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240 Air Conditioning Retrofit

Harlard said:
Nope just bought the box.
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You're going to need at least the accumulator and the high-side lines from the compressor to the condenser and from the condenser to the firewall/inlet for evaporator. Some of this can be fabricated.
 
Harlard said:
Thought the drier and accumulator were different designs of the same thing.
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Not particularly. They both contain desiccant for removing moisture from the refrigerant charge, but have 2 different jobs and locations in "the loop". The similarities end there.

Speaking in automotive A/C terms; A "Receiver/Drier" (typically a Drier is separate on non-automotive applications) goes on the "High" side of the loop which manages liquid. Its primary job is to remove moisture from the charge and store refrigerant for demand, ensuring that the TXV (Thermal Expansion Valve) has a constant supply of liquid refrigerant. And that's pretty much it. It's important because on high demand days, the Receiver is often responsible for ensuring the evaporator gets its complete liquid refrigerant charge.

An accumulator's job on the other hand, is to prevent compressor slugging. That is, it's there to "accumulate" the liquid phase refrigerant that didn't boil off in the evaporator (as well as the oil charge) on the "low" (gas phase) side. Slugging is when excess liquid refrigerant gets pulled into the compressor. It damages it and causes all sorts of problems (like diluting the oil charge or even forcing the lubricant out of the compressor). The accumulator regulates how much liquid refrigerant and oil go back to the compressor through bleed orifice in the return tube for lubrication and cooling.

Disclaimer: I'm not an A/C professional, but this is what I know from my research into fixing my own vehicles. YMMV.
 
Random question on this topic. Does the accumulator need be mounted vertically. If its mounted on an angle will be detrimental to its function
 
OP, my son salvaged a 93 parallel flow condenser.... and at least 1 line. As Wren will tell you, the 93 only 2 series compressor will be tough to find..... my son also has that baby from a 75K vehicle. Last I discussed with him, he wasn't sure if he was going to keep for his 2's or flip. Shoot me a PM if interested and I will hook you two up. He harvested the entire system minus the low side hose (hacked) and I think the high side hardline from condenser to the entrance to the evap. I believe he even has the pusher fan which the 2 series needs, what with the factory weak a$$ mechanical fan et al.
 
Sadly, the '93 condenser doesn't bolt up in the '85- radiator support. I wish it did as it would have saved me a lot of work fitting universal parallel-flow condensers on the older cars that I've worked on. Additionally, the '93-only condenser is now only available from Volvo. No more in the aftermarket, which is a shame as the one from Volvo is around $350. They do, however, work great in the '86+ cars.

While the '93-style compressor was a 1-year only affair in the 240, 940's used that same Seiko compressor through '95. Some versions that I have seen here in the eastern US have a small diameter pulley for the 240's while I've been told that they also came with the larger pulleys when installed in 240's in other parts of the country that are the same diameter as used on 940's.

Also, the late 240 pusher fan won't fit in the early sheetmetal either at least not without modifications. Yeah, yeah, I know....

giphy.gif
 
Forgot to add: going to wire the electric fan the way it works in a 940. No need for a wimpy pusher fan to get in the way of my intercooler.
 
Update: ended up scoring a complete '93 system. Just ordered a new receiver, and o-ring kit.

One last question, pertaining the orifice tube: should I get a self-adjusting one? What brand should I get?
 
I did a mistake by not replacing tubes on mine back few years ago.
With new compressor, dryer, valve and o rings it still leaking a bit. Sucks, but have no money to redo it. BECAUSE R12 IS SO EXPENSIVE and hard to find a shop with a machine that works with the system in California and thats what I decide to stay with back in a day.
 
smeha said:
I did a mistake by not replacing tubes on mine back few years ago.
With new compressor, dryer, valve and o rings it still leaking a bit. Sucks, but have no money to redo it. BECAUSE R12 IS SO EXPENSIVE and hard to find a shop with a machine that works with the system in California and thats what I decide to stay with back in a day.
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I mean, you can vacuum out the R12 and oil and do this instead if you don't find a 93 to lift the metric fittings from...

https://parts.smithvolvo.com/p/Volvo__240/Conversion-kit/42863163/9145666.html?
 
Harlard said:
I mean, you can vacuum out the R12 and oil and do this instead if you don't find a 93 to lift the metric fittings from...

https://parts.smithvolvo.com/p/Volvo__240/Conversion-kit/42863163/9145666.html?
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If I recall after fixing the system I paid about $300-400 to a shop for flushing, tests and filling with fresh R12 and oil my system. I will wait till it will stop working and redo hoses and switch to R134a. Also, you don't need volvo retrofit. With new compressor there all I need is a flush, new dryer, R134a fittings and proper oil with R134a

Kit is $200+
Fittings and dryer by themselves are about $50-70 total
 
Harlard said:
I mean, you can vacuum out the R12 and oil and do this instead if you don't find a 93 to lift the metric fittings from...

https://parts.smithvolvo.com/p/Volvo__240/Conversion-kit/42863163/9145666.html?
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I'm not aware of any metric fittings in 240 AC. Mine are all standard o-ring fittings. The first ones here: https://coldhose.com/fittings.html

It really pays off in the end to learn to do your own AC work on an old Volvo. Shops will charge a lot for work you can do yourself if you put your mind to it.
Dave B.
 
The 93 R134 240 stuff uses metric nuts with standard hose sizes. It's kind of a pain in the ass. I'm now off to find a 93-95 940 T compressor to accumulator line to make sure that stuff all plays nice together as the 240 line is guaranteed to fail in my application.
 
dbarton said:
I'm not aware of any metric fittings in 240 AC. Mine are all standard o-ring fittings. The first ones here: https://coldhose.com/fittings.html

It really pays off in the end to learn to do your own AC work on an old Volvo. Shops will charge a lot for work you can do yourself if you put your mind to it.
Dave B.
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Dave you are partially right, but how many people on here own A/C machines? So after you do the A/C work on broken/vacuumed car, then most of us still need to go to the shop for flush/vacuum/refill.
 
smeha said:
Dave you are partially right, but how many people on here own A/C machines? So after you do the A/C work on broken/vacuumed car, then most of us still need to go to the shop for flush/vacuum/refill.
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Never heard of flushing an AC system, but I don't see why you can't do that yourself. And if you're worried about evacuating freon to save the ozone, not needed with hydrocarbon refrigerant like Duracool.
Other than a vacuum pump, this is the only AC machine I own:
charge2lo.jpg
 
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If you have had a compressor failure or unaware of such on a new-to-you vehicle it is best to flush the entire system. I took mine apart by each and every hose and part and flushed with brake cleaner. New 'O' rings throughout. Otherwise you are going to have trash circulating until it clogs up the expansion valve and stops the whole system.

The gauge set at HF is about $50. A vacuum pump at HF is about $80. Mine has restored 3 cars and works fine.

Cheaper than an hour of an AC tech's time.
 
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