Betty’s A/C

In my renewed interest to get Betty operational as a daily-driver, I decided to tackle the air conditioner system.  I assumed it would need a new compressor, since the clutch was hot-wired on and it was running non-stop for who knows how long.  I was happy to learn that I could get a replacement compressor with clutch for $150.  I was also able to find the accumulator and expansion valve for cheap.  I also found some R-12 replacement for a decent price.  Getting the unit off was a pain, just because it was so dirty.  I couldn’t see the bolt heads, and the access was about normal for a car, hard to get to.  I decided to go ahead and take the mounting bracket off too, just to clean it up.  I’m glad I did, because it was missing two of the three bolts holding it to the engine.  That explains what that noise was!  The hard-tubing brackets were not tight either, and there was so much grime built up in the bolt holes, I couldn’t even tighten them up.  I ran a tap through all the holes to get the trash out, cleaned up the threads on all the bolts, and decreased the bracket and hardware so I could see what I was working with.

Now that I have it all cleaned up, I’m looking at how the unit bolts up to the bracket, and I’m wondering if there is a spacer needed.  The compressor instructions said getting the mounting bolts tightened to the correct torque was important, so I’d think that even pressure was important too.  Looking at the schematic picture from Mercedes, it doesn’t look like there is a spacer, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did have one and was not reinstalled at some point.  While I search for my answer, I’m at a standstill.

acdrawings

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