OCC (or any B-Body) A/C Evaporator replacement

I haven't verified it yet, but I may be plagued with the early style self-destructing evaporator.

The R12 disappears in short order, but I can't find any obvious leaks.

I still have to get to the point where I can actually see the evap to determine if it is the culprit.

A friend just had the same thing to his early SS454 pickup, wasn't fun.

The FM makes it look like an ugly job, any comments from anyone?

Thanks

Jim

Here we go again...It is not all that bad. You have to remove the bottom of the airbox, AKA drip pan. This requires you to pull the carpet back to access the rear (front of the car) screw, and rig a socket. There are a couple of how tos here, and on the ISSF. Use the search function to find them. The screw on the bottom can only be accessed with an open/box end wrench. OCCs use a 7mm head.

After removing the drip pan, there is supposed to be 1 screw holding the evaporator in place. You also have to remove the hoses from the engine bay. The quick disconnect is removed by disengaging the white nylon clip from the black socket. Press in on the white part until the tangs are inside of the black socket. They can be difficult to disengage, and will take up more time than most of the other individual steps unless you are fortunate, and it is cooperative. Sometimes pushing it in (not logical) will allow the tangs to disengage the socket more easily. It is in a tight space, and you're patience will be tested on this item. The evap will come out from the bottom of the airbox. I takes about the same amount of time as the heater core. A heater core takes about 3 hours.