Help needed with HVAC vacuum harness

[salans7]

Nope, I get "out of stock" on both those part numbers. I wonder what you are doing differently. I go to 'inventory', then put those part numbers in. What are you doing differently to be able to see those parts and quantities?

Don't put any dashes in the number. Also capitalize every character.

[Pete Whitstone]

Don't put any dashes in the number. Also capitalize every character.

Good to know, that worked, thanks.

Their website seems full of arcane information I don't care about (memorabilia, customer cars, testimonials) and none of the stuff I do care about (accurate product descriptions, friendly searches, prices, a shopping cart).

I guess a call to them is the only way to place an order, if I decide to go that route?

[salans7]

Good to know, that worked, thanks.

Their website seems full of arcane information I don't care about (memorabilia, customer cars, testimonials) and none of the stuff I do care about (accurate product descriptions, friendly searches, prices, a shopping cart).

I guess a call to them is the only way to place an order, if I decide to go that route?

Yes, only way unfortunately. But most of the NOS parts sites are just as bad. Green's website has been the same site for the last 13 years I've messed with these trucks and NOS parts. Haha.

I don't know how much info they'll be able to give you other than price, as they're mainly sales people and may not know anything about our trucks or the part's application.

[Pete Whitstone]

Well, I'm happy to report that my system is all back together again and seems to be working. I was able to replace small parts of the vacuum harness with 3/32" hose, add a vacuum ball with a check valve built in, and test the system. I also modified the temperature control cable and got it hooked back up. All the vacuum motors are good and react to the input from the selector on the control panel. So that's a win. Although all the doors move as they should, I do notice a couple things.

First, the air blowing out of the driver side vents does not appear to be nearly as forceful as what comes out of the passenger side. I suppose this is just due to the location of the blower motor?

Second, when in defrost mode or floor mode, air is still coming out of the vents. A small amount of air seems to be redirected to the floor or windshield, but certainly not all of it. Is that normal behavior?

I have ordered all the stuff to get the AC back in the truck, that should be here this week and I will be working on getting that operational over the next few weeks. I'm sure I'll be back with questions. Thanks in advance!

[Gary Lewis]

Well, I'm happy to report that my system is all back together again and seems to be working. I was able to replace small parts of the vacuum harness with 3/32" hose, add a vacuum ball with a check valve built in, and test the system. I also modified the temperature control cable and got it hooked back up. All the vacuum motors are good and react to the input from the selector on the control panel. So that's a win. Although all the doors move as they should, I do notice a couple things.

First, the air blowing out of the driver side vents does not appear to be nearly as forceful as what comes out of the passenger side. I suppose this is just due to the location of the blower motor?

Second, when in defrost mode or floor mode, air is still coming out of the vents. A small amount of air seems to be redirected to the floor or windshield, but certainly not all of it. Is that normal behavior?

I have ordered all the stuff to get the AC back in the truck, that should be here this week and I will be working on getting that operational over the next few weeks. I'm sure I'll be back with questions. Thanks in advance!

Well done!

Yes, it is normal for the passenger's vents to blow harder than the driver's vents, surely due to how close the blower is to the vents.

And while it isn't unusual for air to come out of the vents on defrost or floor, it isn't right. Some door isn't sealing off completely would be my guess. But if you get enough air out of the defrost or the floor vents then it might not be worth fixing it.

Anyway, good luck on installing the A/C system!

[Pete Whitstone]

Well done!

Yes, it is normal for the passenger's vents to blow harder than the driver's vents, surely due to how close the blower is to the vents.

And while it isn't unusual for air to come out of the vents on defrost or floor, it isn't right. Some door isn't sealing off completely would be my guess. But if you get enough air out of the defrost or the floor vents then it might not be worth fixing it.

Anyway, good luck on installing the A/C system!

Thanks Gary. I kind of suspected all may not be right after looking at the diagrams in the factory manual. According to them, when the "blue line" motor to the right of the HVAC control panel is activated, it should shut off the vents. The motor is activating, I can see the arm move. But I'm not positive it's connected properly. I'll have to pull a vent out and snake a bore camera down there to make sure the door is moving with the arm.

[Pete Whitstone]

Thanks Gary. I kind of suspected all may not be right after looking at the diagrams in the factory manual. According to them, when the "blue line" motor to the right of the HVAC control panel is activated, it should shut off the vents. The motor is activating, I can see the arm move. But I'm not positive it's connected properly. I'll have to pull a vent out and snake a bore camera down there to make sure the door is moving with the arm.

Well, that was fun. I didn't test the heater core for leaks, I don't know why not. But it leaked so I had to replace it. While I had the cover off for it, I could see the door that handles the floor/defrost. I had previously verified that the arm on the vacuum motor moved, but now I could see that the door was just flopping around. So out comes everything that needs to come off to take the dashboard out, that was a learning experience. When I finally got the door out, this is what it looked like.

The thin plastic that was supposed to have served as the hinge was separated. Ok, what do I have around here that I could fix this with? Didn't feel like waiting a week if I ordered one. And that would be if I could even find one, and how old would it be, and how long would it last... nah. So I found a couple small hinges and epoxied them to a piece of aluminum which would serve as the "frame" side of the hinge. I could have dragged out the welder, but thought 5 minute epoxy would be faster. Then I attached the other side of the hinge to the door with a couple small screws.

Put it in the dash and tested it, it works fine. I have the dash back in, but still need to put in the instrument cluster, the radio, and the dashpad. That will have to be for a different day.

Next up, I have most of the stuff I need to put AC back on the car. Still waiting on a condenser, and I will apparently have to have a couple of the hoses (suction and pressure) custom made, as I have not found a source for them. I have the liquid line, but that's the only one. Hopefully I will get all that done before I really really need it, which is probably about a month away.

[Gary Lewis]

Well, that was fun. I didn't test the heater core for leaks, I don't know why not. But it leaked so I had to replace it. While I had the cover off for it, I could see the door that handles the floor/defrost. I had previously verified that the arm on the vacuum motor moved, but now I could see that the door was just flopping around. So out comes everything that needs to come off to take the dashboard out, that was a learning experience. When I finally got the door out, this is what it looked like.

The thin plastic that was supposed to have served as the hinge was separated. Ok, what do I have around here that I could fix this with? Didn't feel like waiting a week if I ordered one. And that would be if I could even find one, and how old would it be, and how long would it last... nah. So I found a couple small hinges and epoxied them to a piece of aluminum which would serve as the "frame" side of the hinge. I could have dragged out the welder, but thought 5 minute epoxy would be faster. Then I attached the other side of the hinge to the door with a couple small screws.

Put it in the dash and tested it, it works fine. I have the dash back in, but still need to put in the instrument cluster, the radio, and the dashpad. That will have to be for a different day.

Next up, I have most of the stuff I need to put AC back on the car. Still waiting on a condenser, and I will apparently have to have a couple of the hoses (suction and pressure) custom made, as I have not found a source for them. I have the liquid line, but that's the only one. Hopefully I will get all that done before I really really need it, which is probably about a month away.

That's a bummer, but one that many of us have experienced. Your fix looks good and should last as long as the truck does.

Good luck on the A/C. The hoses are frequently an issue, which is why I'm really glad I pulled a complete system out of a newer truck.

[Pete Whitstone]

That's a bummer, but one that many of us have experienced. Your fix looks good and should last as long as the truck does.

Good luck on the A/C. The hoses are frequently an issue, which is why I'm really glad I pulled a complete system out of a newer truck.

To finish up this post, I got a couple hoses made at a local hydraulics shop for $140, then had my mechanic look over my work and see how badly I bunged it up. I had installed the orifice tube upside down, but other than that, he pronounced it good and filled it up with R134. I now have cold air!

One observation he made was that I really need to activate my electric fans when the AC is on. So I ran a wire from the clutch over to the relay that triggers the fans. I put a diode in the wire, so that when the fans came on they didn't back-feed into the clutch and cause the compressor to come on any time the fans come on.

All that works great, and I have used the AC a few times since then, it blows acceptably cold. The biggest thing I notice is that with the AC on (and therefore the radiator fans on), and the blower fan going, my voltmeter is struggling to read 12 volts, when it normally reads a little over 14. I have a 60 amp alternator on it, but who knows what it's really putting out. This is in the daytime, with no headlights and the stereo off. So on a rainy night, with the defrost on, the wipers on, the headlights on, maybe some tunes... that's going to be bad. Time for a new alternator.

I spent a LOT of time researching out 3G alternator upgrades on this site and others. There was a lot of information and conversation, but I was not able to locate the holy grail of "buy this part number and bolt it on, it's plug n play". So I ended up ordering this from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PDICF2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

It will be here later in the week or maybe early next week, so we'll see what needs to happen to make it work.

[ArdWrknTrk]

To finish up this post, I got a couple hoses made at a local hydraulics shop for $140, then had my mechanic look over my work and see how badly I bunged it up. I had installed the orifice tube upside down, but other than that, he pronounced it good and filled it up with R134. I now have cold air!

One observation he made was that I really need to activate my electric fans when the AC is on. So I ran a wire from the clutch over to the relay that triggers the fans. I put a diode in the wire, so that when the fans came on they didn't back-feed into the clutch and cause the compressor to come on any time the fans come on.

All that works great, and I have used the AC a few times since then, it blows acceptably cold. The biggest thing I notice is that with the AC on (and therefore the radiator fans on), and the blower fan going, my voltmeter is struggling to read 12 volts, when it normally reads a little over 14. I have a 60 amp alternator on it, but who knows what it's really putting out. This is in the daytime, with no headlights and the stereo off. So on a rainy night, with the defrost on, the wipers on, the headlights on, maybe some tunes... that's going to be bad. Time for a new alternator.

I spent a LOT of time researching out 3G alternator upgrades on this site and others. There was a lot of information and conversation, but I was not able to locate the holy grail of "buy this part number and bolt it on, it's plug n play". So I ended up ordering this from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PDICF2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

It will be here later in the week or maybe early next week, so we'll see what needs to happen to make it work.

The 3G alternator is not really an option if you install electric fans.(though I don't know what yours draw)

This is why Ford started installing the 130A alternators in the early '90's and still holds true today.

Not because they can put out up to 160A (momentarily) but because they'll put out 80-90A at idle without melting the rectifier board and windings.

That's more than the 2G's 65A at max output.

The 3G has internal fans front and rear.

They move a huge amount of cooling air through the case compared to the external fan on a 1 or 2G alternator.