New A/C, interior parts, cooler

Post date: Nov 14, 2016 4:28:23 PM

The new Omega A6 compressor that I "upgraded" to a lip seal was spitting oil out the nose. Cooling performance was also mediocre, so I went whole hog and ordered a polished Pro6Ten. It is very pretty. Also re-verified the POA, and it's right around 26/27 PSI. Re-charged and..... same performance. About 20 degrees below ambient. Still want to verify what all is happening inside the box.

I finally got a dash pad, dash and arm rest bases painted while the weather is still warm. Still need to re-do the lower body dash and steering column. This dash pad and dash were gold/brown, so it's quite a color change. Looks like the pad took it well, just hope I got far enough around the back bend so the old color isn't visible from the front. The dash did pretty good, but I knocked a corner while moving it and the paint chipped.

In other news, Shaun picked up a three circuit cooler from and LS in the junkyard. It took several hours of experimenting, but I found a setup that works. I spaced the drier forward about 1/2" to make room for the hoses. Still need to re-do the tranny braided line as it's either far too long or far too short for this setup. The tranny circuit exit points straight down, forcing a very short bend. I'm not thrilled about that, but not certain what all I can do about it. A 3/8" tube to -6 AN might work if I cut off the barb. That's kind of difficult to undo if it doesn't work out, though. Mounting the cooler is a combination of spacers, existing holes in the condenser mounts, new holes, and small brackets made from the typical cooler mounting strapping. The top circuit is 1/2" fittings both on passenger side which I plan to use for engine oil sometime later. The middle is power steering and lower is transmission.

I also have a 600 series steering gear from OPGI on order. It's a screaming deal, and rumor is that it's a quality part. There's a severe lack of info out there, but it's $300 less than the Turn One unit. I also noticed that the latest Atsco rebuild from Pep Boys has the wrong turning stops. It's not terrible, but it's noticeably worse than it should be. U-turns take 3.5 lanes, parking in a normal lot is challenging.... Hopefully this new unit has the right stops. I noticed that Turn One advertises their box for A-bodies and F-bodies with no apparent difference. That's a bad sign, but I also didn't call them to verify what's actually going on with that.

Errata:

Drill a "Hydroboost" hole in the brake pedal. hah!

Startup and fail-safe algorithm on the computer to prevent full-speed fan when not appropriate. The 10 second turn-on delay for the computer control isn't sufficient

Final mount of the computer

Seriously, what does it take to get a PS pump to stop whining?

Voltage sags to 13.7V when hitting the brakes. ???

Slight clicking from passenger side when rolling ???

Paint lower body dash and column

Dash wiring fixups (defrost switch redo and IGN1 to console)

Finish whatever lead work and sanding I'm going to do

Paint!