348 A/C

A friend is going to help me check my A/C charge tomorrow... mostly in prep for planning for my engine removal and major. The drawings show Schrader valves next to the evaporator, but it looks like you have to remove the front boot cover/weatherstrip, etc. to get to them. Anyone know if there are other valves anywhere else in the system that would be easier to access? If not, any tricks to remove the cover to access the valves?

Also, my car had this rear license plate support on. Is this an original Ferrari part?

Thanks!
Rick
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Thanks Pap, appreciate the info and pics! Didn't realize the covers were wood... thought they must be plastic of some type.

Here in Phoenix, Arizona area, we also have major dust storms in the July-August timeframe (as well as heat!). Here' are typical pics of Phoenix dust storms. Fortunately, I have a house with a garage, facing away from the prevailing storm direction.

Rick
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Thanks Jeff and everyone... I should have checked the workshop manual, guess I didn't think there would be something that would show it. Only thing I knew was missing on my car was the toolkit, but I didn't think to check the license plate frame! If anyone has a spare #20 and/or #21, please drop me a line!
Rick

 

Hi Pap - My friend and I removed everything and he checked the A/C system for me. The impression I got from your description is that you only had to remove the cover over the evaporator next to the windshield. For my car, we had to remove all the weatherstrip, the vent frame that you mentioned, a number of screws around the outer edge of the whole cover, and 3 aluminum stiffeners on the back and sides in the luggage area which were also fastened by screws. So it was more involved, but not too bad with both of us. I would say my cover is more like a heavy pressed cardboard, but it is pretty flimsy.

After checking the bottom of the cover, I noticed that it's actually 2 pieces bolted together (see pic). So I think I probably could remove the bolts and probably would be able to get the half over the evaporator out in the future by only removing the weatherstrip next to the windshield and the frame over the vent (and 1 stiffener, if I wanted to leave it in place).

On the other hand, I probably will only have to remove this stuff to get the A/C serviced, unless I have other failures under there. My car does have a removable cover over the brake fluid reservoir (also see pic), which I noticed yours didn't have (assuming that's also where your reservoir also is).

Anyway, thanks again for taking time to take pics and post the explanation!

Rick
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Thanks Pap, I actually didn't see in one of your pics that the cover was still in place. My cover fit pretty tightly, and in order to get enough clearance to really see anything, the cover had to be raised quite a bit anyway... so it was easier to just remove it. That also helped make sure we didn't damage it at all. Not that big of a deal, though. Take Care!

Rick
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Also didn't look at your interior or remember that Australia is RHD Country! Luckily, we can still compare notes on most stuff for both RHD and LHD! Take Care!

Rick