Okay, so the tint gave me the itch to get the a/c working again. It’s been torn apart for 13 years, now.
Ordered a kit with condenser, compressor, drier, orifice tube, o-rings, and PAG oil. Added an evaporator core, hoses, switches, and the refrigerant.
I thought the condenser would be the worst part, but the evap kicked my whole ass. I had to pull the driver motor mount to let the engine shift enough to clear the evap cover plate. Scrubbed it down and laid a layer of DEI 010468 self-adhesive heat-reflective tape.
Then the sickness kicked in. Or so I thought. It ended up being a valuable maneuver. I opted to remove the entire a/c box because I needed to patch a significant hole due to a heater resistor fire ages ago… then I DEI taped the entire box because what better things are there to do on a Saturday night beyond spending five hours trimming pieces of tape to cover an whole a/c box.
Then I had the thought… the box came out easier than the cover plate. So I tested it, and I will 100% pull the entire box before I try to tackle that cover plate in place again. I’ll reassemble the unit w/ evap core and heater resistor, install it, then bolt the fan back up.
All the work I’m putting into this, I better be getting ice cubes out of my vents.