After market A/C not so good

[Bill Bess]

Hi Guys, I just want to mention that I have had a bad experience with an after market high end air conditioning company. By the way this is not on my cobra but on a 1956 Ford F-100 pick up truck.
About two years ago I purchased a complete custom front end belt system for my ford Cleveland ( Vintage Air & March Performance packages $3000.00)
The Vintage air came equipped with a bad electrical switch and a stuck heater valve, Vintage was great and sent me new ones...no charge.

The next problem was we could never get the pressures correct (too high of pressure on the low side) no good cooling.... maybe 70 degree air. after much expense with a few A/ C companies. I contacted March Performance the supplier of the Compressor and other components. Their Tech help was great. They told me to replace the Expansion valve at my expense, it still didn't work. Next they told me to change drier, no good results. Then they said the compressor must be bad, but unfortunately the compressor was past it's warranty period of one year, so another $300. plus the tube kit for $125.00.
Guess what, the compressor was bad from the "get go" March Performance just said too bad we can't help you.
My advice, make sure you get it working to your satisfaction before the warranty is over. Now I'm at almost $4000.00 for a/c ... but it sure is pretty.
Be careful with after market venders, they like your money but don't really care about their customers.

[RICK LAKE]

Bill Bess Bill give me a phone number to reach you at and good time in the evening. I am in NJ 2-3 hour delay.
Can you give me some numbers for the pressure running at idle and 2000 rpms?
Are the gauges steady or bouncing 20-60 psi?
Are you running after market pulleys?
Are you running an after market cooling fan the works with a/c control?
Enclosed radiator for coolant fan?
Air gap between condensor and radiator?
Is the kit a 134A or older R 12 system?
Do you have the wrong freon poundage for the system?
What temps do you have coming from vents?
Is there an oriface tube or filter in the system?

Ac is a simple system that converts liquid to gas and back.

I would start with under drive pulleys like march, Are you running them or stock ones.
We can fix this. Rick L. Ps I am going with you are running under drive pulleys and not spinning the compressor fast enough. You do have the correct amount of oil in the system? Too much will also cause a problem. I think we start with March.
Ps I have had the same problem with an overheating motor with march pulleys at idle. Running the motor is OK. At idle motor used to run to 230F. Yes it's all aluminium. Went through 4 thermostats, 2 radiators, 2 water pumps, engine modes out the a$$. Finally just swapped the crank pulley to a 1-1 ratio with the rest of the spinning things on the front of the motor and Fixed. We will talk. This is why I need the 2 sets of gauge readings. Rick.

[madmaxx]

i had the same problem you described. i cut a line on a pulley. when i replaced the line, made local they made the id much smaller than original. bottom line i would overpressrure on the low side due to to much freon but starve the compressor on the high side. got correct diameter and all was perfect.

[Bill Bess]

Thanks for the response Rick. After I installed a new compressor (purchased through Jegs ) we evacuated the system and recharged it with the 1.8 # of R-134 the low side was steady in the 20's.... Wow, super cold air for the first time. Now the thing is working great especially with our 112 degree afternoons here in the desert. The cold air is around 45 to 50 degrees and get colder when going down the road. It also helped to turn on the electric fan in traffic but the flex fan seems to do a good job.
My biggest complaint with March was not their Tech. Service and attitude (very good) but their failure to help me out after all the problems with the system. They just push you off to the vendor that they buy the components from (Hurst Tuff Stuff) , they were no help either. Actually they offered to sell me a new compressor for $35.00 more than Jegs low price.
I just wanted to warn others about making sure you get satisfactory performance before your warranty is out of date.
I'll update this blog is I still have failure with their products and service.
Thanks Bill

[Fitz]

My air is Hot Rod Air I beleive. Levy built my first FFR Cobra car and I too had some issues with Vintage Air. Finally got it working properly but it took awhile. Sold the car and had Levy build me another thinking I would correct everything that "wish" I would have done on the first car and 'learned" from my first car.

I have Hot Rod Air now and have had no issues from the get go except cap came off freon tube so I lost the cold ability. After discovering that I have had no issues what so every for years.

Note: I had the dash vent moved to the knee area and that made huge difference in cooling the leg area where heat comes in from firewall.
Note: I decided to get the hardtop from APE instead of that stupid soft top. What a pain in the ass. The only issue with the hard top is those little pin/screws that slide across the top of the windshield. Have a few that are stripped. Need to 34 made.
Note: If I was going to do it all over again I would have air ducts put by my right shoulder for both seats and have air blowing at my neck and two vents at knee area. Regular vents are worthless.
Note: Think I would do automatic so wife can drive the dam thing. She has had several cars with clutches like TR6, MGB, Celica, BMW but can not work my clutch as it is too hard.
Note: Some sort expandable frame for GPS instead of permanent bracket.
Note: Put blower on car.
Note: Keep the 18" wheels. More choices.