A C Condenser alternative part

[Lunchbox]

In my journey to replace lifters and pulling the heads, I've also started down the path of replacing and inspecting just about everything in the front end of the car (ps pump system, cooling system, bushings, A/C system, ect..). I've never really had good A/C or even great working A/C with my viper since I bought it, but always told myself I'd pull it apart and replace the seals and check for leaks if whenever I had to get in there for something else major.

So during this process mentioned above, I pulled out the condenser and found that after years of leaves from previous owners collecting in the front bumper inlet and sitting at the bottom near the oil cooler and between that and the condenser that the condenser had started corroding and leaked ultimately. Many of the fins are bent and paint is cracking and coming off leaving exposed aluminum which has corrosion in many spots all over the unit. It looks like if i repaired it, i'd just play wack-a-mole fixing more and more pinholes as they sprung up.

The cost for N.O.S A/C Condensers if you're able to find them seems to be about $750, which I think is a bit high, considering condensers are really considered a throw-away part these days because its easier and cheaper to buy a new one than clean / repair one normally.

I managed to find this just surfing ebay this morning for some sort of one off made or small run of replacements some how and got lucky!! Now yes, they're cheaper but still $400. You can get two of these for the price of one OEM N.O.S item it seems roughly.

One thing i noticed right away was that the design is a bit different using larger tubes it looks like as opposed to the flat tube that snakes back and fourth on the OEM unit. Keep in mind i'm comparing this to a 2001 OEM condenser. I'm not sure if there were previous revisions with earlier GEN2 or GEN1 Vipers. Also, I'm not quite sure if the larger looking tubes on this unit will help or hurt performance here. The price-tag isn't terrible and if its a solid durable replacement that has no ill-effects or causes issues, it might be a great replacement!

Just wanted to pass this along so other viper owners could snag one if needed.