Who has upgraded from RV-2 to Sanden?

That's ah Phord Sanden Will, the horizontal holez on the body endz of the compressor give it away. You run out of pulley grovez on the crank or what? lol...See youz twoz in July My Friend, Jer

Correct, .... Good eye Jer. It's not the compressor that was included in the kit. Long story, ask me at Carlisle.
 
When it comes to replacing the condenser, the only ones I see available do not have the notch on the bottom passenger side to clear the bumper bracket & both high & low lines attach on the same side. How are you guys adapting to this? I've gone through two RV-2 units in the last few years, they were 4 Season remans which I think are just repainted used compressors, so I was thinking of going with the Sanden retrofit.
 
I didn't replace my condenser when I went to the Sanden style compressor. It cools very well for as hot as it gets on the gulf coast in the summer. The pressures are right in line with the info gotten from Classis Auto Air. I'll see if I can find the paperwork and post it.
 
When it comes to replacing the condenser, the only ones I see available do not have the notch on the bottom passenger side to clear the bumper bracket & both high & low lines attach on the same side. How are you guys adapting to this?
Make new hoses.
Please note that there are no zip ties as it should be. I see high end cars with zip ties. How amateurish.
Brackets installed 001.jpg
23jo0o8.jpg
293aa06.jpg
 
I removed the original clutch fan and replaced it with a 7 blade fixed fan 1/2" from the radiator. Have never had an overheating issue.
 
Not to hijack the OP, but thought this might be interesting to anyone considering an upgrade. Just received this message from Vintage Air.

We offer a 440 compressor mounting bracket that utilizes a Sanden 508 compressor which we also offer but my concern is hooking up to the original system.

More than likely, the existing evaporator and condenser have flared connections and we do not offer anything for that.

The other issue is if the existing unit requires a POA valve or some sort of different metering device designed for R-134A.

We have a distributor that specializes in conversions of the R-12 to R-134A systems and would possibly be better suited to assist you.

Contact Old Air Products at www.oldairproducts.com
 
That is incorrect. My 70 300 uses an O-ring fitting.
I just spoke with a rep from classicautoair yesterday. I had ordered the B Body Kit because I figured it was pretty much the same. He let me know that the connectors for the condenser would be different but they had the right parts to help me anyway.
 
I ordered my kit too. I didn't need to specify C or whatever body. Just told him my car and and that I wanted a kit for it.
 
You can piece it together for a lot less then that. All these prices are from 5-6 years ago....I got a new Sanden compressor for $75...careful shopping on E-bay. New bracket for motor from Bouchillon was about $100, I also paid under $75 for the universal condenser, then the hoses and fitting with drier and cycling switch for another $150 or so. I was probably into the whole system for about $300-350.

Just quickly looking on E-bay...

Hose and drier kit...$82
Universal A/C Hose Kit W/ drier streetrod-hotrod

Condenser....12"x26" for $38 (your size requirement might be different)
UAC New Universal Condenser 12'' X 26'' Parallel Flow Oring No.6 No.8 | eBay

Sanden compressor dual V-belt....$112
New SD508 Sanden Style AC Compressor V-Belt 2 Groove Pulley 3/4" 7/8" A/C Ports | eBay

Engine bracket off E-bay for $100...or the ones from Bouchillion for $119
1967-76 Mopar A/B/E Body Big Block Fctry AC Sanden Sd508/Sd7H Compressor Bracket | eBay

And that should be about it....so for about $350 you could be good to go. ;)

I'm wondering if you would mind posting some pictures of how this all mounted up. I'm leaning toward doing this, but I'm just having some difficulty visualizing it.
 
Not to hijack the OP, but thought this might be interesting to anyone considering an upgrade. Just received this message from Vintage Air.

We offer a 440 compressor mounting bracket that utilizes a Sanden 508 compressor which we also offer but my concern is hooking up to the original system.

More than likely, the existing evaporator and condenser have flared connections and we do not offer anything for that.

The other issue is if the existing unit requires a POA valve or some sort of different metering device designed for R-134A.

We have a distributor that specializes in conversions of the R-12 to R-134A systems and would possibly be better suited to assist you.

Contact Old Air Products at www.oldairproducts.com
Yeah I'm not buying that our cars use a TXValve ( thermal expansion valve) it does not care if it has R12 or R134 in the system it is continuously adjusting the orifice size depending on pressure and temperature, the pressure is a little higher in a 134 system but the valve adjust balancing between temp and pressure. The bad things on changing over are the hoses and the condenser, with the molecules being so small they will leak out of original hoses and the condenser tubes are too big for heat transfer. All that being said I converted the system on my Challenger over, new TXV, pulled the guts out of original and new drier and swapped them into original and rebrazed it for a original look, had to change the suction hose because it was damaged everything else is original I have not needed to add freon yet but this year it may need topping off, and I know my blower motor needs help.
I have 4 years on my switchover.
 
So, I'm wanting to make this swap, but I have some questions that I have found answers to. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Pictures are wonderful too! I'm truly a rookie when it comes AC stuff. I can install the brackets, compressor, and condenser easily enough.

Hose and drier kit...$82
Universal A/C Hose Kit W/ drier streetrod-hotrod

Condenser....12"x26" for $38 (your size requirement might be different)
UAC New Universal Condenser 12'' X 26'' Parallel Flow Oring No.6 No.8 | eBay

Sanden compressor dual V-belt....$112
New SD508 Sanden Style AC Compressor V-Belt 2 Groove Pulley 3/4" 7/8" A/C Ports | eBay

Engine bracket off E-bay for $100...or the ones from Bouchillion for $119
1967-76 Mopar A/B/E Body Big Block Fctry AC Sanden Sd508/Sd7H Compressor Bracket | eBay

I contacted the guy in regards to the hose and drier kit. The ends are crimped on the hose. I have no way of crimping ends on. The local AC guy that has a good reputation doesn't make hoses. Ugh... what other type of shop would I look for to have hoses made? Those of you that have had hoses made what type of shop made them for you?

Kind of along the same line as talking about the hoses. Did you reuse any of the hard lines. Running up the passenger fender is a steel line. Is it just better to replace all of the lines? In the picture below I've got the two mufflers boxed and the expansion valve. Is there no need for anything like this when the switch is made?

AC  Questions.jpg


I didn't replace my condenser when I went to the Sanden style compressor. It cools very well for as hot as it gets on the gulf coast in the summer. The pressures are right in line with the info gotten from Classis Auto Air. I'll see if I can find the paperwork and post it.

So, you're saying you skipped putting a new condenser in and it all works fine.

I'd really appreciate some help getting my mind around this.

Some pictures of how you ran your hose would also be great.


Thanks so much!
John
 
John it will work with your condenser it would just work better/more efficient with a new small tube double or triple pass condenser. Mine works with stock repaired condenser (waiting for that to crap out and change to a new style). The hoses are a crap shoot mine are working fine but I was time crunched and it worked. Leave as much steel line as you can, change the thermo-expansion valve (brass valve by fire wall with a disc on top and 2 probes coming out) change all of O rings to green ones, change the drier and flush all lines and evaporator, condenser with something to remove grease and evaporate completely I used brake clean chased with denatured alcohol and shop air to move it through ( the oil flows through the system so you need to flush out all the old mineral oil). Flush and fill old compressor or fill and install new Sanden. Suck it down for a hour or so to remove moisture and charge it up with 134.
 
Those of you that have had hoses made what type of shop made them for you?
I tried a couple places and got ticked off and bought a Mastercool crimper.

Amazon.com: Mastercool (71550) Black Manual A/C Hose Crimper: Automotive

I got lucky and found one on Ebay for under $100. I figured it wasn't a heck of a lot more than having the hoses done and time spent running around.

If you cut and fit your hoses and take them to a shop, mark the hose and fitting with a line to show how it's "clocked" to the fitting. The hoses have no twist.
 
Thanks Dave & John. This is more for me to try to get my pea brain around.

I discovered that the SD508 was used on a 1990 Jeep Wrangler so, I checked Rock Auto to see about expansion valves - there's three different kinds. :BangHead::BangHead::BangHead::BangHead: I need to get this right the first time. My budget doesn't have room for buying the wrong parts.

Thanks for the warning about noting the "clocking" of the hose ends. I went through this having custom brake lines made for my motorcycle.

Does anyone have some pictures???
 
I still use the stock condenser, the pressures are correct according to Classis Auto Air. I can get you some pictures and a more details will be a couple of weeks.
 
Well I've been doing some more digging. Trying to figure out everything that is needed.

I've found that at least one of the "kits" (BPE & Classic Auto Air) that are sold to do this swap for hundreds more than the parts use an expansion valve that looks like the one pictured below. This looks to be the simplest one to get into our existing systems. It isn't expensive either.
upload_2017-4-22_19-31-22.jpeg

What I noticed is that this one doesn't have the small "balance" line that goes from the supply line to the return line.

The other thing that I've noticed is that these kits seem to have provisions for "service ports". From what I can tell these should be on the lines close to the compressor.
upload_2017-4-22_19-40-14.jpeg
 
Back
Top