XJ81 Air conditioning condenser

[Starbuck]

Hi Larry,

There are some exceptional products out there in this day and age that challenge the view that the only way to make permanent repairs is by welding or soldering. A lot of it has been developed in the aviation industry with the flow-on effect that we get to use it to play around with it for our cars Even if you stick to soldering, the once the 'holy grail' of welding/soldering, Aluminium, can now be very effectively repaired with solders bought at your local hardware store and a common butane torch.

I had a look at that 'Fastcool' listing Donkey. The OE part number listing at the top is correct for the XJ81 V12, some of the others with cross-referenced listings are wrong though. Best bet would be (as per the parallel thread about this issue!) to call with some detailed questions about the actual item.

Best,

Starbuck

[abercanadian]

Ah yes, the aluminum soldering at home scenario ...

Well I tried that first, used the aluminum solder/map gas method and did the right prep etc without much success.

The "welding" jobs looked totally pro after finishing and would be fine for something other than a gas-tight seal but after two attempts and two refits/regassings I found it was impossible to eliminate new pinholes forming during heating.

I think it might have been a different result if the condenser had been holed by a rock or something; my condenser was corroded from the inside - the whole area of the leak was very thin and couldn't take the prolonged high temperature reqd for the "solder" to flow.

So I said to hell with it and came up with the La-co repair followed up with a big epoxy reinforcing sleeve. Worked like a charm, 2 yrs on and 3 degrees Celsius on a run last week with outside temps high 20's

Larry

[Starbuck]

Hi Larry,

Sadly, yes, in some cases things that work perfectly for the You Tube presentation don't work so well in the field, particularly where aluminium and its seemingly endless ability to be contaminated and corrode is concerned. In part this is the reason why a lot of other repair methods have been pioneered by the aviation industry where aluminium alloys are subjected to all sorts of 'nasties' - weight and bonding dissimilar materials are factors too, of course.

Once upon a time I had access to an adhesive that was used by the aerospace industry to attached heat tiles, including the tiles on the shuttle. It was the best thing I have ever found for reattaching rear vision mirror mounting pads on windscreen glass, so much better than the commercial products. If you got the placement wrong you were done for though, so a placement template was a must. A friend decided he could gently 'tap' a pad off his windscreen after he got its placement wrong and it had only been on there for a few seconds - the results were predictable! If I hadn't seen the bond for myself I would never have believed it could be so strong, so quickly.

Best,

Starbuck

[abercanadian]

Funny you should mention that goop - I lined the inside of my front fenders with it! No more rusty fenders for me!!

Larry

[newyankee]

I have got a good condensor straight out of my salvage XJ81. Tested with compressed air to 10bar (hadn't got more).

Still interested?

Guido