects down the road.
the bracket has instructions, so just go through it carefully to build it and the AC Unit will bolt right up with the whole kit, it comes with all the necessary parts to install and bolt the Unit to the bracket. you will have left over parts as it has a few options depending on the setup.
so the hose setup is simple, I bought extra hose length and cut it to what I wanted/needed.
the hosing is #8 to 8# for the high side and #10 to #10 on the low side (you can see as you build it what fits where)
after hoses are measured and installed you can proceed to crimp, just double-check and triple-check it all
A/C Electrical
so this part is not hard but took me a while to figure out on my own.
A/C Unit to power on (Stock Gbody AC request)
to get my 134a ac unit to work I had to tap into the pressure switch on the original system's dryer. I spliced into the dark green wire to get a signal for the AC Unit (single wire on the unit) to turn on. while this allows you to keep things intact it does not solve the fact that your ac pulls the motor's rpm and can stall you at a light (especially if you have a non-electric trans like me)
A/C RPM Bump (LS1 A/C Idle Bump Signal)
so to fix this, I found the signal wire on the LS1 Pressure switch pigtail (Red Black) and cut it, and spliced that into the original g body pressure switch connector (Light green side, see pic).
so now when I turn on the AC it bumps up my idle.
So far a little over 5k miles with no issues.
i broke my AC unit in the process of all this(the price of experimenting and figuring things out) it still works but it grinds every now and then so I know I burnt it out when I was trying to figure things out and probably ran it with not enough oil when I was first figuring out how to vacuum the system properly due to no idle bump it was not letting me recharge the system properly. when it finally dies I will replace it but it has been holding up nicely so far, so I am not going to spend the money until it dies on me.
so to summarize I am using a stock AC system with a modern r134a unit with full heat and AC with no issues (aside from my issue when recharging the system) but the idle bumps up and the ac is cold.
I only replaced the cables and the unit, the ac control, condenser, evaporator, and dryer are still original. I will probably replace them when they fail but no need to do it if it works.
I hope this helps someone out there and if you find a way to do more advanced things then go right ahead, I don't mind this being a stepping stone for someone else.
sorry for the mess of wires, I will be cleaning things up little by little. I am on a budget so I am just making things work with what little money I have and enjoying the process.
A/C Hose Crimp
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FY43CM4/?tag=gbody-20
AC Unit
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083BBBR3D/?tag=gbody-20
AC Bracket
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1441103345...d=link&campid=5335822911&toolid=20001&mkevt=1
A/C Fittings
#10 90 Degree
https://coldhose.com/products/10-90-degree-o-ring-fitting-1?variant=35531662753952
#8 90 Degree Discharge Port (r134a High side)
https://coldhose.com/products/8-90-...-16mm-discharge-port-3?variant=35531626348704
#10 Straight Fitting
https://coldhose.com/products/12-10-straight-o-ring-fitting-1?variant=35531619762336
#8 Straight Fitting
https://coldhose.com/products/8-straight-o-ring-fitting-3?variant=35531633197216
A/C Hoses
#10 Standard Barrier a/c hose
https://coldhose.com/products/10-1-2-barrier-a-c-hose-per-foot?variant=35531674288288
#8 Standard Barrier a/c hose
https://coldhose.com/products/8-13-32-barrier-a-c-hose-per-foot?variant=35531676221600
