I pulled the radiator out of the 365GTC/4 to remove the old condenser. I decided to replace the old condenser with a new one to have less chance of having debris or old R12 refrigerant and oil trapped in the system.

The new condenser was sized to fit where the old one lived, but I managed to get one a little larger. It also seemed to have finer tubes and more surface area than the old one.

Inside the car, I decided to keep the old evaporator but cleaned it out thoroughly with a flushing fluid. I installed all new lines and installed a new expansion valve as well. These were the only lines using the old flare fittings, with everything in the engine compartment upgraded to new 0-ring fittings.

In this picture, you can see the new compressor on the left with the new 134a fittings. On the right, is the radiator installed with the new condenser and new lines and fittings. At the bottom of the picture, you can just see the dryer and binary switch that is connected to the compressor clutch.

I connected the refrigerant lines to my gauges and vacuum pump to start evacuating the system. I kept the vacuum pump running for a few hours to evaporate any moisture, cleaning fluid, or old oil out of the system. I closed the system up, and left the system under vacuum overnight to confirm I didn’t have any loss of vacuum. In the morning, I was happy to see the system had not lost any vacuum, so I was ready to charge the system.

I slowly charged the system and added about 13 oz of fluid along with about 14 oz of PAG oil to the empty compressor. I managed to get the A/C temp down to about 42 degrees F, but the true test will be when I get the car out on the road on a warm day to see how she performs.

Some of you were asking for a parts list and here’s a rough list. It may not be complete, but it’s a starting point:

York Compressor with 6″ double groove clutch. RH Suction.

Roto Lock service valves for O-RIng fittings with charge ports

O-RIng Drier with brackets and port for Binary Switch (Please include Binary Switch)

7′ of -6 hose

4′ of -8 hose

9′ of reduced barrier -10 hose

Expansion valve

     Hose Ends

(1) -10 straight with flare fitting for Reduced barrier hose (Evap)

(1) -10 90 with O-Ring  (Compressor)

(2) straight -6 O-RIng

(2) 90 -6 O-RIng

(1) 90 -6 Flare 

(2) 90 -8 O-Ring

(1) Straight -8 O-Ring

The condenser was a High Performance Aluminum Condenser 13.5” (Height) 24” (Width) ordered from Classic Auto Air

You’ll have to decide if you want to use the regular barrier hose or the reduced barrier hose. The reduced barrier hoses are thinner, and are supposed to have the same performance as the thicker hose. The thinner hose made it easier to route the hose through the firewall on the C/4. You’ll also have to get a crimper to attach the new fittings. I recommend you get the handheld hydraulic crimper, but make sure it comes with the dies that can crimp the reduced barrier hoses if you choose to use the thinner hose.

Before putting the hood back on the C/4, I needed to address the head lights. They would occasionally go into a constant loop of flipping up and flipping down.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C7W0hgTsFgp/

I immediately when to check the switch of the steering column. Removing this knob requires care not to lose a small ball bearing inside that can be easily lost.

I quickly found out the switch was suffering from the classic problem of shrinking and cracking plastic. The arrow pointed to a crack that was forming, allowing the whole switch turn when the light switch was turned. I widened the crack with a file and secured the shrinking plastic collar with a thin piece of wire. The plan was to fix and strengthen the crack with a plastic repair kit.

Here’s the repair of the stalk with the wire embedded in the switch body, and the plastic repair holding it all together. If the rest of the stalks in the steering column were breaking, I would have sent the whole steering column out for repairs at ODD Parts, but this repair I did myself saved me the time to send the unit out to California and wait for it to return. Instead, I had it all back together by the afternoon!