MORΩN ΛABIA
BMW CCA Member
I should've added: while the dash doesn't have to come apart, the puzzle consisting of evaporator, expansion valve, hard pipes in from the enginebay and their plastic housing, is a very tight and fiddly one. The screws holding the plastic in were a particular WWTT moment.
Single Stage
I'm sure it will be particularly annoying. Just glad I don't have to re-do everything from the heater core replacement. I may send you a DM if I get stuck. Thanks for the helpful info.Originally Posted by moroza
Single Stage
Night-time temperature finally dipped below 100 degrees here in Phoenix, so I pulled the car out of the garage and began the evaporator core replacement tonight.
Car is very dusty but started right up after a month and a half. No battery tender or anything.
As expected, the expansion valve and surrounding area are wet and have dye on them.
The breeze died down and I became drenched with sweat pretty quickly, so I'll pick this up again some night soon.
Member
If you open the system, the receiver dryer should be replaced. It is not that much money.
Single Stage
I do have a new one. Thanks.
Member
When I changed my system from R12 to R152a, I found oil around the expansion valve and evaporator. I pressure tested the evaporator and could not find a leak. I took it out and cleaned all the 28+ years of dirt and gunk living on it. Early 1990 E34s did not have a filter. However, I replaced the expansion valve from R12 to R134, which worked well in an R152 system. Make sure you order the right green O ring seals for your replacement parts. Some O rings out there are not for refrigeration use. Once I verified there were no vacuum losses, I kept the vacuum machine running for a few hours to boil off any solvent residues and air traces. When I filled the system, I purged the hoses with refrigerant to ensure no hose trapped air went into the closed system. With a thermometer stuck in the center vent and the system running at low fan speeds, I was able to get 38 degree air coming off the vents even if the outside temps were around 100 with the car moving at 60 mph.
With your nice parallel flow condenser, I think you should achieve better performance. However, the system limits vent temps to a little above 32 degrees to prevent freezing in the evaporator core.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Single Stage
Took the car to Danny’s shop today and pulled the whole AC system apart. Wasn’t as thorough as I probably should be for photos.
This meant:
-Drain coolant
-Remove the radiator, expansion tank, and firewall cover.
-Remove the condenser (comparison of serial vs parallel flow design)
-Had to stack 2 bushings and use a longer bolt for one of the aux fan mounts:
-Remove the compressor, cutting the half-shredded belt.
-Loosen clamps that attach A/C lines to frame rail
-Separate line fittings at charge ports
-Remove nut holding A/C hardline at firewall and pull section of line into engine bay
-Remove 2 phillips screws that keep the evaporator lines from sliding over.
-Remove glovebox bracket and firewall padding in passenger footwell.
-Easily slide evaporator out of its hole.
-Vacuum inside climate box.
We will finish this project off on Monday or Tuesday, so for now, I will leave you all with a photo of my car on the lift, accompanied by a Dinan supercharged 540i/6 that’s also at the shop for some work.
Last edited by danespann; 09-13-2020 at 02:34 AM.
Single Stage
Went to have the AC charged and the fresh compressor had a broken shaft from being beat to death in shipping. So, the good clutch from the new compressor was swapped onto the old compressor.
The system seems about as cold at idle as it was back on R12 which is great. The parallel flow condenser helps temps a ton when not moving. Kept up fine with no tint and it was 106 today. I’ll find a thermometer to put in the vent soon.
Since the front end was apart, it was time to replace my broken headlights. 3 cracked lenses and passenger low beam adjusters were broken. I had it held in place with zip ties for a while.
-Broken Headlights:
-New Smileys:
Also bought a Dinan exhaust off of Danny’s car:
-New front bumper brackets:
Old BMW's FTW
Heck yeah! Glad to see the parts from my gold car (RIP) living on in your car. Glad the AC stuff worked out too, I was a little nervous with all the o-rings we replaced.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Member
...?
Member
Gad dang this car makes me miss mine, though the body is cleaner. I feel like I need another high-mi daily Alpine E34...
+1
Single Stage
Gold car is still around and does technically still drive. However, after a fatal door latch failure that resulted in the door being cut open, the car has been stripped of its good parts and has an unknown destiny I believe?
- - - Updated - - -
I don't think you'd regret getting another Alpine car. The single stage holds up so well. You can't tell in photos but nearly ever panel has a dent or 2 on my car. Still love it.
MORΩN ΛABIA
BMW CCA Member
You made it sound like the expansion valve was cake. Was it easy?
Why'd you drain the coolant?
Old BMW's FTW
Expansion valve was fairly easy— glovebox came out, trims around it came out, glovebox mounting bracket came out, some sound deadening was loosened, and that's all it took. Basically like changing a cabin air filter but with a few more steps. The only tricky part was undoing the lines to it, because that had to be undone from the engine bay side. That's why the coolant had to be drained, because on the 535i the expansion tank sits up against the firewall and needs to be removed to access the AC lines going to the expansion valve and evap core.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Single Stage
Expansion valve came attached to the new evap core but I transferred the short hard-lines from the old one. with the glovebox bracket and sound insulation removed from the footwell, the whole unit slid out and back in pretty easily. I don't see how one would change just the expansion valve without removing the whole evap core though.
Coolant was drained because radiator must be removed to swap out the condenser. Also, the coolant expansion tank had to be removed to remove the firewall cover and disconnect the AC lines from the evap core.
MORΩN ΛABIA
BMW CCA Member
I changed my condenser from the front, having removed the bumper. Expansion tank, I suppose. What's done is done, and your coolant probably was over three years old anyway?
Single Stage
Seems like one would have to bend the lines or remove them entirely to get the condenser out the front. Either way, removing radiator takes like 5 minutes so I didn't mind. Coolant was a month or 2 old from the last round of stuff.
1990 Alpine 535i/5 - BC Coilovers, LSD, M5 Swaybars, 540 Brakes, A/C Mods, Sport Seats
1986 Alpine 528e - 500k+ miles daily driver
1992 Island 525i/5
1988 Alpine/Indigo 735i/5
Single Stage
Took the car to its first autocross event of the year.
Placed first in class and no overheating issues or anything, which means the car is ready for actual track stuff again.
Only run the GoPro saved (it was 111 degrees):
https://youtu.be/t0XSYxWb83U
1990 Alpine 535i/5 - BC Coilovers, LSD, M5 Swaybars, 540 Brakes, A/C Mods, Sport Seats
1986 Alpine 528e - 500k+ miles daily driver
1992 Island 525i/5
1988 Alpine/Indigo 735i/5
Member
Looks great!!Took the car to its first autocross event of the year.
Placed first in class and no overheating issues or anything, which means the car is ready for actual track stuff again.
Only run the GoPro saved (it was 111 degrees):
https://youtu.be/t0XSYxWb83U
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Member
Nice, Dane! Looks like a good course. It's tough to beat M Systems for track/race wheels, too.
What type of cars were in your class? I never ever see other E34s at any track events, haha.
Single Stage
Not many people in the class lol. But the other e34 there was my friend Kurtis' S50 525i:
1990 Alpine 535i/5 - BC Coilovers, LSD, M5 Swaybars, 540 Brakes, A/C Mods, Sport Seats
1986 Alpine 528e - 500k+ miles daily driver
1992 Island 525i/5
1988 Alpine/Indigo 735i/5
Member
Nice thread ! I was super stoked to pick up my 535i today after cam change.. Drove 150 kms, runs great and good character.. It got a Schrick 284GR? Last one was the Hartge H5 item. But the engine I have missed so much! I could see if I can have a foto upload. Cheers.
Single Stage
255k update: Went to the garage to find a flat tire this morning, so drove my e36 to work.
Took wheel off to find that the patch-plug I did after the Colorado trip had given out. 7k miles so very unfortunate.
Threw the spare m-system from the trunk on. Doesn’t seem to be balanced but it works for now. Love m-systems still.
These kumho’s are lovely and very quiet, but they’ve gone out of production in the 6 or so months since I bought them. 245/40r17 isn’t a super common size but I tracked down a store with a single one in stock and ordered it. Probably going to be a week before arrival.
1990 Alpine 535i/5 - BC Coilovers, LSD, M5 Swaybars, 540 Brakes, A/C Mods, Sport Seats
1986 Alpine 528e - 500k+ miles daily driver
1992 Island 525i/5
1988 Alpine/Indigo 735i/5
MORΩN ΛABIA
BMW CCA Member
245/40 is slightly small on the OD. These cars with these wheels can use 225/50, 235/45, 245/40, 245/45, and possibly others. I've used at least one tire in each of those sizes, front and rear.
Last edited by moroza; 10-26-2020 at 08:30 PM.
Single Stage
These tires run very large. Speedometer is fairly accurate at speed. 235/45 would be more correct I suppose.
1990 Alpine 535i/5 - BC Coilovers, LSD, M5 Swaybars, 540 Brakes, A/C Mods, Sport Seats
1986 Alpine 528e - 500k+ miles daily driver
1992 Island 525i/5
1988 Alpine/Indigo 735i/5
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