just wondering if anybody has done this? i've almost got it out could use some advice. the freon is spitting out right now... it's sure got a lot of pressure in those lines.

also it seems the compressor i bought off of ebay is close to being the same, but it isn't. it may/maynot work we'll see.

 

the new compressor is much larger than the old one, says its made in japan but has german words on it, and also came with only 5 grooves instead of 6. it was mentioned on an ebay auction that there are different models for early and late 944's, is this possibly what happend?

 

Yeah, I think that's exactly what happened. There are different mounting brackets as well, you may run into some fitment issues.

 

the reason i was having to get a new compressor was because the old one had broken one of it's mounting brackets. but now as i look at the new compressor, it would seem like it could fit except for that the way the freon lines attach to the compressors are different. i thought i could just switch out attachments, but the bolts are in different places, so thats a no. SOOO i was then thinking that i could take the compressor to a machine shop and have them weld or at least do something to fix the broken mounting bracket. there is evidence of this on the new one i have (bought it used from ebay), so thats where i got the idea. there must be a lot of stress on the top back bracket...

 

The compressors (OE) were made by a Japanese company (Nippondenso) for Porsche (kinda' like how Mahle makes the oil filter, Bosch makes various other components, etc.) Anyway yes, there's a difference between early & late - the early cars have a five-rib drive belt for the a/c compressor & alternator. The late cars have a six-rib belt. As such the pulleys on the alternator & a/c compressor have either five or six grooves for the belt depending on early versus late. Since your car is late, you need the late pulley. If the compressor you bought has the early clutch & pulley assembly with the five-groove setup, you can swap the six-groove pulley from the compressor you're removing.

Keep in mind that a compressor failure almost always contaminates the a/c system and simply swapping compressors is likely to have the new one fail due to metal bits floating through it shortly after engagement.

What happened to your system to warrant swapping the compressor?