The condenser takes a superheated gas from the compressor and uses the cool, outside air that comes through the grill to cool that gas into a high pressure liquid. A parallel flow condenser is approximately 1/3 more efficient than the older tube and fin style. I ordered the largest universal condenser I could find and then the project before me was to remove the old one and mount the new one.
The condenser most easily comes out from the front, plus I didn't want to have to remove, again, the front components from the engine so I could remove the radiator, which would mean draining the expensive coolant, just to take the condenser out from the rear. First, the front bumper and grill had to come out. Then I had to remove this center brace and the square shaped piece of metal at the top which covers the hood latch. I noticed that one of the ground wires for the 4-note horns I had installed had broken off. This ground wire is redundant due to the fact that the horn also grounds through the body by mounting to the frame, but I still like to have them in place.
The new condenser, on top, is somewhat smaller than the original and almost half as thin. This was the largest unit I could find and was advertised as being for heavy duty purposes and for setups that have two AC systems, which would be for vehicles that have an air conditioner for the front and rear, so I believe it will be sufficient for our purposes.
Fortunately there is a large scrap pile behind where I work and I was able to scavenge two old damaged brackets that had been thrown away. They were strong, 1/8" steel and shaped perfectly to save me a lot of work.
April was washing my parent's vehicle because we had borrowed it while the AC was out on our 4 door Caprice and Jacob happened to stop by so he watched Rose while we were busy working.
Fortunately I was able to use the existing shapes of the old brackets to cut out the shapes I needed and then drill the holes in the appropriate places. It still took a lot of time to make each one, but the existing shapes of the old brackets saved me from a lot of welding that I would have otherwise had to do.
I had to make room for the lower fitting and room for a wrench to connect the fitting. I finished this bracket on Friday after work. Even though they won't be seen I still like to round off all the edges and make them look presentable. Even if they are hidden at least I'll know they're in there and were done right.
It took me all day Saturday, after going in to work half a day, to finish the remaining three brackets. I started with the lower driver's side, which also required no welding. Here are the bottom two brackets after being finished. I used small screws to temporarily hold them in place. I'll need to weld nuts to the back of each bracket after I have the location of the condenser completely finished. There is very little extra room for the condenser and it must sit exactly in place within a variance of about half an inch and it also must lean back at an angle to match the lean of the radiator. This is made a little more difficult because the brackets must mount to the core support, which is not leaned back and is perpendicular to the ground.
The upper mounts were much more difficult because they had more complex bends, were much harder to see and access, required welding and their position had to mount the condenser in the exact right position in reference to its up/down, left/right and forward/aft position.
In order to get the exact fit I had to cut each piece to fit together and then bolt them separately in place and tack weld them together.
It was a tight fit here on the passenger side but there was even less room when I did the driver's side
This allowed me to get the exact angle I needed
I completed the welding and finished grinding for the final fitment
Because there was so little room on the driver's side I had to put a relief cut in the bracket and bend it to make it fit inside the limited space. I welded up the gap after I had the correct bend. I also used the same process of tack welding the bracket and then finishing it once removed. This one was particularly difficult to fit the ground cable and welding gun inside the very narrow space I had to work in while everything was bolted into the car.
The end result
All together I would say it took about ten hours to make all four brackets. I still need to weld nuts on the back of the part of each bracket that mounts to the tabs on the condenser and then I can paint and install them for good.
And I have a lot of spare bracket parts left over for future projects
