Date:         Tue, 19 Sep 2006 22:27:57 EDT
Reply-To:     Jahsurf@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chris Dixon <Jahsurf@AOL.COM>
Subject:      85 Westy A/C - Advice
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hello all,
My adventurous mom and I just went in on a beautiful 85 Westy that has had a
lot of good work done to it by the Autobahn Society in Georgia. Everything's
awesome on it - especially the remarkable power in the re-headed 1.9 liter
engine. But the AC ain't so cool. It's got the earlier factory rear ac that fit
entirely in the rear overhead cabinet - different from the larger rear model in
later westy's.
It's got an R134 conversion and appears to be full of refrigerant with a
brand new compressor. I added maybe 1/3lb of freon in it yesterday til it woulnd't
take any more (it's now around 33PSI low side at idle) and it just doesnt'
blow very cold - i'd say it's putting out air in the upper 50's to low 60's.
Today in Charleston it was about 88 and humid and it barely kept the van
liveable. Does anyone have one of these units that's been "134'd" and any experience
on a decrease in cold output because of this refrigerant's lower cooling
ability compared to R12?
I had the later rear model AC in my 134 converted 87 Westy Syncro and that
thing blew plenty cold. Any advice appreciated.
Chris Dixon