Re: The A/C works!

Posted by Jim McDermaid On 2013/5/17 11:37:12

I have add-on A/C on my 1954 Cavalier.

Add-on A/C was on the car when I bought it.

My car has a 12 volt system for the A/C which is working fine, the car runs on the original 6 volt system which turns on the 12 volt system via a relay.

I have a single fan belt running everything and I have a BX type belt (with teeth) which I have gone through several. My belt has to make a slight backward bend due to an idler that gives more contact to the fan / pump pulley. The BX belts break at the teeth. I am going to obtain a non-BX belt and see if I can get more life.

My car has a pressure cap on the radiator with a recovery tank hidden under the left front fender. I don't see any loss of coolant. The temp gauge sits at what I believe is about 170.

I will put an optical pyrometer to it one day and see, (always point at something black to get an accurate reading).

I am driving in downtown traffic in Phoenix AZ and we are in the low 100's when I drive the Packard home from work with the A/C on.

The fan in the cabin is not controlled by temperature, only the compressor. With a dark blue top the A/C is barely keeping up once you are driving stop and go in the mid-day Phoenix sun. Ultramatic transmission.

I am low on refrigerant and I don't have access to a test device to tell me what is in the system (they actually make such a device but it is expensive). I have access to some real 12 and I am going to try adding some and see if the A/C still works, or if I actually have 134 in a 12 system. I don't see any markings on the expansion valve but the compressor says R-12.

Jim