This will be my first attempt at posting pictures so all can see what I’m dealing with. I finessed the factory evaporator out of my 65 tonight. I have had 50% or more of the car apart this month for a drivetrain swap and 4spd conversion so why stop now. I’m determined to get the AC working while I am this deep.

It’s been somewhat converted to 134 with a Chinese knock off sanden 508. I changed the condenser to a 1966 style a couple years ago and charged with 134 but it never really worked. There wasn’t much charge left so it had a pretty good leak.

I removed the evaporator tonight and to my surprise the car has (2) improperly installed expansion valves. The old one with its probe still connected sitting in the bottom of the box and the new one with its probe floating freely about.

It also appears the evaporator is leaking. There is some oil and corrosion around it. I do not know if it’s history of oil types, mixing wrong oils etc, so my plan is to flush everything very well, replace all the soft hoses, new real sanden compressor and repair now this evaporator somehow. I don’t think new evaporators are available. Can it be repaired? Or should I work to modify another to fit?

Using images from iPhone not working so well. Tried to reformat and compress but still not luck.

Won’t work from a phone really need to get on a computer and shrink them down in paint. That’s how I do it.

I’ll try to upload some tomorrow. Funny both valves look identical and both look very old. Wonder if it was a old repair way back when.

Anyone have any ideas on an evaporator I can mod to fit?

Classic Air in Tampa Florida is the best place to tell you if it can be saved. They have decades of experience, and while not inexpensive, they do what no one else can do to repair damaged parts. I have had them do work for me in the past and was very satisfied with their work. If you look in the factory assembly manual the exact lengths of hose are needed for each line.

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Woodstock CT... Located on the Connecticut / Massachusetts border, approximately 6 miles from the center of Southbridge MA. About 45 minutes from Hartford CT. 1 1/2 hours West of Boston MA. Woodstock CT to Los Angeles CA 2,937.1 miles. 1 Mile as the crow flies to Big Bird's nest.

I think I finally got some picture Success! So it looks like someone at one point took a shortcut and cut through the front of the Lower Evap box to get at and replace the Exp Valve. They made a nice Black plate to cover it, and I didnt know it wasnt factory until now. you can just catch a glipse of the back side of it next to the exp valve.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2023 04:30AM by blkcorvair.

Yeah I have seen a few of those boxes with the cut out. Makes sense to save time. They are a beast to get out. I put a new one in a system im installing in my 68’. Clark’s corvair sales the replacement valves.

The replacement is a generic valve that works as well as the original, however, the tube that connects to the end of the sensing bulb is much longer than it needs to be. If you send the original valve to Classic air, they will test it to make sure that it is good or needs to be replaced. The valve should also be wrapped with cork insulation along with the bulb. It is called Black Cork Insulating PresTite Tacky Tar Tape for Expansion Valve. Also send the receiver drier to Classic Air to have it rebuilt, or find a suitable replacement. I prefer to have them rebuilt, because they retain the original look to the engine compartment.

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Woodstock CT... Located on the Connecticut / Massachusetts border, approximately 6 miles from the center of Southbridge MA. About 45 minutes from Hartford CT. 1 1/2 hours West of Boston MA. Woodstock CT to Los Angeles CA 2,937.1 miles. 1 Mile as the crow flies to Big Bird's nest.