So, my a/c compressor has a slow leak around the seals (green/UV oil gets spun off the clutch). So i decided to fix it...I have a replacement compressor (long since gave up on the hope of finding a seal kit), a new receiver drier and bunch of metric green o rings... The replacement compressor is pre-dosed with PAG oil.
Can I just bolt the new bits on and change over the pressure switches and then take it somewhere to have the ac evacuated and filled? Instructions with the compressor talk about having to flush the system etc etc - is that really necessary? Then I would need to find an ac fitter and the whole job becomes that much more expensive/ time consuming

Tnx in advance for the advice, Rob

The only time you would need to have the system flushed is if you had burnt out the old compressor so you need to get rid of the contaminated oil. A mate, who owns a soft dash Classic LSE and is the other half owner of the Vogue we've been returning to it's former glory, is a mobile AC engineer. You're a bit out of his normal area, but if you fancy a run up to Cambridgeshire (we're a tier 2 area), he'd be able to sort it for you.

Tnx Richard...we're a 4, although maybe you will be too soon?
I'll just crack on with it...gives me something to do on Boxing Day

Yeah, we become a 4 as of Boxing Day too so that's screwed travelling for me too for a bit. My hose from compressor to condenser has started showing signs of leaking where the alloy pipe joins the hose so I've got one of those on the way and was intending to have a run over to his when it arrives. We could recover the gas, change the hose then vac and refill it but the restrictions mean I shouldn't drive over to him to do it.

Booked in for a recharge tomorrow with ATS....when I went in on the 24th ATS evacuated the system for me. The compressor today was an easy switch - receiver drier was a little more time consuming, mainly because i dropped the bumper off. My Toolzone green rings, although metric, were not much use for the receiver drier - looks like you need 8x2 on one branch, and 8x2.5 on the other, but hard to be sure

I have mixed results getting the a/c to work straight after recharge at the best of times, usually needs a bit of a run... but when it's winter outside you actually need to select Hi to warm up the evap sensor enough to then be able to select Lo and get the ac running. Probably obvious to everyone except me (and the bloke at ATS).

At least it didn't leak though, that's the main thing