K20 project off to a good start

That type of thing is something I am known for doing.. To many times having to crawl into fix something that could have been easily prevented.

Again. I am in awe of the work quality and finish!! looks great!!
 
With clutch hopefully sorted out, next up was the air conditioning. As described earlier, I figured out a way to mount an aftermarket Sanden style 709 compressor in the space where the original power steering pump was. I was hoping that once the engine was in place, that there would be enough clearance from the forward bulkhead and the engine cover. It worked out pretty well. The compressor had clearance but there was not enough room to attach the suction line, even with a short right angle fitting.
Compressor mods 01.JPG


After doing some internet catalog searching, I found that there are several different styles of rear heads that fit this compressor. The KG style has the two ports coming off the back of the head instead of at a right angle to the head. Only $25 and some postage and my problem solved. I was really happy to find that I could access all of the mounting bolts fairly easily and removed the compressor.
Compressor mods 02.JPG


I found a YouTube video from Nostalgic Air on how to change the head. Not much to it, really.
Compressor mods 03.JPG

Compressor mods 04.JPG


Mounted it back to the engine and ready to start working on the hoses.
Compressor mods 05.JPG


While I had the compressor off the engine, I cut off the unused mounting tabs to give it a cleaner, less tacked on look.
Compressor mods 06.JPG
 
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I guess any chance of ITBs is gone now...

Nice work, it looks great. Getting rid of the extra mounting tabs was a great choice.
 
With all of the AC components in place, I had to work out the plumbing from the front of the car to the compressor. I had planned on running the #10 hose from the Hurricane evaporator unit through the shift tunnel so I already had that hose in place with a connector under the shift lever area. I removed and modified the tunnel end cover that has the parking brake pulleys in it, to create another opening for the #10 hose. I modified one of the firewall grommets that comes with the Hurricane unit to allow for the angle of the plate so the hose could exit horizontally.
Tunnel cover mods 05.JPG


The trickiest part was bending two hard lines to snake from the tunnel area up past the engine subframe to the access box in the firewall where I would put the service ports and then the hoses to the compressor. Old Air sells aluminum straight AC tubing with the connectors on them in different lengths. I bought a #10 and a #8 in 24" lengths. I didn't have a tubing bender that would bend a 5/8" tube which is what the #10 is, so I looked on the internet and found the technique of filling the tube with sand so it won't crimp when you bend it. Worked great. I just measured where I wanted the bends and formed them over a large socket held in a vise. It took a while, doing a little here, a little there until I had them about right. Cleaned out the sand and fastened them in place on the cross member of the frame rail. Ordered the fittings I would need, cut the various tubings to length, then took them to a local hose guy here in Olympia that crimped them for me. Here is how it came out.

Lines from the compressor going down into the access box in the former spare tire well.
AC plumbing 09.JPG


This is the connection in the tunnel under the shift lever. The shift cables are shown at the bottom of the picture.
AC plumbing 04.JPG


Here is a picture of the tunnel under the parking brake handle. I connected the hose to the heater pipe to exit out of the tunnel cover through the original hole that the shift rod went through. I also routed the shift cables through that same opening.
AC plumbing 05.JPG


Here is the view looking up at the rear of the tunnel with the parking brake cover and the hoses coming out. I hope to never have to service the parking brake cables, otherwise I have to disconnect the shift cable, AC and heater hoses to remove the cover. The hose on the left is the #8 hose that comes from the condenser and runs along the side of the cooling tube tunnel, where the speedometer cable normally runs. I am pretty sure this is where the factory AC hose runs as well, though I have never seen one in person. You can see the hard pipes connected and the elbow of the heater hose to be connected in the future.
AC plumbing 10.JPG


Here's another view of it from the side showing the shift cables and heater hose exiting the original shift rod opening.
AC plumbing 11.JPG


Here is the view looking into the access box showing the hard pipes, the service ports, and the hoses going up to the compressor. The yellow wire goes to the compressor clutch. It doesn't show well in this angle, but the hard pipes are attached to the ledge of the crossmember and do not encroach on the space for the future coolant lines from the radiator.
AC plumbing 07.JPG


Here is a view looking up through the box showing good access to the engine, relatively speaking. I tried to route the AC lines around the sides of the access box so that I have plenty of room to work on the cooling plumbing, when I get to that.
AC plumbing 08.JPG


Last, here is a view of the #8 hose to the hard pipe up front coming from the condenser.
AC plumbing 13.JPG


Getting this whole AC system sorted out and behind me for now is a good feeling. Thanks again to @LarryC for his threads on upgrading his stock AC system as it gave me the start on the knowledge to tackle this project. Thanks to Papa Tony for suggesting looking at the aftermarket AC systems to see if they could be adapted to an X1/9.
 
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With clutch hopefully sorted out, next up was the air conditioning. As described earlier, I figured out a way to mount an aftermarket Sanden style 709 compressor in the space where the original power steering pump was. I was hoping that once the engine was in place, that there would be enough clearance from the forward bulkhead and the engine cover. It worked out pretty well. The compressor had clearance but there was not enough room to attach the suction line, even with a short right angle fitting.
Compressor%20mods%2001_zpsvsjild2v.jpg


After doing some internet catalog searching, I found that there are several different styles of rear heads that fit this compressor. The KG style has the two ports coming off the back of the head instead of at a right angle to the head. Only $25 and some postage and my problem solved. I was really happy to find that I could access all of the mounting bolts fairly easily and removed the compressor.
Compressor%20mods%2002_zpsfqxqkyz6.jpg


I found a YouTube video from Nostalgic Air on how to change the head. Not much to it, really.
Compressor%20mods%2003_zpsnoqnbfnb.jpg

Compressor%20mods%2004_zpsngdfddwb.jpg


Mounted it back to the engine and ready to start working on the hoses.
Compressor%20mods%2005_zpsnwkdm9le.jpg


While I had the compressor off the engine, I cut off the unused mounting tabs to give it a cleaner, less tacked on look.
Compressor%20mods%2006_zpshuuj7zp7.jpg

Hey Rodger - do you have the part number and/or source for this compressor? All the SD709's I've looked at have the perpendicular mounts, vs the radial ears on yours. I searched using the casting Numbers ( eg7h15y75-a ) in your pics - not luck there
 
Hey Rodger - do you have the part number and/or source for this compressor? All the SD709's I've looked at have the perpendicular mounts, vs the radial ears on yours. I searched using the casting Numbers ( eg7h15y75-a ) in your pics - not luck there
I got the compressor from Nostalgic Air. https://nostalgicac.com/compressors...-sanden-style-709-serpentine-belt-clutch.html. I changed the head (rear cover) to the KG style to get the hose connections to come straight off the back instead of radial. https://coldhose.com/sanden-compressor-heads/sanden-kg-rear-compressor-head.html.

I also cut off the top mounting points from the compressor to give it a cleaner look, once I was satisfied with the mount and orientation.
 
Thanks for the info. I think for this, I’ll wait until I have mine test fitted & see if the original Sanden can be used in that location. The stock hoses would be more than long enough if I can re orient or repurpose them.
 
As close as I can measure, the hose was about 5.5", before the connectors were put on. I would allow 6 to 6.5" as the length I have was just barely long enough.
Where did you mount it? I had moved mine to the trunk when I installed the rotrex.
 
Don't the X1/9's with a factory installed oil pressure gauge have the sender on the engine?
My 74 1300 engine has the oil sender mounted just to the left of the distributor. Unfortunately, the 1500 was not drilled for the sender so I got one of those port doubler banjo fittings.
 
Don't the X1/9's with a factory installed oil pressure gauge have the sender on the engine?
Yes - and I rarely see one that doesn't leak at some point ;) I just see it as an opportunity to make an improvement. Maybe it's overkill...
 
Yes - and I rarely see one that doesn't leak at some point ;) I just see it as an opportunity to make an improvement. Maybe it's overkill...
What my seat of the pants engineer hat told me is that since the sender body is clamped securely to the engine and is connected by a flex hose to the port, there should be minimal vibration impact on the connection. I could understand if it was screwed directly into the engine as then there is a lever arm on the connection caused by the weight of the sender.
 
What my seat of the pants engineer hat told me is that since the sender body is clamped securely to the engine and is connected by a flex hose to the port, there should be minimal vibration impact on the connection. I could understand if it was screwed directly into the engine as then there is a lever arm on the connection caused by the weight of the sender.
I think your seat of the pants engineer is pretty smart ;) and argues a good point. I will go back to a thread watcher now :)
 
What my seat of the pants engineer hat told me is that since the sender body is clamped securely to the engine and is connected by a flex hose to the port, there should be minimal vibration impact on the connection. I could understand if it was screwed directly into the engine as then there is a lever arm on the connection caused by the weight of the sender.

Either way is fine - all Volvos with OP gauges used a sender either in the block, or hanging off an NPT elbow. Never had an issue on any I owned.

On the K24 there are threaded bosses above the driveshaft bearing carrier, I'm thinking I'll make an adaptor that bolts to the block (effectively an elbow, just much more solid), and have the flex line feed that.

I found a 6" braided AN4 flex line left over from one of my old turbo setups - bosses are visible behind it

IMG_6561.jpg


My 74 1300 engine has the oil sender mounted just to the left of the distributor. Unfortunately, the 1500 was not drilled for the sender so I got one of those port doubler banjo fittings.

The 1500 has the same port, it just has a aluminum slug in it. I opened it up for use on mine.
 
On the K24 there are threaded bosses above the driveshaft bearing carrier, I'm thinking I'll make an adaptor that bolts to the block (effectively an elbow, just much more solid), and have the flex line feed that.
That's very handy that those are there. Nice!
 
Either way is fine - all Volvos with OP gauges used a sender either in the block, or hanging off an NPT elbow. Never had an issue on any I owned.

The 1500 has the same port, it just has a aluminum slug in it. I opened it up for use on mine.
I had heard that was the case and started poking around to find it but could find nothing but cast iron at the same location where the 1300 has a port. I wish it did as I am suspicious that my port doubler banjo has a small leak where the fiber washers seal it.
 
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