yes that's right, my crazy plan of installing digital climate control into my Baja has begun.

So as most people know I have a Mazda KLZE V6 in the back of the Baja. The front cut I used for the engine transplant had climate control, so I had planned to put it in as well. Many things kept me too busy to bother, but now I am motivated again.

The first problem, well the fan, evaporator, heater and servo controlled flaps are as wide as the Baja!

hmmm, maybe if I mount the fan remotely, and duct between the other gear

nice project, I plan to do use the AC pump on my EJ20 engine in the future but don't have the Suby dashboard parts with it.

Hmmm....let me guess...summer was the motivation!!! You don't need climate control Wes,just connect the aircon to run flat out. Heaters are for sooks!!

Hi

I plan to hook up the air on my bug as well.

Steve

but the climate control is so cool. I already have it all wired up, when I did the loom for the engine I kept all the climate control wires. I can plug it all in and everything works. They like little motors and flaps that move by themselves, they're so cool!

Anyway, here is the MX6 dash. The only down side is it sat in the weather and some of the black wore off the buttons. I might just buy a new control panel (I have seen a couple of 2nd hand ones for sale, one was only $50). The other option is to either repaint the buttons, cover them in velour or find where to buy the stick on carbon fibre contact type stuff.

it's the full digital climate control where you set the temp and it does the rest.

As you can see the MX6 dash vents would look funny if transferred into the beetle, so I might go hunting at the wreckers for others.

Here is the 2 units in place. It doesn't interfere with the drivers leg, and there is plenty of room above the passengers legs.

don't try this if you don't like wiring. With the MX6 instrument cluster and the climate control (together a total of 40 extra wires from the rear of the car), plus vw wiring, alarm, immobiliser, electric windows and the stereo, you get a lot of wires.

This is how far everything will probably stick into the bonnet space. I will reweld in steel to cover the air-con stuff and replace the strength which is lost by cutting a huge hole. I should have most of the original glove box space left. I plan on having the vents in the steel dash, so there is no real room left for the stereo. I haven't figures out where to put it yet.

either one of these vents from http://www.vintageair.com  would be very cool, but pricey (US$70-80 each!).

I wonder if I could make some...

Hi Wes

Im going to mount my heater & air con unit under the back seat, and blow through the heater channels. The evaporator will mount in the tail Im going to use.

Steve

This is the tail Im using mounted on Dak to the Future.

WES , I think I have these vents at work , I check it out for you .

There called butter balls ?

seagull

below the back seat may seem like an easier option, but there isn't much room under there. definitely not enough room to fit all the bits I plan on using.

...interesting... I will be watching this thread carefully....

R

Good stuff Wes, I'll be keeping an eye on proceedings!

Hi

I had a troopy heater core and fan under the back seat of the yellow bug, I will have to see. Oh you can get carbon fibre contact paper from sign writing supply places.

Steve

Check out Whitworths marine (or any ships chandlery) they have a lot of vent outlets and grills.

I've moved all my old wiring out the way, and started rewelding metal back in around the climate control unit. I want it to look like it's the original dash, only with a bump below it for the air con stuff.

I also removed the instrument cluster, fuse box, wiper motor and arms, pretty much everything to give me better access for the metal work.

But I have seen an easier way to put air con in a car... Maybe I could do a split system, it'd look neater. Outdoor unit and geny on some roof racks, and indoor unit under the dash (or probably across the entire back seat)...

So with all the wires out the way (or mostly out the way) I could sit and think some more about where everything was going to fit.

In the end I decided the stereo was going to have to go back where it was, under the dash in the center (as shown below with the old instruments);


If I moved the stereo lower then my clutch leg would hit it, if I moved it to the passenger side the car would look uneven. The center part of the dash will be filled with 2 vents and the climate control head unit.

So I decided to refit the stereo in place and see if I can push the AC gear back far enough to clear the stereo. I found out I could, but it will be tight.

So I made a steel frame for supporting the AC gear, and to restore some strength to the dash. I could also weld in 25x3 flat braces which allowed me to weld the plate in sections.

So I have all the main braces in, the plate under all the AC gear is in, and the plate behind the stereo and over to the far left. I have two more plate sections to go which are slightly trickier shapes because they must bulge out a little to go around the climate control servo's.

oh, and my welder is playing up. The hand piece is pretty much stuffed and the trigger is playing up. Not very helpful when your trying to weld thin sheet neatly.

[ Edited on 13-11-2005 by Baja Wes ]

Looking good Wes, What are you gonna do for paint? Go nuts or are you gonna buff out the smoke marks and paint the new bits black so no-one can see?

A bet a swamp cooler is looking good about now. :o

BTW, I wish I could weld that well with a stuffed welder. Mine's working well and I'm still not that flash...no pun intended.

The smoke marks actually wipe off with your hand, so they aren't a problem. All the welded sections are under the dash and out of site, so all of that panelling will be painted black. I may even put carpet over top of it to really hide it.

I am currently thinking of having the climate control unit in the metal dash, with two round vents above. Then having a panel below the dash to blend the stereo section in a little better, and also provide something for side vents to be mounted in.

Something like this...

if anyone else wants to try to do digital climate control, this will probably turn you off. The wires!



I didn't get too much of a chance to work on the car this weekend, but did finish cutting the last of the panels and have most of the welding done.


The leg room is surprisingly good. It has more room in front of my legs than a regular car does. I plan to pad and carpet the boxed out section I welded in for the AC.


And I think I have found the vent I want to use. A swivel ball vent from an MX5



[ Edited on 20-11-2005 by Baja Wes ]

Things seem to work out so much cheaper if you have a welder and can use it properly.

Good work Wes.
:thumb

Looking good!!!!:bounce

I am still trying to figure out where to put everything. Here are some quick photoshop mock ups.

This is what I will probably go with


But I think it's making the dash look cluttered. The climate control head unit is actually relatively narrow, so I could actually put it into the glove box lid itself

It might look weird though, but the center of the dash would be neater...

You managed to save the glovebox...why fill it with gadgets you could be showing off???

[ Edited on 20-11-05 by Mick H ]

My vote's for the top one.

I'd go for the bottom one but with the a/c control moved to just above the head unit and move the electric window switches out sideways...
Nice vents

Rich

this is how the first one should have looked, except I blue-tacked the vent in the wron spot;


But perhaps it would look better if the whole dash was covered in black carpet. It would certainly make it easier to have a nice neat finish after cutting all the holes...

Yeah, that last one looks to be the go, although I'm not sure about the black carpet idea...:puke

Good work so far Wes, keep it up. So when is the supercharger going on? :P