[DeTomaso] A/C Evaporator Drain

[tmshinro at aol.com]

 I'm intending on driving from Iowa to North Carolina to join the folks at the tail of the dragon run being organized by Michael Shortt this summer.   Although I've done countless drives of four hours or less in my car since I bought it in 1987, this will be the longest drive attempted.   The car runs great so I'm not worried about mechanical issues but in all the years I've owned the car, the A/C has never worked.   I was able to put up with it for the relatively short distances I've driven in the past, but 13 hours in the car in early June might be a little too much to take.   So I've been reading up on the archives to see what others have done to get their air working.

I'm trying to figure out what series evaporator/heater I have.  My car is a 1973 Euro GTS, the serial number is 5186 and it has the series three dash (single pod with left, right and center defrost vents).  However, my dash is not molded plastic but is a covered fiberglass shell with a covered metal faceplate that holds the speedo, tach, wiper, washer, and hazard switches.   The faceplate is attached to the dash shell with studs and nuts.  There are two air register vents in the center of the dash faceplate that sort of line up with the two front openings of the air box.

I have a picture of the car when I restored it in '88 when the dash was out.   Unfortunately I didn't take very detailed pictures but the two pictures I took show that the air box has two metal tubes coming out of the top.  The tube on the driver's side is pointed toward the windshield at a slight angle toward the driver.   This tube has a hole in it that directs air to the center defrost vent while a hose connects to the end of the tube to feed the driver's side defrost vent.   The tube on the passenger side entends up at an angle toward the right side of the box and then has a bend at the top so the tube is parallel with the under side of the dash which is where the hose connection to the passenger defrost vent connects.   When I look at the drawings of the various series of air/heater systems in the black Detomaso parts book (with the red GT5-S on the cover), none of the first three series boxes have two tubes coming out the top of the air box.   The closest thing in appearance is the series 4 box but is shows a rectangular housing on top of the box that the drivers side tube comes out of with a foam ring that presumably aligns and seals with the center vent.

 
While it would be interesting to know where my vintage of air box fits in with the production lineage, my real question is where does the evaporator drain hose exit the body?   I've looked under the car and don't see a drain hose where I would think it would be.   I'm guessing that I can see the hose from the passenger side of the console to verify it is installed but the car is still sitting up on the lift waiting for the temps to rise.    

I'm assuming that the hoses are original and will need to be replaced.   The guy I bought the car from had installed a rotary compressor but I'm thinking that I should also replace it because it is over 24 years old.    I found a local guy that owns a speed shop that works on classic cars and does R-12 A/C work, so I paid him visit to talk things over.   My first step will be to have the system leak tested and go from there.   

Any comments or suggestions regarding my A/C project are welcome.

Tom

(We have finally gotten temps above freezing and are melting off a lot of snow.  Supposed to get in the 50's by mid week which should get rid of all the remaining snow.   I'm getting the itch to get the cars out)