retro fitting aircon

[jamesbissland]

Hey All

My Mrs has just got herself a 96 NZ new Corolla GL, which supprise supprise has no air con.
Has anyone dabbled in removing the complete aircon system from a Jap import and retro fitting to their NZ new car?

I would be interested how they got on

Cheers,
James

[xsspeed]

I will be doing it on my corolla project but have not as yet.

TBH I havent done much at all

[Adamal]

I imagine it'd be a c**t of a job to do. You've got heat exchangers, and a big old radiator that needs to be put in the dash. It may not even fit behind your dash either.
Theres also the gas system, which would probably have to be installed to some sort of standard, as its not meant to be vented to atmosphere.

[xsspeed]

So long as you can get hold of the full system from the same model car it shouldnt be too hard. Thats what I am doing anyway.

[Heylin]

I looked at doing this for 1995 Ford Telstar, was quoted something in the order of $3000 that was through Ford dealership though.

I did a R134a gas conversion on my MR2 and it cost $800 for that (did include a new drier and expansion valve though). Alot of that was labour, but still things like gas and refridgerant oil run you about $160, New drier (reccomended) about $90.

Reckon by the time you add everything up youd be looking at $1000 in parts + your time.

[xsspeed]

Out of interest what is the drier you speak of?

Yeah it can be pricey But I am doing it for fun, basically because I design air-con for a living for buildings...its kinda my life lol

[Lloyd]

Its the bit after the condenser. Drier/receiver/filter etc

And I'd imagine fitting it would be a bit of a hassle. The major parts like the actual sealed system would probably be easy enough, but then you will need to make sure the heater fits into it how it should, any extra looms that might be required, dash controls etc. And this is assuming all the same mounts are on the vehicle (probably will be). Chances are it'll be a whole heaps easier and cheaper to simply buy one with A/C fitted already.

[RunningRich]

Firstly go to the local library and find a book on AC. You need to understand how the system works to know what to buy.

Next you need to establish if your Corolla is pre-wired for it. It probably is as NZ new Toyotas of that era had the AC installed by the dealer as an option. My NZ new GT-Four came without AC, it was installed by the dealer.

That means you need to check out the parts CD for your model and figure out all the parts that came in the kit. You'll need to strip them from a car at pickapart. This will include:

Pump, drier, pressure switch, hoses, possibly engine pulleys, condensor from the engine bay. Under the dash there is probably a evaporator section between the fan and the heater box. This will probably swap with a plain duct in yours. The evaporator will have a orifice on it. Also the AC button of course!

The orifice under the dash tends to leak so it is worth having the evaporator pressure checked before install.

Buy a new dryer, new o-rings and install. Pay someone to fill, done. Coooool...

[xsspeed]

Depending on how the controls work you may be better off taking the entire heater/ac/fan controller as without doubt if you just take the AC button you will find you are missing something.

I failed to see that it was a 1996 model until now.
In my car I have the benefit of it being an on/off low/med/high system, do the 1996 models have temperature control? Ie some sort of digital input, in which case you will also need the thermostat and wiring etc, which will start getting harder.

[Stott69]

re gas: a coke machine repairer( the ones we love to put our loved dollar coins in) got fined something like $5,000 -$50,000 for accidently venting to air, cant remember details but would definatly find a local air con installer to help you out. car or house aircon guy would do

[Bling]

Must have been unlucky to get caught. Was he doing it repeatedly to get the fine?

My aircon has no gas in it and hasn't for a few years now

[20v_rollaboy]

On a similar note, my car does have aircon. However I dont like the big round-about way the pipe goes over the engine.

Ive got the equipment (I install heatpumps) to re-route so that its not so easily seen. I think this will add more length to the run though. Anyone know if this will have any bad effects? Anything adding a bit more gas wont fix?

Cheers for any help

[jamesbissland]

yeah, i was just going to do the full system transplant.

Take everything out a air con equipped corolla and put it straight into hers, as i would imagine everything would bolt straight up pretty easily, if not, have mouning flanges used in an aircon equipped car that can be drilled/tapped.

Most aircon systems have had the R134 kits fitted already, so not too worried about that

I was more after if anyone has had issues with the idle up system, and the electrics side. Will be a real bonus if the factoy wiring loom fitted to the car does have the aircon wiring installed

[xsspeed]

On a similar note, my car does have aircon. However I dont like the big round-about way the pipe goes over the engine.

Ive got the equipment (I install heatpumps) to re-route so that its not so easily seen. I think this will add more length to the run though. Anyone know if this will have any bad effects? Anything adding a bit more gas wont fix?

Cheers for any help

Would think you will be sweet with just charging the gas up, the run you create won't be that much longer than the factory set up. As you will know with installing heatpumps there is a limiting length, but TBH you still get cooling performance if you exceed that.

If there is any difference in the cooling capacity available I don't think it will be noticeable in the car

[Heylin]

Out of interest what is the drier you speak of?

Its a canister that contains a industrial dessicant, removes moisture from the air and helps prevent corrosion in the AC system.

[xsspeed]

Oh so on the air path not the refrigerant path? Makes sense, was tryingh to figure out what it would be on the refrigerant cycle

[blackmk3]

The drier is in the refrigerant path, its a aluminum cylinder with aluminum pipes going in and out of it, usually incorporates the sight-glass as well. The drier dries out the liquid refrigerant of any moisture that is in the system and filters the liquid from any foreign body's etc. Otherwise this moisture freezes in the expansion valve (under the dash) and blocks refrigerant flow therefore stopping your A/C system from working clicking out on the pressure switch etc

There is no "air" in the pipes of the a/c system it is all evacuated onto a vacuum of a set point, well it should be anyway depends if your a/c guy does it properly....this is important to remove all "air" and moisture from the a/c system, as moisture evaporates under vacuum. then the gas is added into the system so you have purely refrigerant gas in there

Usually a rule of thumb is Pre - 1990 is R12 Refrigerant and 1990 onwards uses R134a

Im a qualified Refrigeration Engineer, we do everything from supermarkets to domestic fridges car A/C systems and heat pumps so if you've got a Question hit me

As for changing that suction pipe there pretty ugly that's for sure, they use crimp fittings so they are different to your heat pump flare fittings. best bet would be to get a company like NZ Auto Air in Auckland to custom make a new pipe and direct it where you want. There fast and fairly cheap, and they can help you with degassing the gas that's in there now, which yes is very illegal to vent to atmosphere. evacuation and re gassing

Nick

[RunningRich]

Take everything out a air con equipped corolla and put it straight into hers, as i would imagine everything would bolt straight up pretty easily,

That should read "take everything out of a manual-AC equipped corolla".

The AC system in a climate equipped corolla is normally much smarter (with temp sensors, light sensor, ECU etc) and therefore very very difficult to install into a car not wired for it. Don't even bother trying.

[xsspeed]

Am with you now re drier, the previous post said remove moisture from the air, so assumed it was that.

You are right there should be no air in the refrigerant...I am aware of that

Out of interest who do you work for?

[Stealer Of Souls]

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