1. I bought the car and the A/C wasn't working so good so I bought a recharge/conversion to r134a kit. I drained the system into the air (yea it's illegal, don't tell on me. lol) I filled it until the supplied gauge (not the manifold gauge) said it was a good level.
2. Then online I read it wasn't a good idea because you can't get all the R12 out without a vacuum, and that the supplied gauge was not accurate because it only reads the Low pressure side.

 

3. I called around town, and firestone was the only place that could deal with R12 (since some R12 was still trapped in the system), and everyone else's machines were only for r134a.

 

4. I suspected due to the inaccuracy of the gauge that it was not the correct amount of refrigerant. So I had Firestone drain and refill it to the proper amount while they were doing the A/C inspection.

 

So I guess after the drain and recharge, the system still doesn't cool very well. By the way, if you decide to work on the system in the future, you may find information at this link very useful:

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread/2334672

 

thanks
that info in that link is very helpful
i might add though that the guy in the link talked about getting lines rebuilt and stuff. funny thing is, it's probably cheaper to buy the whole A/C kit online ($525 at hondaautomotiveparts) than to replace all those parts he mentioned.

 

Yeah, the guy in the link seems to have thought of everything so that the conversion would go without a major hitch.

 

The conversion kit is not a proper conversion. At an absolute minimum you need to pull the compressor off the car and change the oil in it. And change the receiver drier.

At this point you may be ahead to buy the factory kit for a 94 or 95, which were factory setup with R-134a. Replace all the refrigerant-related parts on your car. Then you have a good clean new system that was designed for 134a in the first place.