I will admit defeat: I absolutely, utterly hate the humid summers that Kentucky has. Nothing annoys me more than when I’m sweating out more water than I’ve drank in a week. I finally broke down and got the air conditioning fixed on the Imperial.

It wasn’t that easy of a plan, though. Here’s what I was facing: I had no idea if the dryer or the evaporative block were worth anything, the compressor had been off of the Imperial since the swap of the engines and had leaked out some of the oil, and during the engine swap the condenser had been bashed in by the nose of an engine swinging on the hoist. So, starting out I wasn’t in a good spot. I got the dryer and the condenser from the parts store and had an evaporative block shipped in. Great, now what?

The Imperial has never been converted from R-12 freon. After hunting around the local area, I found Modern Automotive in Bowling Green. They are known for A/C repairs and great work on Turbo Buicks. Perfect. Since I had some meetings I had to attend, I bit the bullet and decided to let Ronnie have at the car. I would’ve been happy if it had taken a couple of days, but within about 24 hours (or, as we had initially agreed, the morning he was supposed to start working on the car), the Imperial was done, leak-tested and ready to go. Razz me all you want about not working on the system myself, but I consider it a test of a local shop, and they did well, with a very agreeable labor rate (about $40/hr), professional attitude and the kind of customer service one can dream of. Honestly, I was expecting to not have the car for another four days.

Results: The A/C works well, with only a deviation of about 200rpm between on and off, and it blows cold…not freezing, like the 300 can be, but it certainly takes the edge off. The only issue is that it does not blow through the vents at all, but out of the defogger and the floor vents. So, for now, it’s okay, but I’ve got more work to do. In the meantime, here’s the latest work:

The dryer. This isn’t an issue, was a cheap fix.

The best shot I can get of the condenser. At least it’s new. You should’ve heard the swearing when the old one got bashed in.

That little silver block on the firewall is the evaporator block. That’s the end of the easy part of the A/C system. Everything else requires the dash to come out.

Coming up in the future: interior cleaning and mods, and figuring out why the fuel in the carburetor is boiling over. Until then, I’m off to find some more enjoyable roads.