[weq92f]

Unless there's something broken/leaking that you are not replacing, like the evaporator, no need to take it to a shop. That is, you should be able to bolt up all the new stuff with the seals lubed, oil in the compressor as per spec and pull a vacuum on it with simple tools. See below about the pump and A/C gauges. With compressed air, you can flush the evaporator and lines with a specific solvent to remove any debris that a previous compressor failure may have left behind.

If you do the bolt up and take it to a shop, they may find a simple mistake you made, like a clipped seal ( I know this! ) and since they're on it already, you'll pay the 300 bucks instead of the agreed on 89.95 or whatever for just the evacuate and charge.

The second time I rebuilt an A/C, I bought a set of gauges and a vacuum pump for less than 100 bucks and did all of it myself.

You're not too far, we could meet up and I'll loan you my pump and gauge set, but it's for R-134a and I don't have the adapters.

Hth,

-klb