Lines and hoses for ac

[sonoraed]

I am delving into making ac parts for FSJ’s, one of the most difficult lines is the S shaped line from top of condenser to discharge hose



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This is my first interpretation, opinions please

[Theodore]

Hey, sonoraed, I hit the same snag last year re-doing our a/c; used a couple pieces of 1-inch aluminum angle to secure the line & the receiver/drier.

Full post:
viewtopic.php?p=222866#p222866

And, a couple of pics, snipped from the post showing what I did.

Front side of condenser:
NOte the #8 s-bent hardline: used a couple pieces of 1" aluminum angle to secure it w/a rubber insulated retainer


Back side of condenser, showing the #6 s-bent hardline to the receiver/drier:


Condenser installed - given its construction, i couldn't use the original condenser to receiver/drier connection on top - is where the custom bent vintage air hardline from Summit came in, but i hadn't realized that repair Beadlock ferrules were a thing yet - worth seeing if you could reuse the hardline fitting & re-crimp to a new hose.

[sonoraed]

Hi Theodore, Thanks for your pictures, good effort on your part dealing with a really clunky design from AMC, that short #8 piece is bent like that to clear the hood safety latch and trying to duplicate is a pain.
On my 79 J10 I used a universal condenser and it was a whole lot easier to make the lines, I'll post a picture.
What I'm trying to is fabricate lines in my shop that will work with oem style condenser/drier that a builder could use, if I can get the angles right would be fast and easy for me to duplicate.
You are correct that if a builder had the original piece which were steel could weld on a stem with ferrule and crimp a new hose, the other impossible to find fitting is the #10 tight 90 degree male flare on the outlet of evaporator, can weld a stem on old piece and rehose, in the past tried to use a standard #10 90 flare but when installed hits the firewall, do the newer FSJ's have a evaporator that is O-ring?

[sonoraed]

Here’s a picture of my 79 J10, built in 2015 before oem style condenser’s were available


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[Theodore]

Hi Theodore, ...
the other impossible to find fitting is the #10 tight 90 degree male flare on the outlet of evaporator, can weld a stem on old piece and rehose, in the past tried to use a standard #10 90 flare but when installed hits the firewall, do the newer FSJ's have a evaporator that is O-ring?

Mine's a 1990 GW & it was flare; I got nearly everything from JeepAir.com/ColdHose.com, except for the evaporator as the one they have is O-ring & I wasn't sure about fitment. Found this one from Summit: Four Seasons FSS-54613, which looked exactly like the original except for being aluminum vs. copper/aluminum.

Here's what JeepAir.com has evaporator-wise O-Ring: https://jeepair.com/collections/evapora ... 6985492565

[sonoraed]

Have to take a close look at the Jeep Air and see if it might work, possible could solve two problems, the NLA tight 90 flare fitting and eliminate the flare fittings at evap.
Industry went to O-rings when switching over to 134A because of the smaller molecules structure of 134A vs R12, also the reason why they went to Barrier hose and bubble crimps.

[letank]

Very good ideas, here was my approach, relocating the drier inside the engine bay and some pipe bending learning curve!

I swapped the condenser bracket to have a little more clearance on the passenger side, and even redrill the support holes to ease access to the mounting points of these brackets. In fact you can spot a failed attempt, I cut the valence to try to fit that #10, but failed and had to redo the bent.

CondensUpHoseFSJacx.jpg

a little secured clamp

HighPresLIqN8x.jpg

I fiddled with the cut, after bending the #6, not ideal, but I did not want to wait another couple of days for another shipping delay

HighP6Cut3FSJx.jpg

All connected, this was the only angle I had, there is a High pressure port on the compressor. In retrospect I should have changed the way I bent that pipe a bit longer with an angle going thru the valence... but this was my first AC bending foray!

HighPressureLiq#8CondenFSJx.jpg

and the bracket details, the condenser is from rock auto or ebay!

[letank]

the drier location

DrierFilterNewLocFSJx.jpg

and yes the battery box was slightly relocated by the PO

I am missing my snafu for the condenser hose... will add later.

And yes the evaporator connection is a bear, the newer vehicle have a pass thru plate with O-ring connectors -I spent some time at the junkk yard to study the new AC systems

[sonoraed]

Have to take a close look at the Jeep Air and see if it might work, possible could solve two problems, the NLA tight 90 flare fitting and eliminate the flare fittings at evap.
Industry went to O-rings when switching over to 134A because of the smaller molecules structure of 134A vs R12, also the reason why they went to Barrier hose and bubble crimps.

The Jeep Air evaporator is for a 90's Cherokee not a FSJ