When I attempted to fabricate a hard line from the condenser to the compressor, I ended up cracking the thin aluminum tubing where the hard line attached. So I never got the a/c working last summer. I did find that with the condenser blocking airflow to the radiator, using a 5 blade fan was not enough to keep the engine cool without a shroud, but I also used a shorter spacer in an attempt to maintain the same distance from the radiator. That may have been a mistake.

I'm determined to get it sorted out this year before summer. Since I've acquired all the pieces for the dealer a/c kit, I'm trying to use as much as I can, but some of the major pieces didn't work out...

Below is the original condenser/receiver drier assembly. It's big and bulky and it was mounted right next to the radiator. It had to be very inefficient with the heat transfer from the radiator. I opted to use a modern serpentine flow condenser I found on ebay that had the old style flare fittings. It's slightly smaller in length and height, and about half as thick.



Below is the new condenser mounted in the truck. I fabricated brackets that use the existing holes in the core support rather than drilling holes like the dealer kit instructed. The receiver/drier is a reproduction '65/'66 Mustang piece. I also trimmed the back of the hood latch so I could move it forward enough to create a reasonable space between the condenser and radiator.



The radiator is spaced back with these 3/4" square tubes that came in the dealer master ac kit. The notches were for the straps that attach to the core support.



I fabricated new discharge and liquid line hoses. The original dealer ac kit did not have a sight glass on the liquid line, but I found an NOS 1964 Rotunda sight glass that I incorporated into the liquid line that had a male flare fitting. That made it much easier to fabricate the line from the receiver/drier to the liquid line as both ends used female flare fittings that I could create with my flaring tool.



Although both trucks I have that had dealer a/c kits had fan shrouds (albeit different ones), the parts list for the C6TZ 19B968-A V8 Master AC kit doesn't list a fan shroud, so I'm going to see if it will keep the engine cool enough just using the fan that came with the kit, the six bladed C6MY-B fan. I'm hoping that the thinner modern condenser will not block as much air as the original and I can get by without one, but I have it if I need it. The C6MY-B fan has aluminum blades that are easily bent. I had to straighten a couple of them out.



So this is how the engine bay looks now: no fan shroud, original spacer, C6MY-B fan and radiator spaced back 3/4". Just waiting on a new battery to fire it up.



I was not able to use my NOS Rotunda evaporator because it interferes with the 4 speed transmission cover, and I didn't want to take the time to have it modified. The 4 speed stick is too far forward to make it work, but there is plenty of room in front of the Tremec shift handle. When I restore the F-250 I'll see if I can modify the trans cover to allow it to fit with the NV 4500 shifter. Below is the restored '66 Mustang evaporator. It fits much better. Why did Ford do such stupid things???



Part 2 will be the interior installation. I'm waiting on a hose fitting.

 

I would definitely do a shroud. And not sure if you know it, but as soon as you opened that receiver dryer it started filling with moisture. It has a desiccant bag in it that attracts moisture. You should get another one and don't open it until you are ready to charge the system. It is very important that the system stay clean and dry.

Eric

 

I want to test it without a shroud first. If I can get by without it, I'd like to leave it that way. I have it if I need it though.

I tried to keep the system capped and closed as much as possible while fabricating the lines, but I had to open them up to assemble everything. I'm hoping that when I take it to have the system evacuated, they will be able to determine if the desiccant is still good. Worst case, after everything checks out for no leaks, I can replace it before charging.

The last fitting should arrive tomorrow, so I should have this project wrapped up this weekend. My reproduction Autolite battery is scheduled to be shipped before the end of the week, so next week I should have it back on the road.

 

Man I would try to find another condenser than that York. That is one power hungry sumbeech. As far as a shroud you only need it for idling. These old fords allow plenty of air to come in when moving. I learned many years back in extra hot temps you could be in traffic moving slow and stopping at lights the temp gauge would go up and soon after moving it would come down.


John

 

Good to hear from you John! I know the York is a terrible compressor, the vibration alone can drive you crazy, but I'm trying to keep it period correct. Hopefully with such a small cab it won't have to run for very long at a time. My '76 F-150 and F-250 have York compressors. If I decide to keep one or both, I will definitely replace them with a modern rotary style. I have a complete serpentine setup for the 460, so I would use the Ford compressor from the mid 90s. The 390 in the F-150 would get a Sanden conversion. I need to let one of them go. My yard looks like it's my own personal junk yard.

When I installed a condenser last year it overheated even while driving down the road, but it was a "reproduction" style with tube and fin construction so it was just as thick as the original that came in the dealer kit, just made from thin aluminum instead of copper. I also used a shorter spacer so the fan wasn't as close to the radiator. The condenser I have now is smaller in every dimension, but most importantly it's thinner and way more efficient with the serpentine flow nearly flat "tube" that has way more surface area. I want to see how well the factory design fan worked. If the 6 fixed blade fan works, I'm going to try again with the 5 blade fan. It's much closer to the radiator than it was before, so that might make a difference. Then I'm going to try with the 19 1/4" six blade clutch fan from a '66 Lincoln with extra cooling. I don't think they used a fan shroud either. I already know that even the 5 blade fan will work with a shroud, so this is an experiment to see what will work without one.

 

Although it's true that the desiccant bag is trapping moisture as we speak, I do lots of A/C work on collision cases and when the body guy takes stuff apart they virtually never cap off the A/C. I have found that if I pull a deep vacuum for like an hour it will boil off almost anything in the system and leave MY shop ice cold, I'm talking ice cubes flying out of the vents.

 

D3TZ-8146-C (replaced C8TZ-8146-K) .. Fan Shroud - Repro'd by Carpenter.

Original applications: 1968/76 F100/350 360/390 with standard, xtra cooling and A/C radiators.

This shroud will bolt on 1965/66 F100/350's like it was made for them. I installed one on my 1965 F100 352 with A/C in 1981.

 

That's good to hear! I had heard the same thing from someone else, so I was pretty confident I could make mine work by being careful. The humidity is pretty low this time of year, and keeping the lines capped should add extra protection. Once I started fabbing everything together I realized I needed a 90 degree fitting in the cab. I had bought a straight and a 45, so of course neither worked.

 

Thanks Bill, but I'm hoping I don't need to use one. The original fan spacer puts the fan 1 1/4" closer to the radiator than the one I was using with the shroud. The dealer kit radiator spacers are 3/4" rather than the 5/8" that I tried last year. That's a total of 1 3/8" closer, and might make all the difference for airflow.

My first test configuration will be with the dealer kit just like it would have been done back in '66 with the rare 18.5" C6MY fan on the original fan spacer but with a thinner condenser. That should keep it cool, but I'll find out for sure.

If the 6 blade C6MY fan works without a shroud, the next run will be with the C8TZ 5 blade fan which is much more common and shows up on ebay all the time.

The last test will be with the larger C6VE 19 1/4" 6 blade Lincoln fan. It won't be as close to the radiator though because it is a clutch type fan, so I have to use what's available for a clutch. I might add spacers to move the radiator closer to maintain the same gap, but I'm not going to cut my (almost) NOS radiator hoses so I can't move it back too much.

I'll post all the results so anyone can duplicate one of the configurations that works without guessing. We already know the shroud works with even the smallest 5 blade fan, but that's almost like cheating.

 

With an OAT of 50 degrees F, the engine temp stayed pegged at the ragged edge of the cold end of the normal range while driving. I could idle indefinetly and the needle barely budged up a little. Even after shutting the engine down and letting it get hot enough to move in the middle of the normal range, as soon a I started it back up the engine temp came right back down, so the fan is working great.

I'm going to leave it alone for now. When summer gets here I'll continue testing with the 5 blade fan, but I have to say it looks very promising.

Below is the evaporator installed with all hoses connected. Still need to make the electrical connections.

 

It's 72 degrees F outside so I decided to swap to fan configuration B. This is the 19.25 diameter six blade C6VE-C fan with a C4AZ 8A616-A fan clutch for Galaxies with Extra Cooling. It has a greater stand off height than anything I could find in a generic replacement. Like the C6ME-B fan, it maintained temperature at idle through multiple thermostat cycles. So here's the run down:

No shroud, idle RPM: 750 Edit; Radiator moved aft 3/4", with serpentine condenser installed

Fan: C6ME-B Diameter: 18.5" Type: 6 blade fixed, Distance from radiator to leading edge: 1.75", maintained engine temp at idle, tested @ 50F OAT
Fan: C6VE-C Diameter: 19.25" Type: 6 blade clutch, Distance from radiator to leading edge: 2.25", maintained engine temp at idle, tested @ 72F OAT


C4AZ 8A616-A Fan Clutch above

View from passenger side above

View from driver side.
I like this combination best as the clutch has the potential to improve gas mileage on the freeway, so I plan to leave it like this until/unless it can't keep up in the heat of summer.

 

It was unusually warm today for mid April, so I did the last test configuration. The results are as follows:

Test conditions: No shroud, idle rpm 750, radiator spaced back 3/4", serpentine flow condenser installed.
Fan: C8TA-E, Diameter: 18.5, Type: 5 blade fixed, steel hub and steel blades, Distance from radiator to leading edge: 1.75", tested at 79 F OAT

Results: Maintained cool temp at idle while I mowed my lawn. This was the worst case test configuration.

Conclusion: A stock V8 radiator in good operating condition can adequately cool a stock or mild performance FE engine without a shroud and with a variety of fans if the fan is properly sized and spaced relative to the radiator. The lack of a shroud in the V8 dealer A/C kit appears to be justified.

 

It's been a while since I last updated this thread so I thought I would add one more comment now that the weather is warm and the AC is working. The engine temps are still fine without a shroud and using the C6VE-C fan with a clutch. If I sit at a red light for an extended period, it will creep up to about midway on the gauge, but as soon as I start moving it comes back down to where it stays when the AC is off.

The old York compressor really lets you know when it comes on, but it's not as noticeable as the one in my '76, so I'm OK with it. I need to add another 1/2 can of R12 to top it off but it gets the job done as is... I just need to keep the fan on high all the time. The '66 Mustang under dash evaporator blower is quieter than I expected, so that's a bonus.

D'oh, Forgot which fan I had installed!

 

What was the OAT that you needed to keep the fan on high all the time?
How much space is between the condenser & radiator?
If you hold paper or tissue will it stay on the front of the condenser at idle?

Remember the fan needs to pull air through the condenser & radiator and if the condenser and radiator are to far apart air will only be pulled through the radiator and not the condenser.
On some systems they use rubber strips between the condenser & radiator so the air will be pulled through both coils.

My 81 F100 uses a strip of rubber on the top between the radiator & support to make sure the fan pulls air through the radiator.
Only the AC and extra cooling trucks of 80 - 86 use a shroud and a larger radiator.
At idle I can feel the air being pulled through the grille, condenser & radiator and on 90* OAT days I need to cut the fan speed back as it gets too cold, I run 134a charge.
Dave ----

 

about 85F
IIRC I used 5/8" spacers between the radiator and condenser on the passenger side. The driver's side doesn't go all the way across, so it's not perfectly square. The driver side is closer to 1/2".

Never thought to do that science experiment, but I'll give it a try.

On the flip side, if they are too close together the condenser will absorb heat from the radiator and can block air flow to it. A shroud would force air through both as well, so that may be what I need to do to get it to cool better.

Although the temps don't normally get crazy high here, the humidity is killer, so I'm just delighted it works as well as it does. I can drive all summer long without breaking a sweat!