The other challenge in getting my son's '84 GLT ready to send him back to college is the A/C. It hadn't been working, but I charged it (with Duracool) and got it blowing reasonably cold--but then suddenly the clutch won't engage. The clutch is OK if I "hot-wire" it directly, and in tracing the circuit backwards it looks like the thermostat/switch is the most likely culprit. The problem with replacing it is (a) he's broke after having to replace the whole driveline (when the limited slip differential went out), and (b) it looks like you need to pretty much remove the whole center console to get to the switch, and he's leaving in a day.

So, I'm wondering if we could safely/effectively bypass the switch. Like I said, I already energized the clutch directly by simply wiring from the pressure switch on the dryer. But doing that in the longer run would mean that the compressor would run constantly, which I guess would ice up the evaporator and make for ineffective cooling? If so, what if we wired it up to a toggle switch on the dash and he just manually turned it off for a minute or two every 10 minutes or so?