[Tommy]

Last year I bought a 20 year old car that was fundamentally sound but still needed some work including the A/C. I wanted to do all the work myself so I ended up buying a new compressor, clutch, dryer, vacuum pump, R134 conversion kit, A/C gauge and hose set, and several cans of R134a refrigerant. My system had leaked every bit of old coolant out before I bought it, so I didn't have to worry with recovering the old Freon. If I had wanted to deal with that issue, I would have taken the car to a qualified repair facility and had them pump out the old Freon.

In the end, all I had to do was disconnect, remove, replace and reconnect the parts. Next I drew a vacuum on the system to remove all the air in the lines. Next I connected the A/C gauge and hose set with a fresh can of R134a and charged the system. It worked like a charm. As I recall, the replacement parts came from an Internet seller for less than $200 and the tools and refrigerant came from Harbor Freight and AutoZone for a total of less than $100. As car repairs go, it wasn't a bad job on my car.