Living in Nevada, having working A/C is mandatory. This part of the swap was a bit complicated due to a larger distance from the condenser to the compressor due to the V6. The serpentine conversion relocates the compressor from the drivers to passengers side of the engine.
The first complication is that the high side port can be placed in a number of differing spots depending on whether it's a B body, F body or BOP G body. On the Chevrolet G body the port is on the line coming into the evaporator. On the B body it is in the manifold that connects to the compressor. On the BOP G body it is just aft of the manifold going into the condenser.
Below is a B Body a\c manifold with the high side port.
The evaporator outlet on a G body points to the side where the F body comes straight up. Below is a F body outlet.
On the Chevrolet G body, the condenser is on the top left side. On the BOP G body it is on the right top side. The F body that is late 80's has a high efficiency parallel condenser where the connections are middle right. I went the F body route. The condenser was a direct fit that didn't inter with anything on the El Camino.
Another snag is the accumulator. The Chevrolet G body has the low side line hooking up at the top. On some B bodies and BOP G bodies, the accumulator line is on the bottom and is not removable.
The setup I cobbled together were the late 80's F body manifold and a G body BOP high side line from the condenser to the evaporator. There were three issues with this setup. 1) The high side line of the manifold was too short as it came off of a V8 Camaro. 2) There was no high side port on this setup. 3) The low side line was kind of long and hit the overflow tank off the radiator.
The high side fixes were to first cut off enough of the 1/2 line with the condenser male fitting from a junkyard unit. Second, cut out the high pressure port from the old G body piece leaving the male end. Lastly using a 1/2 - 3/8 compression adapter fitting from Home Depot, make a new piece. To say it another way, take the Home Depot fitting and mate the 1/2 inch condenser outlet piece to the 3/8 inch end of the high pressure fitting from the old G body line. What you now have is the manifold line screwing into the new piece which screws into the condensor.
The BOP G body condenser to evaporator line fit without any modifications.
The low side fixes involved removing the radiator overflow tank and judiciously working the line with a tube bender and doing the same coming off the manifold. It wasn't pretty but it worked!
Changing the compressor from V belt to serpentine wasn't too hard with the correct tools. Before I went to the junkyard I stopped at Autozone and rented the clutch tool, a clutch hold tool and a 2 tong puller. You'll also need a pair of snap ring plyers that can spread at least an inch. The crummy Harbor Freight tool doesn't spread far enough apart. With the proper tools, it was fairly easy to change the pulleys. There are some good you tube videos that I am glad I watched beforehand.
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