1994 Mustang GT: Condenser and Radiator upgrade - In Traffic!

The ride in to work is about 74 miles.  Early this morning, the weather was pretty nice.  It was 65-70 degrees the entire way.  Using my laptop, the Moates Quarterhorse and Binary Editor, I can monitor the exact ECT temp - along with a bunch of other parameters.  Pulling the hills on Interstae 80 heading to Roseland NJ, I got the temp up to 190.  I tried turning on the AC on max when it was 190, but the temp dropped to 186 very quickly.  Needless to say, the ride in to work was uneventful.  I checked for leaks when I got to the office and there were none.

For reference, heading to Myrtle Beach in July we were seeing 204 during normal driving with the AC off.  Turn the AC on and that easily added 20 degrees.  That was the stock setup.

I left work just before 4pm.  I got to the car and turned on the laptop.  Even before starting the car the ECT was 118 degrees.  It was HOT under the hood after sitting in the sun in the parking lot!  I started the car, fired up the laptop and started logging.  Then I turned the AC on MAX.  The ride started out well, and soon I hit the rush hour traffic.  Back to school has a lot of people on the roads again.  There are still a lot of hills, and it was stop and go traffic.  I was driving the car normally, with the AC on max.  I was even 'getting on it' a little going up the hills trying to see what the temp would peak at.  The absolute max for ECT was 206.  The ACT was also 134 at that time.  So it was pretty hot sitting in traffic with all the other cars.  As soon as the car started moving, the temp dropped.  I kept the AC on the entire time, and never did any 'tricks' to try and drop the temperature.  The ride home took almost 2 hours with the traffic due to accidents.

Eventually I had to stop for fuel.  This was well after the traffic had let up.  I fueled up, dropped the top and set back on my way home with the AC off.  The battery on the laptop was slowly diminishing after all the logging on the way in and all the traffic, but it still had a little bit left.  the temps sat right around 186-188 for the rest of the way.  At least until the laptop battery had given up.  I would say there was some 'spirited' driving, and the ECT stayed pretty consistent - high 180s low 190s with the AC off.   It was a great day to test out the upgrades, and I couldn't be more pleased with how the car performed after the uprade!

1994 Mustang GT: Condenser and Radiator install

I had a leak in the suction / discharge line so I knew I was going to be doing some AC work.  As you read in my other posts, I also had an overheating problem.  I got the correct condenser - part numbers are in the other posting - a new 3 row champion radiator cc1488 and the correct suction discharge line.  I also rented the vacuum pump from Autozone, and picked up 3 cans of refrigerant R134a from Walmart, which has it for sale for less than 5$ a can.  That is a GREAT price.

Here's a neat story before I get to the installation write up.  I ordered a champion 3 row from Amazon.  Same day my friend says he has one used and cuts me a great deal on it.  I was expecting to just return the unit to Amazon.  Then the unit from amazon shows up POLISHED!  I put the polished unit in and sold the used one for what I paid for it.

I started by draining the stock radiator. Then the CCRM bracket so I could get the overflow out. Then pulled the fan and radiator together.  Lesson learned, I also removed the CCRM and put it aside so as not to knock it around.  Next I pulled the condenser, and the suction discharge line from the compressor that was leaking.  The lines are all similar to the fuel lines - so the fuel and AC disconnect tool works perfectly.  The system didn't have any refrigerant in it due to the leak, so there was nothing to reclaim.

The stock condenser had some plastic pieces on it to direct the flow of air.  They mounted to the condenser and made sure that the air didn't escape between the radiator and the condenser.  Those pieces mounted to the stock condenser with push pins.  I couldnt use them on the upgraded condenser, so I used some small black zip ties. The zip ties were able to be routed around the end 'tanks' of the condenser without hitting any fins.  They did the job perfectly.  I then installed the upgraded condenser, which fit in the factory location without any issues at all.

Next was the install of the stock fan shroud onto the new radiator.  As you can see from the pictures, the fan didn't quite line up with the bungs on the radiator.  I also had to re-tap the bungs since the bolts didn't thread in nicely.  After running a tap through, they were fine.  I got the left side lined perfectly, but the right side didn't really line up.  I simply drilled a hole in the shroud mount and put the bolt through that hole.



You can see here that the stock condenser is really road weary from all the miles / years.




















Here is the stock condenser on the right, and the upgraded unit on the left.




Here is the new suction discharge line side by side with the original.



The new radiator needed some persuasion to get it installed.  The anti-lock break unit needed to be moved a bit.  I loosened all the bolts, put a pry bar on it and tightened it back up again.  Then the radiator was able to fit into the lower mounts.  I also needed to move / and somewhat relocate the wire loom that runs across the upper rad support.  The drivers side of the radiator, where the rad mount would go, was hitting / pinching that wire loom. Once I moved it down a bit, there was clearance.  It was tight, but I was able to get the rad mounts installed on the top of the radiator.  Then I put the overflow in the bottom hole, and realized that there's not much clearance due to the extra thickness of the radiator.  I should have made a new mounting hole for the lower plate that the overflow mounts in, but I made it work.  I installed the CCRM and mounted that bracket.  It was really tight.  There's also not a lot of space between the fan and the pulleys now.

Last up was the suction discharge line.  I used some petroleum jelly on the O rings.  Then mounted it to the compressor.  That took some bending and modification of the line placement.  After some time, I did get it to seat right into the compressor, and tightened down the mounting bolt.  Lastly I connected all the refrigerant lines, which just press right in.

I hooked up my 134a gauges to the high and low side, and the center yellow line was hooked to the vacuum pump.  I ran the pump, opened the high and low sides, and it pulled a vacum.  I let it go for some time, then closed both sides, then shut off the compressor.  I let it sit overnight to make sure there were no leaks.  I missed a step here through - I should have pressurized the system with nitrogen and checked for leaks.  Then pulled the vacuum again.  I didn't have a nitrogen tank on hand ( and only learned about the nitrogen step later).

The next day I filled the radiator with fluid and pulled the car out.  As it was warming up I put the AC on full and I charged the system.  The first can of 134a almost gets sucked in due to the vacuum.  The second can took a little longer, and finally the third can.  By that time the car had warmed up, and the level of coolant in the radiator dropped.  I topped it off, and put the cap on.  I let it idle for about 10 more minutes, cleaned up some spillage, then took it for a ride.

I instantly noticed that the radiator is much more efficient.  The temperature drops FAST when that thermostat opens up.  And the AC is really cold.  I do need a hot day in traffic to really test it out.

I had it out again today and checked again for leaks.  Everything checked out OK!  Tomorrow I'll take it into the office 150 mile round trip and then report back on how it does in traffic.

1994 Mustang GT Condenser Upgrade - Correct Condenser

I'm finally done doing the condenser dance.  I bought 3 different condensers - one from Rock Auto, two from Amazon.  All of which were NOT the correct aluminum upgraded fin design - see my previous blog post about that.  Finally someone on the corral set me straight.  The part number for the condenser I now have is:  F7ZZ-19712-BA or YJ-396 or YJ396.  The tag on the condenser where the lines connect is F7ZH-19D734-CB - but I think that part number is for the adapter.  The adapter bolts to the condenser, and has the male fittings that connect to the lines.  This would allow the condenser to be used on various year cars by changing that adapter.

Here is a picture of the new CC1488 Radiator and the Condenser.  Below is a close up of the adapter for the condenser.

I was able to rent the vacume pump from Autozone.  Next step is to get started with the removal of the old parts and put in the new parts.  Something always seems to come up though - Hopefully I can get to the installation soon!

1994 Mustang GT: A/C Condenser upgrade

The stock condenser is just that, a stock replacement.  I wondered if there was a better design that came out for a later year mustang.  Wouldn't you believe it, they did update the design!  The condenser for a 1994 works for a 94, 95 and 96 v6.  In 1996 the cobra had issues cooling.  So when they released the 97 cobra, the SVT team decided to give a little more airflow to the radiator.  They ditched the stock conventional condenser:


and went with a parallel flow, all aluminum condenser which looks a lot like the design of a radiator.


The 97 condenser should be the same exact size, so it will fit.  The lines will need to be modified / bent a bit to make everything line up.  From what I've read online, this should be very minor.  Now, with that being said, I've already ordered a stock replacement from Rock Auto before I learned of the upgrade.  As luck would have it, that showed up with some damage to it so it was returned.  I also ordered what I thought was the Spectra upgraded aluminum parallel flow radiator from Amazon.  When that showed up it looked exactly like the top picture.  The part number is 7-4676 which is NOT the upgrade.  So another return was issued for that condenser.  Earlier today I ordered spectra 7-4962 which should be the upgrade.  I'll let everyone know on Thursday 8/4/2016 if this is the right one.  I also needed the suction / discharge line for the condenser since it leaks a bit.  I plan on doing them both at the same time.

Since the stock radiator needs to be removed to install the condenser, I'm planning on upgrading that radiator to a champion cc1488 3 row aluminum radiator.  I picked one up used with the dual fan setup, but I'm pretty sure the stock fan flows more.  The dual fan setup from champion flows about 2000CFM.  The stock SN95 fan flows 3-3800 CFM.  And it's fairly new so I'm going to use that one for now.  Stay tuned for more pictures and comparisons!