AC Compressor

[GTSBoy]

2 minutes ago, kevboost7 said:

Did you re-gas yourself?

No. That is totally illegal. Punters are not permitted to buy most refrigerants in Australia. Certainly not old not-very-nice ones like R134a. (I converted my car to R134a from R12 many years ago. I think the Neo compressor I have now is native R134a anyway, so I would have had to convert the gas when I did the engine swap anyway, if it was not already done, which it was).

The evaporator is under the dash, and being a heat exchanger is made of thin section aluminium that is prone to eventually giving up the structural fight and cracking. There are also joints between it and the plumbing and the TX valve and so on. Every other connection and seal in the system is a potential leak point. There's rotary seals in the compressor, o-rings and similar seals at the hose connections to the compressor, the receiver dryer and condensor.

[soviet_merlin]

On 22/10/2024 at 10:55 AM, GTSBoy said:

AAAaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh!

This. So much. I tried to run mine today and it does nothing. Everything sounds normal and I can feel it sapping power so I presume the compressor is running. But it's just blowing air at ambient temperature.

Regas was a few posts earlier, ~4 weeks ago. I have had it on once since then.

Looking forward to see what you find out about yours.

Feeling a bit like Johnny where having a modern car would be nice for a change.

[kevboost7]

15 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

No. That is totally illegal. Punters are not permitted to buy most refrigerants in Australia. Certainly not old not-very-nice ones like R134a. (I converted my car to R134a from R12 many years ago. I think the Neo compressor I have now is native R134a anyway, so I would have had to convert the gas when I did the engine swap anyway, if it was not already done, which it was).

The evaporator is under the dash, and being a heat exchanger is made of thin section aluminium that is prone to eventually giving up the structural fight and cracking. There are also joints between it and the plumbing and the TX valve and so on. Every other connection and seal in the system is a potential leak point. There's rotary seals in the compressor, o-rings and similar seals at the hose connections to the compressor, the receiver dryer and condensor.

Oh you already converted to R134a? Interesting. Is there a kit to do that? And i didn't know the evap was under the dash. Prayers up for you bro haha hopefully its something easy to fix. AC systems have always been the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around. 

[kevboost7]

13 hours ago, soviet_merlin said:

This. So much. I tried to run mine today and it does nothing. Everything sounds normal and I can feel it sapping power so I presume the compressor is running. But it's just blowing air at ambient temperature.

Regas was a few posts earlier, ~4 weeks ago. I have had it on once since then.

Looking forward to see what you find out about yours.

Feeling a bit like Johnny where having a modern car would be nice for a change.

Are you guys daily driving your skylines?? 

Its already pretty cold here in the U.S. already where you dont need the AC now. Its nice fall weather. 

[GTSBoy]

4 hours ago, kevboost7 said:

Is there a kit to do that?

I don't imagine so. It's less about "parts" than it is about process. You just have to screw on adapter ports, because R143a systems have different port valves to R12. Then you need to pump down the system, inert it and extract the old oil and replace with new R134a compatible oil and the refrigerant itself. All done by an AC mechanic (who are the only people licensed to handle refrigerants in Oz).

4 hours ago, kevboost7 said:

Are you guys daily driving your skylines?? 

Yes. Absolutely. 60km/day to/from work and whenever else needed. I don't care what anyone else thinks. They're just dirty old Datsuns that were built to be used**. Not f**ken' hero cars to be kept in a shed.

**Says he who has one of the nicest, cleanest ones around.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

23 hours ago, soviet_merlin said:

Feeling a bit like Johnny where having a modern car would be nice for a change.

100% 

I actually enjoy driving the Tiguan around, has adaptive dampers, launch control, TRI zone climate control.

With the old set of tyres, Continental Sport Contact 5, it kept up to my friend's S13 going through Old Pac.

9 hours ago, kevboost7 said:

Are you guys daily driving your skylines?? 

Yeah of course, drove it literally just 2 months ago.

[luke gtr]

On 24/10/2024 at 12:47 AM, kevboost7 said:

Are you guys daily driving your skylines?? 

Its already pretty cold here in the U.S. already where you dont need the AC now. Its nice fall weather. 

No, because it doesn't run.

I did daily my 32gtr with a H pattern dog box for a while. I kind of miss that thing.

On 24/10/2024 at 10:29 AM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

100% 

I actually enjoy driving the Tiguan around, has adaptive dampers, launch control, TRI zone climate control.

With the old set of tyres, Continental Sport Contact 5, it kept up to my friend's S13 going through Old Pac.

My Audi has the same levels of comfort. Love the adaptive cruise and night vision camera.

Also, my 1968 rn10 hilux kept up with 34gtr's up putty Rd. But, I did have 17x9 volk gtc's on it. The 4 wheels drum brakes never had an issue(this was all at the speed limit, but it actually handled well through corners).

On 24/10/2024 at 5:22 AM, GTSBoy said:

Not f**ken' hero cars to be kept in a shed.

Yes they are, otherwise bearing would last longer.

[joshuaho96]

On 9/25/2024 at 5:26 PM, soviet_merlin said:

It sounds like by avoiding maintenance you may be doing more damage than a hypothetical guy in a workshop taking it for a spin.

Not sure if you are just being paranoid or things are actually that bad in the US. Find a reputable shop not run by dickheads. Look for people that take pride in their work. Stick around for the day if you have to

I will say most technicians aren't the best, then they see a Skyline and it seems like their brains start oozing out of their ears. But actual good techs that knew what they were doing to begin with I don't see them having any issues with this car. And it doesn't attract that much attention. But if you were wondering what it's like to be an attractive woman, driving an RHD Skyline in the US is pretty much as close as it gets in terms of endless male attention. Random people will strike up conversations with you at gas stations, at mechanics, etc. List goes on.

When I do alignments for any car I never leave it overnight. I bring it in same day and usually just mill around outside the shop because I can't be bothered to call a taxi to go somewhere for 30 minutes only to get another taxi back.

[GTSBoy]

2 hours ago, joshuaho96 said:

When I do alignments for any car I never leave it overnight. I bring it in same day and usually just mill around outside the shop because I can't be bothered to call a taxi to go somewhere for 30 minutes only to get another taxi back.

pffft! My alignments are starting to take 3-4 weeks each. Bugger overnight - that would be a dream! Overnight is when I leave it on stands with the rear suspension in pieces, hoping I can remember where I was at when I come back to it.

I have to set the car up on a level surface so I can get decent camber measurements, then try to set the RUCAs to the right length to get that right. Then I have to put the car somewhere else where I have enough room to set up the bumpsteer gauge (laser, paper, mirror), so I can dial out that. Then I need to go measure camber again because changing the tension arm length affects that also. Then I need to measure toe, and I can't do that to my own satisfaction at home, so I have to put it on an actual aligner. Then I have to go back and fix the camber again, and if that took more than a half a turn, decide if I want to set up the bumpsteer measurements again.

I previously had the bumpsteer almost completely banished and then I started changing things again!

And that's only the rear end. Not even gotten to talking about the front yet.

And this has been going on in the context of me discovering a seized bolt in the LHR FUCA bush at the upright, hence needing total disassembly to replace that bush and the others that were not far away from the same outcome, replacing sphericals in the front end and making a mistake that resulted in needing to do it again, which is only half done right now.

It's a selfmade nightmare. Only have self to blame, etc etc. But regardless, I am so complelely unable to utilise the services of a normal wheel aligner that I have no choice. I haven't found a shop in my city that does "race" alignments - and by that I don't mean I want my car to be set up for racing, but the set of adjustments that I have available and that need to be used to do the alignment are the same as you'd find on a race car. I haven't looked everywhere, but there doesn't appear to be the equivalent of the motorsport focused shops that are present in Sydney and Melbourne. And such an alignment would cost $300, and you only want to do it once in a while, and you don't want to find out that you have to replace bushes and bearings and such while you are spending that $300 so you have to come back and spend it again a week later. So I stay living in my self made nightmare for the moment.

 

[joshuaho96]

21 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

pffft! My alignments are starting to take 3-4 weeks each. Bugger overnight - that would be a dream! Overnight is when I leave it on stands with the rear suspension in pieces, hoping I can remember where I was at when I come back to it.

I have to set the car up on a level surface so I can get decent camber measurements, then try to set the RUCAs to the right length to get that right. Then I have to put the car somewhere else where I have enough room to set up the bumpsteer gauge (laser, paper, mirror), so I can dial out that. Then I need to go measure camber again because changing the tension arm length affects that also. Then I need to measure toe, and I can't do that to my own satisfaction at home, so I have to put it on an actual aligner. Then I have to go back and fix the camber again, and if that took more than a half a turn, decide if I want to set up the bumpsteer measurements again.

I previously had the bumpsteer almost completely banished and then I started changing things again!

And that's only the rear end. Not even gotten to talking about the front yet.

And this has been going on in the context of me discovering a seized bolt in the LHR FUCA bush at the upright, hence needing total disassembly to replace that bush and the others that were not far away from the same outcome, replacing sphericals in the front end and making a mistake that resulted in needing to do it again, which is only half done right now.

It's a selfmade nightmare. Only have self to blame, etc etc. But regardless, I am so complelely unable to utilise the services of a normal wheel aligner that I have no choice. I haven't found a shop in my city that does "race" alignments - and by that I don't mean I want my car to be set up for racing, but the set of adjustments that I have available and that need to be used to do the alignment are the same as you'd find on a race car. I haven't looked everywhere, but there doesn't appear to be the equivalent of the motorsport focused shops that are present in Sydney and Melbourne. And such an alignment would cost $300, and you only want to do it once in a while, and you don't want to find out that you have to replace bushes and bearings and such while you are spending that $300 so you have to come back and spend it again a week later. So I stay living in my self made nightmare for the moment.

 

We have an alignment shop out here that does what you're talking about but he wants like 800 AUD a pop. DIY is "cheaper" but once you start accounting for the value of your time I'm not sure it's worth it.

[GTSBoy]

Yeah, well I was probably way underguessing the $300 figure anyway. Just multiplied a "normal" by 4 for the purposes of pointing out it's not cheap, particularly if it has to be repeated.

[kevboost7]

On 12/3/2024 at 8:20 PM, joshuaho96 said:

I will say most technicians aren't the best, then they see a Skyline and it seems like their brains start oozing out of their ears. But actual good techs that knew what they were doing to begin with I don't see them having any issues with this car. And it doesn't attract that much attention. But if you were wondering what it's like to be an attractive woman, driving an RHD Skyline in the US is pretty much as close as it gets in terms of endless male attention. Random people will strike up conversations with you at gas stations, at mechanics, etc. List goes on.

When I do alignments for any car I never leave it overnight. I bring it in same day and usually just mill around outside the shop because I can't be bothered to call a taxi to go somewhere for 30 minutes only to get another taxi back.

This^^^ 100%. Endless Male Attention. "buy a cool car, attract females". No reality is the opposite. "Buy a cool car, attract males".