The guy who had my car before me cut my AC out I have been thinking about putting it back in would it be worth it? I am west TN so it does get hot here. Would putting AC back in it hurt my performance any? Thanks
The reality is that for most A/C systems, other than the performance hit from carrying the extra weight of the A/C hardware, there is no performance impact when you're not using the A/C. The compressor clutch eliminates the HP drag of the compressor. Even better, most A/C systems built since the mid-1970s have a W.O.T. compressor cutout anyway, so again even with the A/C on, if you floor the throttle the compressor clutch releases and there's no HP drag (other than the less-than-measurable drag of turning the now freewheeling pulley on the compressor). If you have an older system like the 1960s GM systems, there isn't a W.O.T. cutout, so you do get that compressor drag. If that's what you have, consider upgrading to one of the newer cycling compressor conversion kits. These retrofit to the old GM A/C systems and replace the suction throttling valve.
My car is a 1981 Pontiac firebird it came with 4.3 v8 and now it's a 1968 chevy 327 with vortec heads. would vortec heads take a different compressor mount thanks
Do you have an R4 compressor (fairly short, about as big a diameter as a large coffee can), or an A6 (very long, smaller than a coffee can, very heavy)? The A6 uses a bracket that bolts to the top of the intake manifold next to the carburetor, and another bracket that attaches to the exhaust manifold, but I believe the R4 bolts only to the front of the block and heads.
The HT6 compressor was used a lot with Vortec engines with a serpentine belt system. It may be easier to switch to that compressor and just get all the brackets from a junkyard.
Bruce
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