Air Conditioning.

[Gordon Sauer]

The neatest conversion I have seen was a +2 from I believe South Carolina that came to the Fort Worth LOG about four years ago and it had a VTEC with fuel injection, video screen Display where the radio went and a great touring car with the air conditioning at all. The person indicated the biggest problem was getting fuel injection right and he is somebody who also cut the fiberglass to fit The combined heater evaporator unit behind the dash. I regret I didn't take any pictures but maybe he is on the forum or maybe he'll be showing up at Asheville in September and I'll get some pictures then, Gordon Sauer

[gus]

So I am pissed at the OP for getting his write up done before mine!!!

I have the mini space saver from Vintage Air also.

It is wide but low, meaning you can put a real radio in when you are done.

I did it because the mice had filled my original heater box, and it was a POS always.

I have not finished the AC yet, but the heat. oh my the heat. IT has HEAT. And DEFROSTERS real working defrosters. I had it out last winter in 24 deg F weather and it was perfectly comfortable. If I put a higher temp thermostat in it I would have had to take my coat off.

My Ac system should allow the boosters to remain in the original location

VIntage Air is an awesome company to deal with , they sell parts for reasonable prices

will get back with pics when I am done

[gus]

Oh, and because they sell parts so reasonable,[switches are less than 13 bucks] I bought some spare switches and converted everything so it looks stock. Made an actuator that looks like the switch actuators in the car for the vintage air fan switch, so I have a 3 speed fan switch. Extended the switch lever and used them behind the dash for the lever actuators

[Gordon Sauer]

Sounds like a neat job and any pictures about using the original ? switches to actuate the unit behind the dash would be great. I'm hoping to use the original dash layout to actuate the unit behind the dash as well. And just a note that I'm using a Sanden 505 Compressor so it is not as deep as the 508 and should have plenty of cooling capacity for such a small interior space. Gordon Sauer

[CBUEB1771]

As far as I know there was only one dealership that was ever putting them in and I believe it was in New Jersey. I have talked to people with it on to their +2s and they had almost the same vin number as mine suggesting they came to this same dealer at the same time perhaps.Gordon Sauer

Gordon,
I don't think it was a New Jersey dealer only fitment. When I bought 0170N in 1977 it had a AC system that looked identical to yours, down to the Motorola voltage regulator screwed to the top of the pedal box. At the time everyone told me the installation was designed by the distributor, Lotus East in Millerton, NY.

[mikealdren]

Vintage Air sound good, has anyone found an equivalent supplier in the UK and tried aircon over here? With global warming and old age approaching it sounds enticing.

thanks
Mike

[mikealdren]

Vintage Air sound good, has anyone found an equivalent supplier in the UK and tried aircon over here? With global warming and old age approaching it sounds enticing.

thanks
Mike

[65ginetta]

I have finally completed the drive pulley configuration for my air-conditioned S3 Coupe. After several attempts to locate the A/C compressor on the opposite side to the standard alternator mount, I gave up and made up a mounting bracket for the A/C to substitute the alternator. I then searched for the smallest alternator i could find and made a mounting bracket that would position it and permit sufficient sector adjustment without hitting the two cavity dry sump pump. Getting the pulleys to line up and ensure the belts are square to the crank axis has proved quite a challenge. I'm also using the Vintage Air components for much of my system and configuring the compressor/alternator was the main task.

[robertverhey]

Lookin' good

Have you trial fitted the head to see how close the manifold/ extractors will run to the compressor? I had to use that heat bandage stuff, in my case it ran very close.

Robert

[gus]

A few pics, of some random details

I wished the controls to remain stock in appearance, so the vintage siwtch has been extended to allow i tot project out of the dash. The terminals are reordered to approximately match the dash lettering. The top heater control slot now has a lever which can adjust the heat temperature and one that can adjust the ac thermostat, so two levers instead of three.

the alternator is now mounted next to the oil pan with the compressor above. It looks as though I could fit the boosters in place, although I have not run them for years, I do miss them tho.

[gus]

The compressor installed. I have run two belts and a machined a double pulley for the crank. I believe this will give enough wrap for the belt and not overload the [bolt in] waterpump

I added a vent supplied by vintage where the ashtray used to be. You can see the three levers. The heater temp control can never get very cold, but there is a on off vacuum solenoid that shuts it off. The ac thermostat can never get very warm, but that is only so when using it for defrost it does not freeze you out

the output of the compressor loops backwards out of the frame of the shot because it would be too short, and it also seems to help if I choose to put the boosters in

[gus]

closeup of the switch rocker added to a vintage lever switch allowing 3 speed fan

Passenger footwell, the relays etc are mounted to a new trim panel The return hose may need to be attached up to keep it out of the way, It gets pretty busy over here. You can see the heater hoses not reattached yet, the heater off solenoid and cable operated temperature valve. Notice also the new insulation. there is much attention paid to sealing the firewall

there is a bracket not shown that supports this end of the heater box. There is a strap running from a mounting hole on the leftmost face of the heater box up to the dash mounting bolt to the upper left of the radio hole supporting the other end.

the entire heater ac assembly fits below the radio cutout, in fact below the heater controls allowing the installation of a real radio

[gus]

I originally fit the heater with no modifications to the car, but the ac hoses required the heater assembly to be moved up an inch or so, so I trimmed the back left corner of the glovebox.

Other notes

I chose the special ss braided over nylon ac hose, it is a real pain to cut and fit, though it is much smaller in diameter, we will see if I did a good job assembling the hose ends

This is the older vacuum operated version[01000-vuza]. the newer servo operated [66005-vuza]unit is around an inch larger in all dimensions[7.3x9x19vs 7x8.5x18.5], but it may be laid out better. Since I ended up clipping the glovebox, I would choose the newer one next time. the controls are simpler, no vacuum lines and the heater to the floor vents are superior. This is not really a problem as the dash vents will output heat, and if you tighten up the firewall, it stays very warm in very cold weather. I am certain with a hot thermostat it would be hotter in the car than you would want at very cold temps. I have driven it in 24 degree Fahrenheit temps and was totally comfortable. If the engine was at 180F I think it would be drivable down to zero F.

The compressor I used is the smallest Vintage sells[SD7], and is really for their specialty units, but interestingly, if I had used the suzuki alternator I originally had in the car, the mounting ears would be parallel, allowing a very simple to fabricate bracket. I am using a much larger alternator to keep up with the stereo I installed