So the GTS has kind of taken center stage for the last year, and the GT has been ignored. I put the engine back into the GT last July and have been driving it around but there were a few niggling things that I just hadn't gotten around to dealing with. Specifically, re-charging the A/C, 'fixing' the heater valve, and adjusting the shifter, which I'd gotten a notch too far to the left during reassembly, so the shift pattern was skewed to the left. Since it's now a DD, it was time to deal with it again.

I was up at Greg's on Friday briefly and we put the GT up on the lift, and fixed the shifter. I was spurred to drill a 1/8" hole in the heater valve arm and ziptie it, then I pulled vacuum on the A/C overnight and recharged with 1150g of R12 this morning.

The result is a 100x improvement for about 30 minutes of actual work.

Why don't I do these things sooner?

 

Many cars that hit the market suffer from "too big a list of little fixes." The "little" 30 mins of work was more like a few hours, if you include the drive time, the BS time, and the hookup and diagnose time. For folks starting off with no experience and no support, the list can get overwhelming in a serious hurry. Things that languish on the list too long will be lost into the back pages, and may in the meanwhile spawn other list items. The Good News is that the list on the GT is getting down to a few pages rather than a book, and it's very well sorted (the car not the list...) as these cars go.

Did you locate the leak on the AC?

 

I am going to share an insight with everyone, but only if y'all promise to laugh with me and not at me. Well, ok, feel free to laugh.

Last night I was searching for a post that Bob had made a while back about filling A/C. In it he made 2 interesting comments:

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...echarging.html


1. R12 hoses are directional
2. If you 'pull a vacuum' to 30 in Hg within a few sections, you're not evacuating the system, you're just evacuating the hoses.

I had a Eureka/Duhhh moment. So I actually correctly connnected the hoses, and it took a good minute to get down to an indicated 30 (no, I don't have a micron gauge- I'd like one, but the pump isn't going to pump down any more than it's going to pump down....). and then let it go overnight. I closed the valves the morning and it held for an hour.

Then I tried Bob's other suggestion for filling- I turned the R12 tank upside down, purged the yellow fill line with liquid, and then filled the system through the high side with the engine off. 1150 grams by weight. This went fast, the liquid gets pulled in within 90 seconds or so (vs. 10 min or so when filling vapor via the low side with the engine running) I let the system sit for about 15 minutes before starting the car, then fired it up. Nice 'n cold!

So the short answer is no, haven't had a chance to use the sniffer. I will sniff around on the compressor and o-rings and see if I can find anything.

 

Hmmm.

Multiple children.

Multiple job responsibilities.

Multiple vehicles.

I'll have to get back to you, after I think a little bit more about this....

 

Yep, I would just say that life got in the way as it tends to do.

 

Nice job Rob. Cold A/C makes a big difference on a hot day sitting in traffic!

Sounds like you're at a point where you can stay ahead of the maintenance requirements of the GT, that is a great feeling.

 

You're not alone, Rob. I have a laundry-list of little (and some bigger) projects on my GT, many of which require center-console disassembly (not my favorite part of the car to work on, but after working on the pod last year, I can tell myself "better the console than the pod!"), so I mentally accepted the week of down-time and tore into it yesterday afternoon.

1) Moved iPod connector to center armrest (hey, those stupid cassette tape holders pop right out!)
2) Found problem in antenna wire - resistor in coax connector appears fried (but then created new problem by accidentally ripping the coax connector off the wire)

Still to come:
Figure out why rear a/c blower switch/motor is not working
Figure out if rear a/c valve (under pass seat) works or not
Repair or replace (please God, no!) antenna wire
Replace front speakers & crossovers
Replace rear speakers & crossovers
Install new amplifier

Good luck on your projects!

 

What's the John Lennon song ? "Life is what happens while you're making other plans..."