[Shotimes] A/C Problems

[Doug Rentko]

I replaced my A/C clutch with the Autozone Factory Air set last fall.
If you pull the battery and alternator, you can unbolt the compressor
from the block and rotate it up a little(not a lot, just enough to
clear the apron rail)  Then you can attack the snap rings head-on,
instead of having to use the right angle tips on your pliers, which
are never long enough to get to the coil retainer(but the straight
ones are!)  The AZ unit is really nice, you get a new pulley and
bearing, clutch coil and clutch hub.  The hub in the kit doesn't look
like the factory unit, I almost didn't buy it, but there's a little
note in the box which insists it'll work on many Ford compressors,
even if it looks different.  It ended up working perfectly.  The kit
comes with lots of shims, so you can get the air gap right.  The
clutch hub is rubber isolated for smooth engagement, which eventually
hardens up.  The new one, with fresh rubber and nice new friction
surfaces, engages very smoothly.  
     I had the dealer do this back in 1995(I didn't know what the
problem was, fewer high mileage SHO's back then!) and you don't want
to know what they charged me!  I'll save a fortune if I just throw
the AZ kit in every eight years or so!  I highly recommend the AZ
clutch kit, much better than messing with old shims every couple of
months!


     Doug Rentko
     91, White, 185k