You don't have to take any of the body apart, but it would be easier if you could.  It does not look like it,  but it will come out.

Ken,

You sound like the voice of experience. I think I was not serious about taking a sawzall to the fender. Will it come out through the void left after pulling the coolant overflow tank, or am I gonna have to remove the "black box" evaporator???

Dave

I have worked on a few.  I am an ASE Master Auto, Master Truck, and Master Paint and Body tech.  I fixed car for over 25 years, and now teach others to fix them at a tech college.  I worked for Chevrolet dealers from 77 to about 82.  So I worked on our C3s when they were new.  Granted, the problems then are not the same as we have now on 20 and 30 year old cars.  Having said all that, I must also say I learn a lot from everyone here.  Everyone here knows something about a C3 that I don't.  Some know a lot.  It's a great bunch of people.

No, you don't need to pull the evaporator housing.  It will come out from the inside top of the left fender.  The surrounding items do need to be removed.  These vary from year to year.
kstyer38436.8211458333

[QUOTE=xfire]

I still have not had time to work on the air yet, I'm still doing other things when I have time. I did make sure to seal all the air ducts and the HVAC case, did find the vent on the right side kick panel froze open and the seal bad. That would let hot air in when using the A/C, or cold air in when using the heater. Sure is a money pit, Like a boat! A boat is a hole in the water to dump money into! LOL!

You guys have a great day,

Xfire

[/QUOTE]

For what it's worth, I was able to make a new seal for the fresh air door by using a piece of rubber roofing material. Worked great and I'm sure it's going to last longer then the original foam material the general used.

I think I only paid $13.00 for the vent kit, it had the rivits with it, also, would do two vents. My 82 only has one vent, so, that means I'll have to buy another Vette!!!

 

Hey Y'all, Ken, Denny, xfire and all.....

I finally got 'er 'bout done yesterday! Had to use quite a few of THOSE words tho'. Finally located the screws retaining the coolant tank above and behind the tire in the inner fender beneath a 27 year buildup of caked-on gunk and and road dirt. Tank finally came on out.

The tube nut holding the accumulator to the evaporator presented the next big problem. I couldn't get a straight shot at it from above and the straight open end 1-1/16" combo wrench kept slipping off the nut. I finally took the offset box end of the wrench to a grinder and wore a 3/4" slot in it to turn it into a tube fitting wrench. Nut finally came loose, 1/12 turn at a time.

The hex head sheet metal screw holding the accumulator to the fenderwell was installed by a 2" tall Vietnamese robot at the factory in a place unaccessable to normal sized human hands on a 6'-2, 215 lb. shade-tree mechanic, finally worked a 5/16" micro ratchet combo wrench on it and rotated the 1-1/4" long screw out 5 degrees at a time while dripping blood on it for lubrication.

You were right Ken.... It came out without pulling the evap box..... except it came out from the top of the RIGHT fender!!!

I got it all back together after 7 hours of beer, blood sweat, profanity, and tears. Then found that the lo side service access port was too close to the tensioning clamp nut on the compressor mount and the R-134 quick-connect and adapter crash with the nut making it impossible to get the R-134 charging hose on. NOw I gotta find a R-12 hose assembly with a right angle fitting on it to get on the service port and mutate that onto a R-134 hose, pull the system down with a vacuum pump and gas her up and pray for no leaks.....after I figger out why there is no 12 volt signal going to the pressure switch when I call for A/C in the cockpit......

One more....... there are 2 wires going to the compressor, one light green, one dark green and 2 push-on spade terminals on the compressor with a 3.8 ohm reading between the two of them, neither common to ground. Anyone know what the extra wire is for?????

Still ain't done, but farther along than I was a week ago. I ache all over!!!

Happy Easter!! (NOT!!!!)

Dave

Oh yeah...... when I ran the oily flushing goop thru the system then blew it out, including the residaul oil with shop air, it sprayed all over and soaked my wrapped header tubes. Smoked and smelled like it was on fire all the way home.................

Damn this is fun!!!!

I have no idea why I said left.  I know better of course.  I really get on my students for that.  Shame on me.

But other than the stupid slip,  I glad you got it out.  Now to get it back together.  Gotta love that burning stench.

I drove it in today and I guess I burned all the stink off the pipes. Any idea what the second spade connector on the compressor is for??

I'm just gonna run 12 volts from the battery to both terminals, one at a time, and see if it runs. Hope I don't smoke it!!

Dave

Ken,

PS: Still can't find a right angle R-12 hose.....