I'm at the point in the rebuild on my 70 F250 that I'll looking to put back in the AC system, but not sure what to do. I have the under dash dealer installed unit, dryer/accumulator, AC compressor, and condenser. The condenser has a broken hose fitting and probably not fixable, and the dryer is probably shot. The AC hoses were old and brittle and had to cut those during disassembly. I went through the under dash unit and cleaned it out. The evap core on the inside looked in good shape.

Can I make the under dash unit work with new lines, dryer, compressor, and condenser? Can the old compressor be converted to use R-134? If I found another condenser and figured out a way to mount it in front of the radiator like the original, I would need to figure out where to get new hoses. Or, would it be better to purchase a complete AC kit that would fit the truck? Cost is an issue, so I assume reusing what I can would be best, but not it would last or work well with R-134.

 

For the condenser I would look at one for your truck that had factory air as that would most likely fit but measure your old one to match up.

Yes replace the dryer / accumulator and hoses.

Compressor, they say you can use the old one if it was working and the system did not have dirt in it.
But I would replace the old York with the newer type. Ebay has kits that have adapter brackets and compressor to fit where the York compressor was.

The dryer could be a issue but again try factory.

Hoses I think it was Ebay where I seen hose kits to make your own.
If they need the ends compressed on once you have the hose & ends marked a local shop can do that part.
Or Ebay had the tool to do that and was not to much $$$.

Then who will pull a vacuum on the system to make sure there are no leaks?
If you dont have the tools to do the hoses or pull vacuum / recharge maybe a shop could do that part after you mount the condenser, dryer & compressor.
They would do the hoses and charge the system.

I was lucky on my 81 F100 with factory air. I did switch from a York compressor to the newer type but the later 80's trucks used that compressor.
But the hoses were different between the 2 different compressors types. I was able to come up with a fix using factory hoses just not run like the factory did.
I also bought a HF vacuum pump to pull a vacuum and a AC gauge kit to charge the system.
Dave ----

 

Yes you can refurb the existing system for less than a new one.
minimum new parts: parallel flow Condenser, dryer, barrier lines, appropriate oil, 134A. around $300.

 

I converted my 67 XL to 134 using the original condenser. I had a radiator shop service the evaporator. I cleaned out the condenser with 3 cans of carburetor spray, you should have seen the amount of crud shot out of the condenser after letting it set a few days with compressed air. I sent the receiver dryer off to a place that rebuilds them. Since the compressor is now mounted down on the right it required a lot longer hoses. I dummied up the run of hoses and pushed the fittings on them clocking so that they all fitted after crimping. It is probably not as efficient but the wife does not complain and that is what matters.