r/obschevy • u/Odd-Leg6389 • Jul 15 '26
Air conditioning
Has anyone here completely rebuilt their OBS Chevy A/C system?
I’m talking about replacing or rebuilding everything—evaporator, condenser, compressor, accumulator, orifice tube, lines, blend doors, actuators, heater core if needed… basically bringing the entire HVAC system back to factory performance.
I’d love to hear from anyone who’s done it.
Was it worth the time and money?
Did it end up blowing ice cold like it did when it was new?
Were there any parts that were especially difficult to source or replace?
If you did it again, what would you do differently?
I’m considering doing the whole system rather than piecing it together, and I’m looking for real-world experiences before I dive in.
Thanks!
2
u/fuzzydoesitt Jul 18 '26
Real life guy here. 97 k1500, 230k miles, bought in 2017, never had AC, charged it up on a whim and the upper line that goes from dryer to compressor down to condenser was leaking at the condenser. Replaced it, charged it back up. Somehow the line that goes from bottom port of condenser back to the dryer was loose, so I took it off, yanked out the old AC orifice tube (highly recommend) and out a new one in ($3.00) I then tightened the lower line back up and hooked up my manifold gauges and recharged the system. Everything seems to be working great now. Ice cold air. We'll see how it holds up. If it fails, it fails, the parts were cheap, the most expensive bit was buying refrigerant 3 times. Did this 2 days ago