I've just replaced all the janky accessory bushings, cheap o-rings, insulated the capillary tube on the T-stat switch, replaced the old natural rubber hoses and had them charged with R12 with no issues whatever
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This is TB, so that's considered insane, but no drama and it has been a decade+ solution and counting
They worked reasonably well when new just the hoses leaked and the t-stat switch wouldn't cut the compressor off before ice-up so it'd be slugging it on a marginal charge/oiling, never mind the janky accessory bushing/belt tension issues common to these that made them all die prematurely. The T-stat switch cutoff issue would be especially bad in the summer, since the alcohol tube is usually near the (in the summer) extremely hot trans tunnel with no decent insulation on it.
Parallel flow condenser and just the stock pusher fans probably wouldn't hurt.
Tropical fan clutch and the stock push fan with a 77-82 switch on the passenger side of the radiator for cave-man primitive/silly simple control works fine with just stock/cheap/no fuss junkyard junk that fits.
If it's ~100?F out, the top of the pass end tank will quickly reach 82?C pulling air thru the condenser with inlet air off the pavement ~135?+F or more even with the tropical fan clutch fully locked up (not always if you use the B230FT water pump pulley on an N/A car, but then that means a lot more coolant cavitation at high revs/water pressure to potentially blow out heater cores at 4500-5000+RPM, so compromise there for sure/wouldn't go that route) when idling. In practice, the pusher fan is always on sitting idling on warm days, but not being wasteful/running when not absolutely needed, despite being primitive without precise computer control or other switches/gizmos other than the switch sitting in the coolant, counter intuitive as that sounds...the location of that switch at the top of the cold side rad end tank is very deliberate: It's essentially a reference point akin to the t-static spring on the front of the clutched fan measuring average air temp of the radiator: (not quite totally cold outlet temp of a heat exchanger (radiator), but measuring one bar/single direct trip across the heat exchanger) basically from initially hot).
Basically, if it's warm out, with the 77-82?C (~180?F) switch in the pass side of the top of the rad (not quite fully cool rad outlet temp basically), that works out to fairly precise pusher fan control without being wasteful in practical terms with the A/C on...over ~135?F pavement on those scorching 95+?F days, likely ~165?+F after passing thru the condenser, you'd figure coolant would have to enter the engine at MINIMUM ~170-180?F idling to maintain engine op temps of the ~180-192ish target of the stock T-stats.
Make sure there's no dirt in the radiator fins and the rest of the cooling system/air guides are good.
I've mostly solved all the A/C problems with:
-Correct sized viton o-rings (cheap and easy)
-A trip to the hose shop for some modern barrier hoses (not necessarily earth shatteringly expensive/difficult)
-.17? in small boiler tube insulation for the dial switch ( (cheap and easy)
-Tested not beat up tropical fan clutch that works (junkyard/used)/replace the silicon fluid if the hub doesn't leak if you insist for .17?/hr IH8MUD style
-Used 3-row radiator (cheap and easy/not mandatory)
-Random used wahler 77-82 temp switch that screws into passenger side of radiator (cheap and easy)
-Stock 940/850/960/whatever randomish FWD primary fan relay for push fan if you wanna be fancy (cheap and easy/not strictly mandatory/overkill for the pusher)
Freon R-12 in my case, though duracool works fairly OK, but not as stable over such a wide temp range. IDK I just buy R12 when possible. As long as you seal it all up and address a few shortcomings it hasn't really been leaking out, helps to know where to get Freon and use the machine when one has to...but we're talking a couple hundred dollars at worst really from what I've seen.
-A recently replaced used or new compressor that isn't all worn out. (bit of a problem piece at this late date not contaminated)
-Stock pusher fan...works if it hasn't been damaged, motor might need cleaned out or swapped (fairly generic Bosch or VDO branded motor common to other stuff IIRC). (cheap and easy)
Would still kick the compressor on and off idling and ice up in 95-100 degree heat, but we don't have it near as hot on the pavement as the SE/SW arizona sunlight intensity, to be fair, though pretty miserable on the eastern side of the state on road trips (not a lot of traffic in the high deathly miserable desert though), and very thin high elevation air that doesn't exchange heat very well.
You can pretty much do all this little stuff with drop in decent condition junkyard/fairly generic parts without reinventing the wheel, especially for just a mundane stock N/A daily driver that doesn't have a wildly different/hotrod powerplant/engine bay packaging re-arrangement, driving the car reliably comfortably being primary, performance secondary at best.
Didn't want to swap in the 1993 stuff, had an early sheetmetal car and it doesn't fit in a 240Turbo engine bay very well.
And it's a lot more labor time.
That said, the factory did do it and the parts exist used (1993 system swap if one has more time than $) and wants a legit totally legal R134A designed setup that's mostly reliable...
There's basically no evidence that my 1986 corolla (just to name a random car but there are lots of others laid out similarly...no need to fixate on that) was ever re-charged and the R12 still ices up pretty well.
That said, it doesn't have miles of natural rubber hoses, poor control of the compressor cutoff point to prevent it from pulling in liquid refrigerant and/or something to prevent it from running around on low charge and/or the compressor jankily mounted all cockeyed on a bunch of flimsy hooptie bushings either...
Such shortcomings can be mostly addressed fairly inexpensively on the lowly volvo, but there it is...
) of air moved by the fans comes across both rad and condenser. Controller runs them at 75% of max speed whenever compressor clutch is engaged. And I have the ability to disengage that a/c-fan link (turn a/c trigger off) when I’m out on the Interstate for long runs at high enough speed to move enough air without them. If your pullers are sized correctly and air flow is managed properly, I’ve found pushers aren’t necessary. Neither of our DD’s have pushers and the A/C in both will freeze you out.
