I AM THE NEW GUY

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I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby wipala » Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:25 am

Hello all,
I go by wipala..I just signed on to the forum..I was looking for info
for a car I had just bought and came across this site and it looked
so good I thought I would join
My NEW car is a 1988 Chrysler Labaron Convertible. I, at least IMO
got a great littel car for a smoking deal. The car has 45k original and
documented miles, new top, new plumbing and even has the
origianal manuel..the only drawback is ,,I live in the Phoenix
AZ area and my new ride does not have air,,but we are woking
on that littel problem.
Hope to talk to a lot of you all
wipala :D
wipala
 
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:01 pm
Car Information: 1988 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible

Re: I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby Pete in NH » Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:01 pm

Hi,

Welcome to the club. It sounds like you have found a nice car to enjoy. On the Air conditioner check out ackits.com/ which is Arizona Mobile Air. They are in Phoenix and list kits to add A/C to K cars. They do not list a kit specifically for an 88 Chrysler but do for 88 Plymouths and Dodges it might be worth stopping by and see what they could work out.
Pete in NH
 
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:47 pm
Car Information: 1986 Plymouth Reliant SE

Re: I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby MyDodgeDip » Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:38 am

An 88 Lebaron convertible is a J body, not a K. Most of the mechanical bits are basically the same though. Welcome!
MyDodgeDip
 

Re: I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby wipala » Wed Apr 04, 2012 6:26 am

MyDodgeDip wrote:An 88 Lebaron convertible is a J body, not a K. Most of the mechanical bits are basically the same though. Welcome!

thanks for the welcome and the info. it is hard to believe so many people
have these cars..neat...what a treasure chest of info...
wipala
 
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:01 pm
Car Information: 1988 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible

Re: I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby wipala » Wed Apr 04, 2012 6:28 am

Pete in NH wrote:Hi,

Welcome to the club. It sounds like you have found a nice car to enjoy. On the Air conditioner check out ackits.com/ which is Arizona Mobile Air. They are in Phoenix and list kits to add A/C to K cars. They do not list a kit specifically for an 88 Chrysler but do for 88 Plymouths and Dodges it might be worth stopping by and see what they could work out.

Pete in NH,,thanks for the welcome and the info,,will check them out..so far I have found out that
AutoZone carries almost everything I will need,,,but maybe they will have some better prices and a whole
lot more info on how to do the job..
wipala
 
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:01 pm
Car Information: 1988 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible

Re: I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby Pete in NH » Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:55 pm

Hi,

Part of the K car A/C kit form ackits.com is all the engine mounted parts under kit # 3066 for a 2.2 and 2.5 L engine. So that likely would work for you. Since they do not list anything for an 88 Chrysler for the whole kit you might be able to find a universal evaporator/ blower unit that will fit under your dash. That way you wouldn't have to figure out if you could retrofit a stock evaporator core into the dash. You would also need a parallel flow condenser if you use R134 refrigerant. All in all adding A/C to this car would be quite a project and a fair amount of expense and calls for a fairly high skill level in dealing with this kind of stuff. You also have to upgrade the cooling system. On a k body this was only a radiator fan change to a bigger fan and a shroud, i'm not sure what they did on J bodies
Pete in NH
 
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Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:47 pm
Car Information: 1986 Plymouth Reliant SE

Re: I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby wipala » Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:25 pm

Pete in NH wrote:Hi,

Part of the K car A/C kit form ackits.com is all the engine mounted parts under kit # 3066 for a 2.2 and 2.5 L engine. So that likely would work for you. Since they do not list anything for an 88 Chrysler for the whole kit you might be able to find a universal evaporator/ blower unit that will fit under your dash. That way you wouldn't have to figure out if you could retrofit a stock evaporator core into the dash. You would also need a parallel flow condenser if you use R134 refrigerant. All in all adding A/C to this car would be quite a project and a fair amount of expense and calls for a fairly high skill level in dealing with this kind of stuff. You also have to upgrade the cooling system. On a k body this was only a radiator fan change to a bigger fan and a shroud, i'm not sure what they did on J bodies

Pete,,,
What is the difference between a J and K body..I do not know what this means..I do know that
a/c is really a requirement for driving in AZ from April thur Oct.
Thank you
wipala
wipala
 
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Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:01 pm
Car Information: 1988 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible

Re: I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby K-CAR_WAGON » Mon Apr 09, 2012 5:09 pm

Here is a link to an article on the J body. It is one of the later derivates based the original K-car line. Some parts are the same and some are different.
http://www.allpar.com/eek/LeBaronCoupe.html

Did your particular car come with A/C which is just not working now or was it built without A/C (in which case it probably does not have the ductwork, etc.). If it came originally with A/C, I would try to repair the original system.
K-CAR_WAGON
Car Fan
 
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Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:42 pm
Car Information: Plymouth, Reliant Wagon, 1983

Re: I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby Pete in NH » Mon Apr 09, 2012 6:34 pm

HI,

I'm taking it that your car did not come with factory air and you want to add it. K Car Wagon is right, if the car does have A/C but it is not working it would be far easier to fix it Be very careful with Autozone A/C parts such as compressors. Some of their remanufactured stuff is real junk, some are okay, you just never know what your going to get. If your going to add A/C to a car that never had it you will need to get several A/C specific parts to mount the compressor and add another belt position to the crankshaft pulley. That is why i suggested taliking to the people at ACkits since they are close to you. Another possiblity is finding an A/C equiped car in a pick a part junk yard and strip it of all the parts you would need. That in itself is not a trivial job. you will also need to remove the heater/evaporator case from under the dash which is also not a trivial job, that is why i suggested the possibility of using an add on evaporator unit under the dash. Not quite factory air but easier than taking the dashboard apart.

As I've suggested to many others on this board if you really like this car and are going to keep it do yourself a big favor and get a factory shop manual for it. A search of Ebay for a while will often turn up a reasonable deal on one. Also, a copy of the factory parts manual is often very helpful in trying to work out issues like what is different between A/C and non A/C cars. Rememer too you will need to upgradehte cooling system especailly in your hot climate.

Good luck
Pete in NH
 
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Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:47 pm
Car Information: 1986 Plymouth Reliant SE

Re: I AM THE NEW GUY

Postby wipala » Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:00 pm

Pete, Thank you for the info..it appears it is going to be quite a
job. You are correct about the car not having air at all. The car
was bought originally in Seattle Wash by a couple that came to
Arizona for their winters then ended up retiring to our state. So
the car has never had air. Thanks for the heads up about AutoZone.
I have checked with them on parts and their costs are in line
with most places around. I have checked out ackits and I will need to
call them..their store is about 30 miles across town, but not too far
to have them look and see what they can do. Maybe the even do
work to install..as long as I do not have to take out a second mortgage
on the house..lol....this little car is a jewell,,clean and runs great and
we plan on keeping so air will be must unless we just leave her in
the garage for the summer...wiapala
wipala
 
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Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:01 pm
Car Information: 1988 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible

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