York A/C Compressor Overhaul Kit???
 

Does anyone know if an overhaul kit is available for the old York compressors on the 6 cylinder 280's? Mine makes an occasional squeaking sound when undercharged, and will seem to squeal and seize with a proper charge of R12. Aside from that, it runs very roughly. I think it's about shot, and needs a rebuild. I've seen similar rebuilt Yorks on Ebay, and I was wondering if there is an overhaul kit available. Otherwise I could buy a new compressor from Adsit.

Try an auto parts store like NAPA or Car-Quest and ask if they still have a Murray AC parts catalog. I used to be able to get parts like front seals and clutch pulley bearings for the York but older parts may be harder to find now since the new refrigerants and AC systems were introduced.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Thanks for the advice.

I am also considering converting to a new Sanden rotary compressor. There is a seller on ebay offering mounting brackets to go from the side mounted York to a Sanden rotary. I am considering this becasue a rotary is so much smoother and will present much less load for the engine. I would like to know if anyone has actually done this, and if so, how well it worked?

Also, I'll be using R-12 since I have a sufficient amount of recovered and filtered refrigerant. It's a better gas than that 134A garbage anyway.

Hello,
You are on the right track with the Sanden compressor, ditch the York!
Have a good week.

22 years ago, using salvage-yard parts, I fabricated an AC system for my '61 Ponton 180b. I used a 'Kuhlmeister' hang-on AC unit out of a Fintail 220S and a Sankyo (Sanden) compressor out of a Mazda RX-4. I had to custom-make brackets because my Ponton's cooling system plumbing wouldn't allow the Fintail's York compressor and brackets to fit. There also wasn't room in front of my Ponton engine for the Fintail AC crank pulley so I drilled and tapped my Ponton's balancer so I could bolt up a modified Honda Civic waterpump pulley and drive the AC belt. While my junkyard AC system cooled well and the Sanden compressor ran smoothly, it still used alot of power and made my engine run hot. If I had to do it over today I would use a smaller engine pulley to drive the Sanden or find a Sanden with a larger driven pulley. These may not be big issues with your car, as your 280 has alot more power than my 180b and the 280 is already set up for AC.
At the time I was parts shopping for my Ponton AC, I noticed that the Sanden compressors seemed to be designed to operate efficiently at lower RPMs than the Yorks. Typically those cars I saw, that used the Sandens (mostly Mazdas and Misubishi/Colts) had somewhat smaller engine pulleys. On those cars that used the Yorks (mostly AMC and Ford) the engine pulley was larger. This is the only issue I can think of with replacing a York with a Sanden but, as I said, this might not be a problem on your 280. Also, you may now have a larger selection of Sandens to choose from than I had, 22 years ago.

Happy Motoring, Mark

I was looking at a Sanden 510. Sanden 510

The seller says that these have all new internals, just in a used case. So they are remanufactured from old cores. It comes with the clutch, and they have them for dual V-belts, so I should be able to get it to line up with my existing idler pulley.

I also found this York to Sanden bracket, which should be able to bolt up to my existing mounting bracket for the York. If not, I can cut and weld!

Bracket

I also saw this bracket pop up on ebay from the same guy selling the remanufactured 510 compressors. It is different from the first bracket, which looks a bit more substantial. Any comments on either?

Bracket 2

Except for the brackets being photographed 90 degrees off, they look similar to me. Bracket #1 does look beefier but that could just be an optical illusion.

I have a used Sanden 508 but I'm not sure if it's useable - it feels stiff.

I used a slightly bigger Sanden 507 in my junkyard Ponton AC and I still have the car so I'm thinking of an AC transplant into my '60 Fintail, with a smaller drive pulley of course.

Happy Motoring, Mark

mazda used those sandens on a ton of 80's cars. they work great!

About 1985, I installed a Sears hang-on AC kit in a friends '76 Mazda 808 'Miser' wagon. like most Japanese cars, the Mazda already had a factory AC drive pulley on the engine - a small one designed to drive a Sanden AC compressor. The Sears AC kit used a 2 cylinder York and the result was that the compressor turned very slowly at idle.
The AC cooled fine, except that it was a bit weak at traffic lights. Otherwise you could hardly tell when it was running - minimal effect on engine load or coolant temperature.
My junkyard AC would have been easier on my Ponton engine if I'd had a smaller engine drive pulley, but that's the risk of 'parts-bin engineering'. I used what I had availible.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Hello,
Around here, any *conversion kit* of a car of 1200-2000cc use a SD-507 and all 2100cc and above use SD-508, all M110 Mercedes cars I have seen converted from the York have SD-508 and cool well, the SD-510 is a bigger capacity unit and will add more drag to the engine. These things are NOT rotary, but swash plate type, 5 cylinder heads(?).
The latest very small cars here, Daihatsu 660, 850 and 1000cc 3 cylinder engines have rotary compressors, but are universally disliked by A/C service shops due to noisy operation and poor cooling in high tempreture operation at idle(ambient today being 40C).
Have a good week.

Didn't want to hi-jack the thread (if i had time, i'd put on a new compressor), but I know a
shaft seal kit is available for 16 bucks.


Dan

I also managed to locate various seal kits and gaskets, but I think this compressor is just plain shot. It doesn't leak oil or freon, but it runs very roughly (yes, my mounting bracket is tightly attached). At times, it appears so rough that the belt looks like it might flip off. When the York was working about a month ago, it barely cooled, and loaded down the engine far too much for my tastes. With a full charge of freon, it runs very poorly, so it just has to go.

I think the Sanden is going to work nicely. I just purchased my mounting bracket, and I'm waiting on an auction for a new in box Sanden 510. So if anyone else is thinking about it, HANDS OFF:mad:

The other part I'm looking for is a new filter drier, I kind of figured it would be best to do while I'm working on everything else. I know a good nitrogen charge coupled with a day on the vacuum pump would adequately evacuate the system, but I think it would be wise to replace the drier. Is anyone here familiar with the Thermo-king systems that used a filter drier with a sight-glass that is mounted by the battery in the 280SEL's (6 cyl)? If you know where to get a new one that would be equivalent, please let me know. I can take a picture of it in the morning.

Thanks.

Did you check your local auto parts sources for that Sanden. It might be availible locally for about what that Ebay vendor is asking.

As well as compressors, the Murray AC catalogs used to list all kinds of AC filter/driers. If they still do, you'll need to match up the correct type of fittings - barb & clamp or flare or 'O' ring, etc...

The original filter/drier may still be availible from Mercedes - for a price!

Happy Motoring, Mark

http://www.nostalgicairparts.com/air-conditioning/york-compressor-adapter-plate-universal-mount-177.php

Great for fabricating a bracket on an odd engine!

would something like work?

I think new ones are less then $300 and rebuilt ones can be had for around $150. Although it's best to move to a smaller compressor of you can.