Ken Smith

I have a chance to buy a Factory (maybe dealer installed) complete A/C system out of a 74 280z. He only wants $100 plus shipping. Should I take a chance on it or just buy a new aftermarket system from Hot Rod Air or Vintage Air? Thanks......

beg3yrs

Personally I'd go with a modern system made for your older car. That's what I did with my restoration and I'm quite happy with it. The old systems require refrigerant that costs almost as much as gold these days and not only that, they didn't work very well.

As an aside, the stock blower motors on these cars are pretty puny. If you want to move more air, the blower motor from a 1988 Honda Civic fits very well and in my case, even the connector was the same. I did have to do a little cutting with a Dremel cutoff wheel but that was about 20 minutes of work.

A new aftermarket motor from O'Reilly cost me about $40.

Ken Smith

I think most of the aftermarket systems come with blowers. You must have bought yours piece by piece? I contacted vintage air and they don't make a system but I also contacted hot rod air and they have what they say will work just fine. I was thinking I could convert the factory system to R134 VS R12.

beg3yrs

Well sort of. I purchased a new rotary compressor, condenser, drier, thermostat and hoses from an eBay seller. I reused my evaporator (old ARA system) as it was the version that sits inside the dash rather than the one that attaches to the blower's cabin air intake port. It was my personal choice as from my two cars, I had both versions.

Anyway, yes, it was sort of piece by piece. Live and learn. If you're getting a complete system that sounds like a good way to go. A/C has changed a lot since the '70s.

I was kind of torn between the R12 and R134 and went with the R12 but personally I don't see a big difference overall.

Ken Smith

Not sure we can still buy any R12 in California.

NismoPick

Yes, you can.

R12 Real IG Lo Dupont Freon Refrigerant for Air Conditioner 12 oz Can | eBay

beg3yrs

I recall now my choice of refrigerant had something to do with the connectors supplied with my hoses. I'm no expert here but chose the viable path of least resistance.