Thanks for your responses to my previous questions. I have a couple of clarifications, please.

The repairs will probably occur in a month or so which means that the A/C had no refrigerant for about 10 months maximum. Does this have an influence on how I should approach the repairs? Remember, this is a 16 year old car with about 120,000 miles.

I will have the system open to replace the condenser, receiver/dryer, expansion valve, O-rings and Schrader valve seals, and recharged with R-12. This is a fair amount of work already. But, what about the compressor especially the seals? I believe this is the compressor shaft seal. Are there other seals on the compressor? I presume the A/C line manifold at the compressor has O-rings, which will be replaced. As far as I know the compressor is/was working fine and gets occasional use (say, 1 hour every two weeks).

Is replacing the compressor seal(s) a wise step? Will this add considerably to the repair time and cost? Would it be more prudent to replace with a rebuilt compressor for a 16 year old car? I want a respectable repair and I am willing to pay for what needs to be done right. However, I can't afford to throw money at the repairs but neither do I want to come back in a year to fix another leak that could have been easily repaired the first time (evaporator excepted).

Thanks again for your help!
Paul