I know, I know it's winter so why am I messing around with air conditioning. Well I'm finally to the point of dropping the motor back in after literally five years and figure it would be much easier to install the plumbing, condenser and compressor while the thing is still out. I have a few ?'s about this crap as it's the first time I ever tried to reinstall + convert an older a/c system.

I have all new o-rings to seal it up but everything has been exposed/ open for longer than the motors been out. I'm planning on putting the new seals and plumbing back in but not evacuating + charging it till it's running good in the spring. The manual reads to lube the o-rings with compressor oil which I have but also says that this stuff is corrosive when exposed to air (don't know if R134 is as well). So I need verification if I'd be right to do it now (when it's very easy to get to) or leave them out till the spring.

Second, after reading through the manual I see that the factory system uses a solenoid located by the windshield wiper motor and a thermo valve to control air conditioning under warm up enrichment. I'll be using a megasquirted manifold with no provisions (if not needed) for the thermo valve. Is this needed (solenoid and thermo valve) to operate the air conditioning??? I'll control fast idle through MS2 so I really don't need this anyway but want to be sure it will still run normally w/o the solenoid hooked up.
Thanks for any advice guys,
Jim

It sounds like you have a pretty good handle on what you're doing with the a/c - just wanted to mention that you need to make sure you use a new receiver/dryer when you put the system together. The desiccant yours contains will be useless if it's been open to the atmosphere for any significant length of time, and it won't be able to remove any moisture from the a/c system as it's designed to do.

I do have a new one but that seals the deal in my eyes -- I'm just gonna put the lines in hand tight w/o the seals and wait till I evac and refill in a few months to replace those and the receiver, a one time shot.

I just hope the damn thing will work without the solenoid and thermo valve.