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Squiggle Dog · #7 11-07-2018, 06:42 PM

The air conditioning was leaking at the flare fittings at the drier. Despite loosening and tightening them several times, they still continued to leak out refrigerant and oil. The flare surface of the cheap drier must not have been machined well (similar to the cheap expansion valve I had on the first time).

I had planned on redesigning the air conditioning system to use an O-ring style drier from a W126 and mounting it in a location where it would be easier to tighten. But, it just became too convoluted and it seems the way I did it is the best way.

So, I tried to fix the leak one last time. I unbolted the condenser so the drier could be pulled closer to me to get a crow's foot wrench on it, and then I used a breaker bar to loosen, tighten, and then really crank down on the fittings until they were as tight as I could get them without stripping out the threads.

As you can see, I had to loosen the upper hose fitting enough that I could pivot it out of the way enough to access the lower fitting without leaking refrigerant, but it worked. The air conditioning is still blowing very cold and is no longer leaking.

It is SO great to have working air conditioning, and it works very well; as good as--if not better than--modern cars. It feels so pleasant being able to drive around without feeling like I'm getting heat stroke. When I turn it on, it blows cold air almost instantly and cools down the cabin in short time. That's no small achievement for the Arizona desert. If it can cool well here, it can cool anywhere. I am very content that I decided to go all out on the upgrade, with almost no expense spared, and also used R-12 refrigerant.

A while back I bought a pair of new hood latch deflectors (116 887 00 45), but the left one broke as soon as I closed the hood. I just now ordered another. It's hard to believe these little pieces of plastic are $57 each.

Here it is in place. I adjusted and bent the hood latch so it wouldn't land on it wrong and break the part again, and the hood now shuts smoothly.

The windshield has been heavily sand pitted, chipped, and cracked for a while. I had a new spare, but it broke in storage. I stopped by the wrecking yard to inspect a 1973 W116 450SEL. It had a new windshield and seal installed recently, so I removed them both without damaging either.

I just used plastic prybars to push the lip of the seal from the metal flange and then pushed out the glass and seal as a unit.