ok, i am awaiting a flywheel to be made before i go ahead and fit my ea81 eingine to my kombi, so while i wait i thought i might have a play around with fitting the ariconditioning from the subaru. am after your opinions on whether or not my setup is going to work successfully;
i have placed the box that was under the dash of the subaru (the box houses the radiator bit that cools the air) and placed it where my battery should sit on the drivers side of the bus, i am running a funnel up the vent on that side to provide fresh air to the unit, then running the cooled air from the other side of the box down and into the old heater tubes then up through the standard airflow vents (maybe with a booster fan along the way). the radiator for the aircon is hanging on its side on the opening where the rear hatch once was so as to minimise blocking the airflow for the real radiator.
are there any problems with this system? anything that could be improved?

Ryan

[Edited on 14-4-2004 by baybuscamperkid]

anybody? will post some pics when i remember.

the unit in the engine bay

aircon radiator thingy hanging

Hate to burst your bubble.........but the evaporator that you have mounted where the battery should be needs to be inside the kombi, not in the engine bay......the idea is that the evaporator transfers heat from inside the car to the gas in the lines which is then transfered to the condensor outside the car where the heat is given off.
Graham

I think Graham is right. Even though you've attached the Evaporator to the old heater tubes, you're going to pick up heat from the uninsulated tubes running under the car, and it needs to suck air from inside the car, rather than the external vents, or on a 45 degree day it will be sucking 45 degree air all the time, rather than the precooled air from inside the bus.

I'd suggest mounting the evaporator under the rear seat instead. It's still close to the condensor and compressor, but will suck air from inside the bus and pump it straight out again, without worrying about all that ducting.

ok, but where should i run the pipes in? through the floor? i have a bit of cupboard space where it may be able to go as well, just hadn't realised the way they worked. thanks for the info. if i suck the air from under the rear seat (will be a tight fit as water tank is down there), should i run the air upto the front? cos if i had the outlet next to the inlet only a limited amount of air would be getting very cold.

Yes, you are right.

I wouldn't stress too much about it though, a shortish pipe would probably suffice. The pressure of the fan blowing the air out will create currents of air movement anyway.....

thanks. any chance of any pics of how you installed the central locking Col?

just another throught... since i currently have the plumbing in pieces, could i fit another type of cooler unit (i have in mind a 'head unit' of a 60s Val that i saw, big and flat and lots of chrome)? i presume they all run the same way and use the same sort of pipes for the gas? would a 10+yr older unit have much worse cooling effect (most of the cooling effect would be due to the rest of the unit, wouldnt it?)?

mmm I think you need to do some research into the way that the A/C needs to be setup.

Basically yyou need to get the "head unit" is evaporator inside the bus and as close to the area you wish to cool. An evaporator is like a reveresed radiator. Basically when you turn on the compressor it becomes cool and teh air blows over it. Ducting cool are from the rear of your kombi is not a good idea as it will be hot and without pressure by the time it hits the front, unless you add booster fans like the VW heater.

I would mount your condensor under the bus with a thermo on it and the evaporator in the front under the dash. Then it will work well.

The early 70's head units you talk about will work fine with the new gas once they are services and have new orings.

ok. the current setup has been upgraded to suit the new gas (was done about 12 months ago). what i am considering is running the rather large condensor at the rear of the bus (behind the radiator, the matching position to where it was on the subaru). i feel that the distance to the front of the car is just too far for me to plumb with gas pipes(too much work and too much gas), so what i am considering is fitting this older evaporator i have seen to the little bit of space that i have above the water tank beneath my rear bench seat. as a side thought, if i was able to run an air pipe from the evaporatorup to the point behind the front seats where there was a vent on some bulkheads, then i could flow the air through the arm-rest back into the main circulation, right? otherwise i will just run something hidden along the floor so that i can get some air up front.
does the evaporator need to be re-sealed for the new gas if it hasnt already? what sort of marking should i look for on it?

thanks for all of the help
Ryan

mmmm I wouldn't be putting the evaporator on your radiator it will need all the cool air it can get.

Just plumb the gas or it will not work well enough to bother doing. You need the evaporator in the bus or sealed to it very well.

Gas is worth bugger all so $$ shoudl only need to be spent on hose and connectors.

If you are going to do it you may as well do it right. Go and talk to an A/C guy he will set you straight and no doubt have some good ideas from fitting them for many years

ok thanks. just thought the condensor, being so damn big would be ok going behind the rad as this is where it is on the subi. i may be able to fit it in the gap above the rad tho, as my new rad sits a bit lower then the last one sop there is a good bit of airflow above.