Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

[Peter M.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Mike,
This is the compressor off my mid April 67. I can't say for certain it's original but I thought it was. The foil label is not in very good condition. It has the "OK final test Chevrolet" ink stamp on the compressor shell.
Kind regards,
Pete

[Domenic T.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Peter,
I can see that the ink is gone on your foil, but there should be indentations (slight) from the typwriter. when the date code was typed.

Dom

[Domenic T.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Mike, They are all over the place. usually about a week and 1/2 between casting date and foil date, given about the same from the foil to the cars build date.
All that depends in how many cars are being built. Look at the shift on foil stickers. Shift 1 at a certain time of the build year might mean that there wasn't the demand. Shift 2 tells me they were pumping them out. Could be from future orders? I have also seen a shift 3.
Now I am finishing a 67 that is a true corvette compressor with dished pistons from a car that is believed original. The car build date is Oct 28, 66, back plate & front plate G 14 6 - G 8 6, and a 67 foil dated 072762. It's a very strong original with the dates spread out. Remember the 6 Month rule. I don't think there is a accurate average for a 1 year period. They may vary. We can't forget that the A6 compressors were installed on all the GM cars and some other brands, even foreign. That alone can spread dates.

Dom

Dom

[Peter M.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Dom,
I am no forensic document examiner, however with the help of a magnifying glass and the reflection from a flash light I get 032371.
I think this decodes to March 23, 1967 first shift.
Kind regards

[Domenic T.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Peter,
your right on.

Dom

[Mike B.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Good Evening Peter,

Thanks for your post. You're the first '67 owner to respond! Nice shot of your label and end plate. Your foil label's compressor model #5910645 and the remaining printed 3.00 (R-12 Charge in Pounds) appear to be correct for a '67. Nice clean H 31 6 (Aug 31st '66) casting date. I wish most of my compressors in stock were that nice. You stated that your car is a mid-April '67 built car? You ciphered the Frigidaire foil label date code as 032371 (March 23rd '67 1st Shift). Well that certainly fits your car's production date.

I find the long lull from your compressor's end plate casting date and the foil label date very interesting. I'll definitely include this one in my research! Anything's possible. It may very well be your original compressor. Have you owned her for a long time? I'm attaching a file photo of an early '67 Frigidaire label for you to cross reference the graphics.

Peter, check out the pics with the red arrow(s) just above your 1st post. Which type clutch hub do you have? The type with the 6 small holes or the 3 slots? Let us all know. Thanks for chiming in! Mike

[Mike B.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Great info Dom!

I figured the date spread questions would be relative to so many factors of what went on during the production of our Midyears. Your analogies have been very interesting. As I told Peter, anything's possible when it comes to date spreads. My 427's casting date has a long lull to the engine's assembly date. One possibility I read about had something to do with broken valve springs during assembly which caused the engines to be pushed aside at Tonawanda for later assembly.

The 1 1/2 week spread between casting and foil dates is also interesting. And the spread between the foil date and the car's assembly date also. I realize Dom that these are guesstimations based on what you've experienced and I thank you for sharing this. This will definitely help in selecting a compressor with an existing label. Or what to have typed on a repro label if I decide to go that way.

I've been meaning to ask you this......Where were the Frigidaire A6 compressors made? All at one factory?
Thanks for posting. Take care, Mike

[Domenic T.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Mike,
That takes someone smarter than I. Maybe Joe Lucia or equivalent could answer that! ( where were they made). So many factors involved in production from so many vendors. Some just pick from the top of the pile and some dig. One way I can tell a good one is the front plate vs the back plate. Some have come thru here with back plates that fit the date and the front plate completely dated wrong. The original corvette compressor has dished pistons, correct size pulley, clutch hub, front & back plate within about 3 weeks or less, and original sealant in the compressors. Some re-builders just use old parts and leave the factory sealer on and some just do a re-seal only which can be done in a few hours or less and call it a rebuild. I had one sent to me directly from one of the reputable re-builders and it was only sealed and not even cleaned. There was a re-builder that I bought compressors from just for the dates, case and hubs that actually did them right. They said they had to use old good parts and where honest about it. They were BIG and are not doing business any more. I bought a bunch of their stock, but at rebuild prices because nothing was able to leave their shop unless they did it. They did the best work, but not the extra mile. It takes 3 days to do one right if your lucky. All seal surfaces have to be buffed then washed in TSP. Put on a lathe to check for alignment (run true). and machined to fit.
They have been dropped, run hot, and abused in every way thru out the years, but are bullet proof.
Book says to expect some leakage as normal, but that will only erode the leak and leak more. as you know we are not in the exchange mode with these cars and we want the original back on. QC would cost a bunch and it was easier and cheaper to replace under warranty.
The A6 is almost 37 lbs and the front coil springs are made for the extra A/C weight. Sure put a lighter after market one on one on. If it's for weight then I say take a good dump or loose some weight. A GOOD A6 will outlast everything that's on the market today. To argue that point at this time would be senseless because the A6 go's back to 63. Keep it stock and good looking as it was originally.

Dom

[Mike B.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Absolutely Dom,

That's what I'm striving for. I've worked diligently through the years to correct what the good ol' boys did to my car back in the mid-70s. And my lifelong hunt for proper parts that were sometimes unique to '66 big block AC cars made it even more difficult of a search. And the compressor is the last big piece to the puzzle, then I've got all of her C-60 parts. Like I said before, I've waited this long.......the parts/dates gotta be right.

Some of you reading this post are probably wondering what's taken me so long with the '66. Well, in the middle of all of this I found my yellow '65 L-79. I was honored to meet her original owner in Washington D.C. at the address listed on her Protecto-Plate. She'd lived there ever since early April '65. And the greatest honor was being chosen as the guy who he'd sell the car to. So that long restoration began....$$$....Work in Florida away from the cars etc.....

So it looks like the '66 will be a happy retirement project. But I have to admit this.....I enjoy the hunt for those parts probably the most. If you knew how picked over she was and how they'd molested her body with flares etc, getting it right is real important to me. Well, with the help of hiring the right body man/painter and tons of TLC, she's a pretty '66 Sting Ray again in her original color.

I'm really looking forward to the day when I can mount her correct compressor/unique brackets onto her chassis prior to her body drop. What a day that'll be. Seeing her AC the way it should've been when I bought her so long ago. That'll be one huge photo op I'm sure.

Before I go, yeah I was just curious about if you knew where the Frigidaire A6's were made. It seems we know where most everything else was produced for our plastic fantastics. Maybe Joe Lucia would know, but it's not a technical question.

Take care, Mike

[Peter M.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Hi Mike,
My clutch plate has the three windows and my compressor shell is the swaged style.
Is the date code font on the foil label the same for the 66 and 67 compressors? They look a little different to my tired old eyes, but it could just be me.
Kind regards

[Domenic T.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Good Evening Peter,

Thanks for your post. You're the first '67 owner to respond! Nice shot of your label and end plate. Your foil label's compressor model #5910645 and the remaining printed 3.00 (R-12 Charge in Pounds) appear to be correct for a '67. Nice clean H 31 6 (Aug 31st '66) casting date. I wish most of my compressors in stock were that nice. You stated that your car is a mid-April '67 built car? You ciphered the Frigidaire foil label date code as 032371 (March 23rd '67 1st Shift). Well that certainly fits your car's production date.

I find the long lull from your compressor's end plate casting date and the foil label date very interesting. I'll definitely include this one in my research! Anything's possible. It may very well be your original compressor. Have you owned her for a long time? I'm attaching a file photo of an early '67 Frigidaire label for you to cross reference the graphics.

Peter, check out the pics with the red arrow(s) just above your 1st post. Which type clutch hub do you have? The type with the 6 small holes or the 3 slots? Let us all know. Thanks for chiming in! Mike

Mike,
I just finished a 67 compressor with the exact assembly date as the one shown (072762). in your picture?

[Mike B.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Hi Peter,

The font question is a good one for Dom and others here on the TDB. Lots of photos on prior posts of '67 compressors.

I was looking at your compressor label when you and Dom were talking about how to read the date by key stroke impressions. My old eyes couldn't see a thing by your photo. But there's nothing like looking at it live. Guys like Dom, Wayne Midkiff and Page Campbell (just to name a few) are the guys who would know when Frigidaire changed from smooth to swaged style A6 compressors. Anybody?

But if I were you, I'd feel confident that your compressor is correct until somebody proves you wrong. Your casting date is right there for a '67 and so is your foil label model number. The 3 slots and swage sounds pretty good to me. What type relief valve do you have? See pg. 1

Hi Dom, I don't remember where I got this '67 compressor photo from. I collect photos of different parts from different sources. I bring my laptop along when I buy parts sometimes. Those file shots really help when determining authenticity. You just gotta trust the source where the photos came from. I just thought it would be good to show Peter another label. I'm sure he's seen several already.

Thanks guys for your posts! Mike

[Domenic T.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

They switched sometime in 66 from smooth to swage as did they start using the 3 spoke.

Dom

[Mike B.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Good Evening Everybody,

And thank you Dom for your last post. Yes, I remembered a prior post about swaged compressors. I thought I'd done a thorough search of prior posts on this subject so not to duplicate what's been previously discussed. Well, I just found it. Ric Sauve and Peter Miller check out this previous post: "C-2 AC Compressor ID Code" started by Dom on January 29th, 2010. It's a very good read. There's just so much out there and these searches don't always pan out for me. So the swage appears about mid year during production of '66 Corvettes.

My 1st post on this thread showed shots of an early '66 compressor with casting date H 24 5 (Aug 24th '65) with a Frigidaire foil label model # 6550133 and a foil label build code of 092052 (Sep 20th '65 2nd shift). My big question was for help in identifying when the changeover from model #6550133 to #6550113 occurred. This was important to me since my '66 was built late Nov of '65. I strongly suspected that this was the changeover month of the models. But since posting that request for inputs from Oct, Nov, and Dec '65 built 1966 w/AC owners, this thread has morphed into a few more subjects:

-Model # change month
-Non-swaged vs. swaged compressor cases
-Clutch hub design
-Vent design

Thanks to all of your inputs on this thread and prior inputs through the TDB I'm now feeling a little more confident with what type of A6 design I need for my '66's missing compressor. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Photo my files
Compressor casting # 6555302
Compressor casting date - H 24 5 (Aug 24th '65)
Compressor model #6550133
Compressor build code - 092052 (Sep 20th '65 2nd shift)
Non-swaged compressor case
Early clutch hub design (6 holes)
Early vent design (slotted w/440#)

My Purchased In-Stock (so far)
Compressor casting # 6555302
Compressor casting date - I 6 5 (Sep 6th '65)
Compressor model # - unknown
Compressor build code - unknown
Non-swaged compressor case
Early clutch hub design (6 holes)
Early vent design (slotted w/440#)

Ric S's Post Reply
Compressor casting # 6555302
Compressor casting date - J 6 5 (Oct 6th '65)
Compressor model #6550113
Compressor build code - unknown
Non-swaged compressor case
Early clutch hub design (6 holes)
Early vent design (slotted w/440#)

Photo my files
Compressor casting # 6555302
Compressor casting date - L 3 5 (Dec 3rd '65)
Compressor model #6550113
Compressor build code - unknown
Non-swaged compressor case
Later clutch hub design (3 slots)
Later vent design (centered hole w/440#)

I'd forgotten that I had file shots of that Dec '65 compressor. Look at what it shows. It's a model#6550113, non-swaged case but it now has the later design clutch hub and later design vent. I'll post shots in a minute. I keep on getting kicked off this site.I'll send this out then post shots.
See you, Mike

[Mike B.]

Re: Earlier '66 AC Compressor Questions

Here's the shots of that Dec '65 compressor from a '66 Vette. Mike