A/C charging issue resolved.

[brokencase]

Disagree. It comes down to improving the effectiveness of the condenser.

https://griffiths.com/ac-system-help-in ... 4a-vs-r12/

"Pound for pound R134a is a more efficient refrigerant than R12, however it runs at higher pressures in some aspects and therefore requires more effective condensing. Whether R134a performs as well as R12 in any given a/c system depends upon system components and the amount of R134a used."


From your Hagerty article:
"Now, in the case of big American cars, with their massively overbuilt A/C systems and huge condensers, R134a conversion often worked fine. But many European cars, such as the vintage BMWs I love, had A/C systems that never functioned all that well even when they were new and charged up with R12. To take one of these and convert it to R134a was usually a recipe for disappointment."

So now you can understand the reason why I have the fan running on the condenser while the A/C is operating.
I ran them both in my old Scorpio (with fan mod) and I could not perceive any difference. Cost and availability makes it a no brainer to convert to R134a, but you need to force cool the condenser.

On my old Scorpio my "fan mod" was using the stock fan, but I have since learned that this fan draws too much current for constant duty use. So on my current Scorpio I have fitted the aftermarket fan.

[brokencase]

Well...wish me luck.

First prototype. I'll try fitting it tomorrow.

The body on this one was printed on the UV resin printer.
I've already revised to go to a two piece body that will allow it to be more easily printed on the conventional FDM printer.

The polyurethane seal was printed on the FDM printer in about 15 minutes

[brokencase]

The good news is that my driver's side door motor works.

The bad news is I broke my new vent door while trying to install it.

Onward to the next revision. I'll add extra support. Definitely need to print it on the FDM printer out of ABS so that it will be tough, but flexible.

I think I will shrink the body slightly and have more of the polyurethane seal around the perimeter.

[Ed Lijewski]

I'd have expected breakage if any first on motored power.

That seal covers the entire back side? Source of air friction.

Looks nice...otherwise.

YMMV

[brokencase]

The overall layout of the seal mimics the original seal, which was foam. The difference is that it is very thin polyurethane. Overall, my vent door is much more aerodynamic than the original vent door, mostly because it is thinner and smoother.

On the next version I made it "designed for assembly". It is two parts and is easily printed on the FDM 3d printer.
Since I used ABS the two parts are adhered together by just brushing the surfaces with acetone.

The non-driven pivot is now a hole, and a cut nail forms the "pin" and is installed retracted, after you get the blade into position you then push the nail out into the pivot hole. Later on a small dab of epoxy secures the pin. This simplifies installation and eliminates stressful bending.

I believe the passenger's side is just a mirror image of the driver's side.

So assuming this goes in well and works then all I have to do is remove the center door and figure out how to lay that out.

blade top.jpg

blade bottom.jpg

[Ed Lijewski]

As I recall, corner vent vanes aee the same shape, and center vent vanes are the same shape. But those rwo shapes differ slightly.

20240608_072359_copy_1612x1209.jpg

Really, removing the dash cover and then removing each vent housing to get your creations to fit and work reliably just isn't that much effort. And contorting oneself lying across seats is actually more physical and mental effort in the end. (Have you ever removed the dash cover? 15 minutes max.)

[Are you keeping track of how many hours you've invested in this?]

YMMV

[brokencase]

[Are you keeping track of how many hours you've invested in this?]

YMMV

It's a hobby.

The design time is small. The initial layout was done in a morning. Subsequent tweaks take only moments.
Printing a vent door takes about two hours. Progress is slow because I'm doing other things.

But hopefully it is all worth it in the end Ed, because I will have improved and functioning vent doors. Where (according to your observations) just about every other Scorpio will not have working vent motors.

[Ed Lijewski]

"Lipstick on a pig" seems apt. The Scorp EATC was a commendable development. But it fell short of providing optimal comfort in a/c mode in high ambient heat/humidity given the linear center dash vents.

YMMV

[brokencase]

Well, Ed - I'm not tearing things apart and breaking stuff. I'm making it all work as original, hopefully better than original.
This is the nature of the restoration hobby.

As opposed to "To heck with those dang doors, rip them the heck outta there!" and... "I'll stuff my old socks in the vents in the Winter when I need defrost".

Two different philosophies.

I'll have you know that my new driver's side vent is now working! And I will add that it is indeed more streamlined, and operating more like a throttle blade.

I just need to remove a tad of material from the motor driven boss. As it stands now, the blade is under a bit if compression.

Also, I think I will print the seal at 0.5mm thickness instead of the 0.75mm it is now so as to be more flexible and compliant.

I think I will also get a straw on the silicone spray can and blast a little around the motor drive shafts.

I'll post a video of my working vent doors on youtube when I am done so that all can admire in stupendous wonder.

[brokencase]

I think I figured out why these vent doors jam up, the vent doors distort, and the motor gears fail (and sometimes the EATC driver chips blow)

I was trying to figure out why my new vent door was getting squeezed side to side. I made it the same external dimensions as the original vent door.

I am quite certain what is happening is the molded vent tunnel/housing has shrunk and contracted over the years. This then makes the door hard for the motor to rotate. In my case the driver's door was frozen up. The original vent door did exhibit some twisting. Once I removed the door the motor drive happily turned on power up.

Ideally the door should have some float side to side and the seal should self center the door within the passage. This is what I am shooting for on the next spin.

[Ed Lijewski]

The OE edge foam may have dual purposes: seal air flow while allowing for irregular dimensions of housings and door flaps.

On one system observation in a center vent I recall the motor clearly engaged in a slo-mo arm wrestling match on flap meeting housing, in which there was no doubt it would prevail as the vent flap moaned "Uncle" under torque stress.

When I acquired Shadow the system on start-up likewise exuded from one or two vents the same sounds. I've experience with new EATC systems to compare the above with to know what might be "normal new" sounds.

Re the housings, if anything they might have adapted to motor torqueing on flaps to become slightly irregular in spots.

The dash panel adjustment vanes alone adequately close air flow when moved to that position by a driver's finger.. No sock needed.

YMMV

[brokencase]

It's not a question of the foam gasket binding.

My original plastic door was binding along the axis of the pivots, against the side walls of the passage...to the point where the door froze (i.e., the motor could not over come the resistance). Very certain the passageway has shrunk over time along that direction.

Certainly the seal is to adapt to the irregularity of the passageway.

My center and passenger's side original doors are still in place and working, but they are making creaking noises when they alter position, indicating the same situation but to a lesser degree.

[brokencase]

OK, so I have the driver's and passenger's side vent doors installed and they work exquisitely.
Easy motion, nice seal, "edge on" throttle blade when open. Much better than original design, and I believe the passenger side was previously misregistered in the full open position.

The "pivot" pin design that I incorporated makes installation very easy through the vent hole.

I removed the center vents. Foams are mostly gone, and again I don't think these doors were properly registered. They are a bit "twist stressed".

The right center door came out easy. Removal of the center left vent door was difficult and required much prying. When you finally pop it loose you're afraid it will drop down the hole.

These two center vents are linked, so I'm going to have to think carefully about how to make my new versions of the center vents "easy to install".

Its a bit crazy design, the two vents are so close together they should have just made one single passage with one single door.
Then let the split happen with the vent deflectors. Perhaps they were leaving thier options open for the future.


Ed: "Sum Ergo Drive-O. Mucho!"
Dean: "Cogito ergo reparare!"

[Ed Lijewski]

My vent doors and motors are working fine. My whole A/C system is working as it should.

....

The real issue is that there is just not enough air blowing out of the vents to cool down the cabin effectively.

Told ya. I knew your doors would be found to be in less than perfect condition. ("Don't Listen to Ed!!)

Putting that in the past, nice work on the repro vent doors! And DIY doors install mod.

Even with side vents redone and just center vents to address, I would remove the dash pad and remove the center housing to easily fine tune a replacement for center doors and their installation. (I know you're to stubborn to agree with that. )

YMMV

[brokencase]

When I said - "My vent doors and motors are working fine. My whole A/C system is working as it should." that was before I pulled the vent deflectors off and had a look! Up to that point I could hear the doors operating, so I assumed they were good.

However your other recommendations (sans total vent removal) are respected and duly noted.

Anyhow, My intent is to make these easy to install without having to disassemble the dash. Full success with the new outer doors in this regard.
Who knows? I might have to remove them later on. Hopefully not, but you never know. Perhaps the seal might rip or whatever. Easy install/removal is also useful to allow you to figure out proper registration. Although I now know how to do that.

I figured out how to make the center doors easy to install. Originally they are interconnected by a molded rectangular pin and slot.
Instead of that, I will have a slot on both adjoining pivots and you insert a small square piece of sheet steel to interconnect. Like a small section of hacksaw blade. If I try to 3d print the drive pin as it was original it would likely shear off.

So you install the left center door, then the small sheet metal drive piece gets inserted, then install the left side of the right center door, and then the right side of the right center door will have the push pin pivot like I did the the outer doors.

Like the outer doors I will reduce the dimension across to eliminate binding.