Hello-
here is a copy of the post I made to Alfa Digest about my A/C repair:
The "auxillary circuit," as I will call the under-glove-box unit, was
connected to the main circuit via an electric valve, under and next to
the coil. Powering up the aux. unit showed pitiful airflow, since the
output was forced through cheesy plastic hoses, squashed under the center
console, and back up to the side vent. Hardly anything came out of the
right vent.
I read about R134, and parallel flow condensers, and decided to replace
the serpentine unit with a parallel flow one. I picked a 12x22.5" one (68 dollars), which was a little wider than the stock unit. I got it from
www.ACkits.com.
There is plenty of room ahead of the radiator for it. I was able to install it by tilting the radiator back, and removing the
airdam/spoiler. Removing the grill would have helped, but was
unnecessary. I needed to bend the stock condenser's top mount tabs to get it out, but this was no big deal, since it was going in the trash. The generic universal install kit that came with the condenser was more than adequate for installing it on the stock mount points.
I got a SCS/Frigette # 207-237 receiver dryer per Mike's A/C discussion on the old gtv6 website. I found a local A/C place with a binary switch (high and low pressure safety switch) that screwed right into it. I have a GREAT hose place in town: Charleston Rubber and Gasket, and they made me new hoses from the
receiver-dryer to the condenser, and from the compressor to the
condenser.
One problem I encountered was that the R-134 fitting provided in the conversion kit was too long. You have to screw the adapter fitting onto the old R12 port on the "low pressure" side. The threads are coated with loctite, so the install is permanent. Fortunately, I checked the clearance first. When installed, it would be too close to the distributor mount portion of the cylinder head to get the fill hose clipped in. So, I installed it, as
per the law, and then put an inline R-134 fill port in one of the return lines-in this case, the one right next to the receiver dryer. It
actually makes filling the system a LOT easier with the shorty hose the kit had. Since the return portion of the system is only pressurized to 40-50 psi, you can use hose clamps here. I realize that there might be leakage.
Finally, I filled the system with 3 cans of R-134/oil/magic leak
sealer, etc. The actual volume of R-134 was about 36oz. I know Mike used 38, but I only had 3 cans. My sight glass did not go clear, and my final pressure was 38 (should have been 40-45). I will consider putting another can in, but first I want to see if anything leaks. The A/C blew fairly cold-especially the aux circuit air.
As had been pointed out, though, the actual VOLUME of air moved is pretty lame. To help with this, I put a length of 3" SCAT hose on the left outlet of the
aux. blower, and use it to supply cold air to the backseat (kids), or to
tuck under my shirt for "up close and personal" cooling.
Anyway, that is my story. I am sure I monkeyed some of it up, but given
that I was doing this by the seat of my pants, it seemed to go pretty
well. I am planning a compressor upgrade, and am considering replacing
the aux. circuit with something more effective. For now, I am going to
try this out and see what happens.
-Al