Thanks ' treetops & BillGrissom ',

The link to w124performance worked and I was able to read the ' how to ' for either AC clutch work or replacing the compressor.

Thats a good writeup on the bearing replacement.

I did some searching for a shorter belt to bypass my failing compressor. Found a recent part number for a belt but couldn[t find it in the the USA. Finally found a cross reference so I'll temporarily install a belt " 820K6 " that is supposed to be the correct length to skip the compressor clutch.

This will hopefully give me a few weeks to source parts and plan the work. Luckily it's spring and liveable temperature.

I could save a lot of money by just replacing the bearing in the compressor, but think it's best to do a little more work and hopefully make the car reliable for quite a few more years.

Planning to R & R the:

Compressor about $270 for new Denso
Dryer receiver $28 to $50 Mahle or Mercedes
water pump and thermostat - have new spares
clean the condensor coil and check the AUX fans
change the fan and fan clutch to later model better ones - have new spares
change the belt tensioner pulley - have new spare
take the alternator to local ' low cost ' shop for new bearings and regulator
replace one way pulley - will use INA again, Gates too pricey
grease the tensioner pivot bolt via the zert installed previously with special lubricant
Install new Gates 'RPM suffix' belt hoping for long reliable life

Posting the full list in case someone else might want to do something similar. Will edit in the future with part numbers as I come accross them.