[DeTomaso] AC Condenser Replacement

[Chris Difani]

Guys:

About 10 days or so ago, there was a thread talking about condenser replacement. One of the messages referred to Arizona Mobile Air  (www.ackits.com) and their various parallel flow replacement condensers. 

I'm getting close to the point of reassembling my AC system, so this caught my interest. I looked at my system, and determined that since the original condenser had been open to the air, and seemed to have a dark coating of some kind on the internal surfaces of the tubes, that I would need to clean my condenser before using it. And even then I'd have a 34 year old condenser that was "kinda" clean... at best.

So I contacted the guys at Arizona and discussed my needs with them. They suggested a 12" by 23" aluminum parallel flow unit. This cost me $81.27, plus $8.90 for shipping. 

My only worry was the fittings. Just how was I going to connect my 1980's vintage AN stainless hoses to the new #6 and #8 "O ring" connections. But I was told that there wouldn't be any problem.... just go see my local hose supplier when I had the condenser in hand.

I received my condenser a day early, and was very impressed by it's appearance. Among other things, this condenser is 2 pounds lighter than my original unit. I took the new condenser to my hose shop, and for the grand total of $1.27, I had the two adapters that made my old hoses fit my new condenser. 

That was amazing.... absolutely amazing.

Now the next issue was mounting. Shoe horning that 12" by 23" condenser into a space that originally held a 10.5" by 17" condenser. At first blush things didn't look good. But after a bit, the problems shrunk... First of all that 12" by 23" are the absolute "outside" dimensions. These units aren't really that big. Second of all, since the new condenser is under an inch thick, I was able to "tilt" it within the existing shroud which also helped with the shoe horn process. I finally removed some of the excess metal on the condenser's outer edges, but the end result is a good fit within the original condenser/fan shroud (I also had to "tweak" the shroud a bit too, but not too badly-- only used a small hammer... ).

One thought that a person needs to keep in mind on a system like this, one that's been open, is the cost of cleaning. I was quoted a cost of $150 to clean and test my condenser (which is the one major component that's recommended to be cleaned. The receiver dryer is replaced, and the expansion valve is also replaced, while the evaporator is usually okay). The shop was a good one, and I called around for some other quotes, all of which were "close". The shop also made the point to me that even after cleaning, and testing, I would still have an "old design" condenser. They recommended that I replace it. 

And that's my story... not too exciting, but I bet that around August or so, I'm going to be a very happy Pantera driver..... Also, just to be kinda PC, I have no (yadda yadda yadda) interests with Arizona Mobile Air, they're simply good people to do biz with. 

Chris

Chris Difani
'73 L #5829 "LITNNG"
Sacramento, CA
Email: cdifani at pacbell.net