Big Update! Please click here to go straight to post #15 for important details about revisions to this part. It appears the product has been redesigned to fit properly.



The original AC condenser (factory air) in my '84 F250 finally gave up the ghost and sprung a pinhole leak. Read on for details of fitting an aftermarket Spectra brand. Right up front, you should know this unit is a poor fit. I wish I could have found a different brand with a fit comparable to OEM, but there's nothing out there as far as I know.

Courtesy of FTE forum member "1985 Bronco", here's a view of a bare radiator support from a 1984 F150. I've highlighted where the Spectra unit interferes with the reinforcing brackets at the bottom corners of the radiator support. I do NOT recommend trimming these brackets for clearance:







To show how nicely the OEM unit fit, here's a view from underneath, looking up on the driver's side. Note how the condenser fits perfectly just inboard of the reinforcing bracket on the radiator support. The OEM fit at the passenger side is similar:







Here's the Spectra unit unboxed, showing the aft side. Note how the top mounting brackets are on the aft side, but the bottom brackets are on the front. To gain enough clearance at the bottom, I had to relocate those brackets to the aft side, but more on that later:







I had read some unkind comments online about the fit of this part, and had hoped to find another source. My local O'Reilly's showed their own Murray brand, so I purchased that. Unfortunately, it was merely a Spectra 7-4150 in a Murray box:







Removal of the original condenser is not difficult. Of course you will have to discharge the refrigerant. The radiator can be left installed, although I had it removed for other reasons in some of the following pictures. Remove the two brackets at the top of the radiator and tilt it aft for clearance. The condenser is secured to the radiator support by four bolts. The top bolts are on the aft side and the bottom bolts are on the front. Here's a comparison view with the OEM condenser resting on the Spectra replacement. The dimensions don't look much different, but the Spectra unit is about one annoying inch too wide to fit properly:







These comparison views show one problem area, at the bottom of the passenger side. Note how the line on the OEM unit is offset forward to clear the reinforcing bracket on the radiator support. For reasons unknown, the line on the Spectra version doesn't have this needed joggle:












Here's a test fit, looking up at the bottom on the passenger's side. Note how the line hits the reinforcing bracket on the radiator support. The condenser mounting bracket is about 1/2" away from the bolt hole in the radiator support:







This view looks up at the bottom on the driver's side. Although there is no protruding line, the condenser still hits the reinforcing bracket on this side, too:







The only way I could get this unit to fit was to tilt the bottom forward about 5/8". You can't go much further because the bottom of condenser hits the vertical brace at the front. To help compensate, I also raised the condenser about 3/4" to improve clearance with this brace:







It was also necessary to shift the top aft about 3/8" to improve clearance along the sides. Here's a view of the top bracket on the passenger side, before modifications:







Here's a slightly different view of the same bracket at the top on the passenger side, with a joggle added to bring the top aft 3/8". Also note the new hole, allowing the condenser to sit about 3/4" higher than it did originally. Because the joggle changed the geometry a little bit, the new hole is actually less than 3/4" from the old one. Take a measurement from the condenser body before bending the bracket, and then subract 3/4" to locate the new position. If tilting and raising the unit doesn't seem bad enough, I also had to shift it towards the passenger side about 1/4". I was able to loosen the two bolts securing the bracket to the condenser body and shift it sideways just enough:







Modifying the top bracket on the driver's side was a little easier, as it did not need to joggle around the line. All I did was flatten the previous Z-shaped profile and measure for a new hole. Note how this hole is slightly offset to the side, as there was not enough play to shift this bracket sideways:







With the top squared away, it's time to fight with the bottom. This test fit shows the bottom of the passenger side, with a gap of approximately 1/2" to the front face of the radiator support. Spectra's Z-shaped bracket is still attached to the front of the condenser. Look carefully, and you'll understand a custom bracket on the aft side of the condenser could be almost flat instead:







Here's the new bracket I made for the bottom of the passenger side, fitted on the aft side now, with only a slight joggle required:







For the bottom of the driver's side, I relocated the existing bracket to the aft side and flattened most of the joggle. Conveniently, the existing hole lined up perfectly to compensate for the condenser being raised 3/4":







There's only one slight modification left. This view, looking towards the driver's side, shows the center brace and the bolt that must be shortened about 1/4" to clear the front of the condenser (not shown):







As a recap, here's how I had to modify the brackets on the new Spectra unit to fit. There's no way the unit could be installed as purchased. All dimensions are approximate:

1) Top edge tilted back 3/8"
2) Bottom edge tilted forward 5/8"
3) Shifted 1/4" towards the passenger side
4) Shifted up 3/4"

How does it work? So far, so good. I converted the factory air in my truck to R134a years ago. The OEM unit, designed for R12, has 33 cross tubes each measuring 3/8" x 23". Not counting the loops at the end, the core has approximately 893 square inches of surface area, and about 83 cubic inches of internal volume.

The Spectra unit (designed for R134a?) has more tubes but each one is smaller. It has 52 tubes, each 1/4" x 24". Again not counting the loops at the end, the Spectra core has approximately 980 square inches of surface area (10% increase), [[color=#e74c3c]edit] but only about 62 cubic inches of volume (25% decrease).

Other than the poor fit, the Spectra unit does seem to perform well. The only drawback I've noticed is cooling performance drops off at low vehicle speeds, when ram airflow through the condenser is reduced and the fan is doing most of the work. My hunch is the fan doesn't draw air through the condenser as efficiently because the fit against the radiator now has a bigger gap at the bottom. If you do a lot of stop and go driving in hot weather, this could be an issue for you, but with my typical driving pattern, it's not really a big deal.

Additional pictures of the radiator support, and details of some variations, can be seen in this thread:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...r-support.html

 

Thanks for the review and pictures!

I think the bigger tubes are better. My F250 outperforms my Bronco and Suburban. All now equipped with R134. Particularly at stops.

I replaced a condenser on a 1987 4Runner I used to have, got an OEM, that was nice.

 

The only drawback I've noticed is cooling performance drops off at low vehicle speeds, when ram airflow through the condenser is reduced and the fan is doing most of the work. My hunch is the fan doesn't draw air through the condenser as efficiently because the fit against the radiator now has a bigger gap at the bottom. If you do a lot of stop and go driving in hot weather, this could be an issue for you, but with my typical driving pattern, it's not really a big deal.

That is pretty normal on all cars and trucks. Besides the low airflow, the A/C compressor is not pumping as hard at idle also. They tried to compensate for this some with the idle compensator to raise the idle speed when the A/C is on, but you can only raise it so much, you don't want to have to put both feet on the brake pedal to hold it back at a stoplight.

 

The joys of working on old cars with aftermarket parts.

 

Thanks for the write up and pictures as one day I have to replace mine.

Is there a way to make "wings" to fill in that gap at the bottom or add an electric pusher fan out front?
Dave - - - -
edit: forgot to add this should be a sticky

 

OK, done.

1) I added it to the top of the Heater & Air Conditioning classification in the Sticky:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ml#post7634517

2) I *moved* this entire thread into the HOWTOs subforum with a redirect (expiring in 30 days) from the main forum to there.

 

Agreed, no argument there. It was like that with the OEM condenser even way back in the Dark Ages when it had R12. When I converted to R134a but kept the OEM condenser, the cooling performance dropped off a little more than before when moving slowly. Not a huge concern, but it was definitely there.

It could be my imagination now, but it seems the dropoff is a little more noticeable with this new condenser. I didn't go into full science mode with a lab coat and clipboard, so I don't have any data from controlled conditions to confirm my potentially flawed observations.

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I'm not a big advocate of electric fans myself. I thought about adding some baffles or wings to fill the gaps letting air bypass the condenser, but decided against it for several reasons:

1) I'm lazy.

2) AC performance about 30 MPH or so is phenomenal. If I was a penguin smuggler and could understand their language, they'd be telling me that they're cold and want some little penguin sweaters. These are difficult to make fit because of their little flipper arms.

3) I was concerned any baffles might inadvertently cause an airflow problem through the radiator. Not super likely and I know i could undo any such mods, but the cooling system works great as is. Also see reason #1 above.

 

Forgive my ignorance here. Can an AC compressor be repaired the same as a radiator?

 

Sometimes, it depends on what wore out/failed.

 

,

Is "compressor" an autocorrect? Did you mean "condensor"?

In theory? Yes, a condenser can be repaired.

In practice? Probably not worth the expense. If the leak was caused by a cracked seam or external damage, and the unit is fairly new, such a repair might be worthwhile. If the leak was from a pinhole, it means the metal has eroded internally, with reduced thickness everywhere. Fix that one spot and there may be plenty of other thin areas almost to the point of leaking. Generally, the older a condenser (or radiator) is, the less likely it can be repaired successfully for a long-term fix.

 

 

Thanks for the write up!

Has anyone tried Action Crash Part Number: 5318-04002716 from https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/19...condenser.html ?


The reviews look promising as far as fitment goes.

 

Well that was a no go. The item they sent didn't match the diagram in the listing but was like the spectra model.

 

Some good news to report. It seems this condenser has been redesigned to fit without modification, but the part number is the same.

Here's a view of the Murray 74150 (actually Spectra brand) I installed in 2018. This is from the aft side, looking forward. Note how the everything extends past the mounting brackets on both sides:




Here's a comparable view of the current version (2023). Note how the body does not extend beyond the brackets, and the tube on the right is straighter:




Since the revised version is the same part number, I'd suggest printing both pictures and opening the box in the store before purchase. I suspect lots of the old style are still sitting on the shelf, and you'd want to make sure you get the latest version.

Kudos to diggerrigger for pointing out the difference. See post #43 in this thread:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post20888509