AC questions????

Ford F834 wrote

Dave, you will have a set of the ‘83-86 style brackets headed your way early in the week. The compressor hoses should be readily available, and not terribly expensive. The one other thing you might still need is the pig tail that plugs into the later style compressor. I may have one, I will dig around and see...

Jonathan, I received the box Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
I did not see any note on how to repay you for the parts & time, Please let me know.

For anyone that can answer:
I do have a question on the hoses as I want to replace them but the description has me confused and that does not take a lot to do

I looked up them for an 83 F150 with the 300 six
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,1983,f-150,4.9l+300cid+l6,1121353,heat+&+air+conditioning,a/c+refrigerant+hose,6900
The question(s)
What is "Pre Charged System, w/ Manual Shut-Off Valve at Compressor"
and "In Plant Charged System, w/o Manual Shut-Off Valve at Compressor"
Mostly the charge thing?
Then is the "shut-Off" on the compressor or that manifolds that bolt to the compressor? I don't see any valves in pictures?

Then looking at the compressors for the same year / model truck there is one with a 5" pulley and one with a 6" pulley. The others do not list size of pulleys.
The 5" one would spin the compressor faster and that may help when at slow speeds like stop & go traffic.
What would you do?

Thanks for any help given
Dave ----

The FS-6 compressor has two service valves on it similar to the York and Tecumseh 2 cyl ones.

This is the one I removed from Darth during the conversion to EFI and 1996 A/C system.

FuzzFace2 wrote

Jonathan, I received the box Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
I did not see any note on how to repay you for the parts & time, Please let me know.

You are welcome for the parts Dave, and sorry about the lack of communication. It was a blitz packing job in a spare moment trying not to let another week or month slip by. Life is so nuts I also forgot to send an email (which I will do now) 🙂

I saw the different types of AC systems when I was ordering my hoses, but I didn’t realize there were different compressors as well. I will look into it. For what it’s worth, both of my compressors have the 6” pulley.

85lebaront2 wrote

The FS-6 compressor has two service valves on it similar to the York and Tecumseh 2 cyl ones.

This is the one I removed from Darth during the conversion to EFI and 1996 A/C system.

So I guess some have the valves and others do not based on the hoses you can get for the FS6 compressor.
Looking at the valves it looks like they add a 90* turn and guessing why the 2 different parts for valves & with out valves.

So how important are the service valves?
Are they there so you can close off the system and remove the compressor for service and not have to deal with the whole system?

I will have to check my York compressor to see if there are service valves as I don't remember seeing any. If I do have them wonder if they would fit the FS6 compressor manifolds?

Thanks for the pictures it helped explain what they were asking.
Dave ----

They won't fit, the FS-6 has two ports at each location (it's double ended). The service valves were probably Ford supplied as they screw onto the manifolds. On the 460, the lines go to the driver's side of the A/C compressor.


The suction line is larger than the discharge line.

FuzzFace2 wrote

Are they there so you can close off the system and remove the compressor for service and not have to deal with the whole system?

That's my guess, but their deletion from later vehicles suggests that Ford quickly realized they're NEVER going to be useful since there's never a time that a compressor has to be replaced, and NOTHING else in the system.  And it doesn't hold enough refrigerant to worry about that when opening the rest of the system for service.  So why isolate it?  The valves are just extra weight, complexity, cost, & leak points.

85lebaront2 wrote

They won't fit, the FS-6 has two ports at each location (it's double ended). The service valves were probably Ford supplied as they screw onto the manifolds. On the 460, the lines go to the driver's side of the A/C compressor.


The suction line is larger than the discharge line.

When I was checking on hoses they are listed as with service valve and with out service valves.
My thinking is the hoses must be made with a 90* and with out a 90* end for the compressor.
You cant always go by pictures because sometimes they use just 1 picture for all listings
I do thank you for posting the pictures as it answered questions.
Dave ----

Steve83 wrote

FuzzFace2 wrote

Are they there so you can close off the system and remove the compressor for service and not have to deal with the whole system?

That's my guess, but their deletion from later vehicles suggests that Ford quickly realized they're NEVER going to be useful since there's never a time that a compressor has to be replaced, and NOTHING else in the system.  And it doesn't hold enough refrigerant to worry about that when opening the rest of the system for service.  So why isolate it?  The valves are just extra weight, complexity, cost, & leak points.

That is good to know that I don't need to go find service valves
When the time comes to order the compressor& hoses I now know what I have to get.

As for the 2 different size pulleys, a 5" & 6", all compressors looked to be single groove, I was going to go with the 5" to spin it a little faster as most of the driving will be stop n go and if it is anything like my Dodge when you slow down / stop the AC blows a little warmer.
Anyone see anything wrong with that?

Thanks again guys for the information.
Dave ----

FuzzFace2 wrote

Anyone see anything wrong with that?

Not "wrong" - just a consideration: a smaller pulley will spin faster, but you're actually asking the belt to transfer MORE power from the engine to the compressor; and at a lower RPM (which means more torque/more tension in the belt).  For it to do that, the belt must REALLY stick to the pulley...  Since the wrap angle is set by the geometry of the accessories and can't be increase by idlers, that means more force from the belt against the pulley (more belt-tension) which must be borne by the compressor pulley bearings AND the crankshaft (front main) bearing.  The more of the pulley that the belt touches (more wrap), the slower the belt will wear (because there's more surface area to transmit the friction/torque).  But the tighter the bend (smaller pulley), the faster the belt's internal fibers will break.

That's why serpentine belts are so much better: their cross-section is thinner, allowing them to bend more-easily without breaking (also allowing them to bend backward via idlers to give more wrap angle on each pulley), and they have more surface area to contact the pulleys without collapsing (a wide thin rubber belt can't support itself in a single V pulley).

The point is: you'll probably be changing that belt SLIGHTLY more-often if you use the smaller pulley.

Steve83 wrote

FuzzFace2 wrote

Anyone see anything wrong with that?

Not "wrong" - just a consideration: a smaller pulley will spin faster, but you're actually asking the belt to transfer MORE power from the engine to the compressor; and at a lower RPM (which means more torque/more tension in the belt).  For it to do that, the belt must REALLY stick to the pulley...  Since the wrap angle is set by the geometry of the accessories and can't be increase by idlers, that means more force from the belt against the pulley (more belt-tension) which must be borne by the compressor pulley bearings AND the crankshaft (front main) bearing.  The more of the pulley that the belt touches (more wrap), the slower the belt will wear (because there's more surface area to transmit the friction/torque).  But the tighter the bend (smaller pulley), the faster the belt's internal fibers will break.

That's why serpentine belts are so much better: their cross-section is thinner, allowing them to bend more-easily without breaking (also allowing them to bend backward via idlers to give more wrap angle on each pulley), and they have more surface area to contact the pulleys without collapsing (a wide thin rubber belt can't support itself in a single V pulley).

The point is: you'll probably be changing that belt SLIGHTLY more-often if you use the smaller pulley.

Thanks Steve, I didn't think there was but never hurts to ask.
I do under stand about needing a tighter belt and that it puts more strain on all the bearing of what it passes over.

As for wear not a big deal as I don't for see putting a lot of miles on the truck, 30 miles each way to work and will not be using it everyday. Beside if I hear any thing strange I will be all over the truck as I am to my DD Dodge, to find what the cause is.
Thanks again.
Dave ----