Here’s what I learned/tl;dr, which is going to sound obvious, and phillipm was totally right:
- Select the compressor suited for your application.
- Select the bracket to locate the compressor.
- Make sure your compressor pulley groves/belt ribs match your engine (mine is 6).
- Pulley Offset (mine is Truck)
- Once you know where you compressor is to be monted, you can map out your lines.
Spent half the day on the phone and doing some research.
I called Restomod Air (condenser) and Vintage Air (compressor),
and ended up with “Classic Auto Air”(recommended by Restomod Air) which seems to be the best suited to getting your stock stuff working again.
Taking @phillipm advice, I’m going to upsize the Condenser, plus get parallel flow.
I verified that the stock size of the Suburban's (’76) condenser is:
Depth: 7/8”
Height: 16 1/4"
Width: 28 7/8"
Inlet: #8 Male
Outlet: #6 Female
“Classic Auto Air” suggested the
16x27” Condenser
in: #8 male
out: #6 male
Notice how the OEM has M/F in/out?
This is the issue with trying to piece things together and mix and match parts.
I was hoping I could order hoses, and just bolt this thing together, but that was a bit of a pipe dream.
The good news is that “Classic Auto Air” has all the fittings and the guy assured me that we can just create custom lines where needed (under the hood). He said he’s familiar with the stock components, so putting together a list of parts should be easy.
The compressor piece of this had me pulling out my hair. I don’t know why it’s so hard to find details/specs on the different models.
First I emailed Sanden and asked for a recommendation. I was glad to get response, which said essentially:
the SD7B10 is probably too small, and he suggested a SD7H15, but said they have over 1,000 models and told me to call one of the distributors.
So I called Vintage Air, who also were cool and answered my questions.
Josh took the time to look up numbers and parts and suggested 04709-vma (5.5 CI w/V-belt) (this is actually 7 groove belt and won’t work, but the size seemed good).
http://www.sanden.com/productlibrary...uide_Rev_2.pdf
For Sanden, you can break down the model like this SD7B10:
SD (wobble plate type)
7 (# of pistons)
B (port location B-Body or H-Head)
10 (@9,000 rpm displacement in cc’s multiplied by 10, so: 100cc)
So then the SD7H15 is 150cc (9.3 Cubic Inches)
Mike at “Classic Auto Air” confirmed what was recommended on this thread, but he said “stay away from 7176” because it would be too small. Yep, its the SD7B10 (that I already bought). Sigh.
They can put the whole thing together, bracket, compressor, condenser, accumulator, lines, and fittings. Everything
but a new drive belt, it seems. So that’s likely what I’m going to do.
I also researched the Denso compressors and confirmed that the 10S20F is used on 2008 (my LS
engine year, I think) suburbans with rear air. So, breaking this one down, it’s a 10 Piston, 200cc unit. But I think it uses the ’stock manifold’.
Mike had some opinions on what compressor he would recommend (Sanden 514) I think… but that’s a bit small sounding (on paper)
The Burb used an orifice tube in front (’76) and a Thermal Expansion Valve in the rear unit.
See pics above for replacing the TXV.
So, it looks like I'm not getting AC for the 4th of July break after all!