fitting air con

[mongoose]

anyone out there ever fitted air con to their griff? id love to know how to do it, to maybe have a go myself.ive been in a couple of griffs now with aircon,and when working correctly its a real benefit,despite the roumours you hear about it being crap(wonder if these originate from the"ive not got it so its rubbish" brigade).the extra benefit for me of having a/c, is more luggage space for touring in the summer.even though my blower works as well as poss its too warm in cockpit with the roof on for my liking.

[Beano500]

Two levers - one behind the driver one behind the passenger. By combination they work the standard aircon system.....

:I'llgetmecoatandbeoffthen:

[raceboy]

Air con is a £2k option so to retro fit it I would have thought your looking at at least that amount, and IMHO I wouldn't pay a penny more for a converable with air con so it's money you'll never see again, if your interested I'd take to the factory

[mongoose]

ive thought about taking it to a dealer to have it retro fitted,but it costs £3.5k.so thats why i was after some diy info,im not bothered about weather or not i see a good return on the cost.if you think about labour rates at tvr dealers-my nearest in bristol is £65/hour+vat-then theres one hell of a saving to be made if you have the know how.surely someone out there has done it?

[phib]

Now I am with you on this one I have a chim 500 without air con and looked into this last year all very complicated, the factory wnat £2,800 plus your car for 6 weeks (basically they have to rip out all the pipe work and start again I have no idea why) and I couldn't find anyone else who could do it.

How ever there was light at the end of the tunnel in the form of the tvr dealer "Classic dream machines" they were looking a non TVR retro aircon system which worked on the existing tubing and was therfore going to be arround £1500 from memory which is well worth the money imho.
Basically as the winter came I have done nothing about taking it any further but well worth a call to Tony or Ben 01435 868456.
Oh and do me a favour and let me know the results as I really really want it doing to mine can't bear sitting in london traffic in a suit in the summer and frying anymore !!!!
Ta

[davidn]

I seem to recall one of the kit car co's selling an aftermarket air con kit. It was NF developments, I think they do a replica of the Ferrari 333 or something like that. If I remember correctly the price wasn't too bad and they seemed to cater for the common kit car engines - Rover, Renault, Chevy etc. Might be worth a search if this helps.
David

[phib]

Found Yes Yes Yes £479.00 (plus fitting)
Looks like a bargin can't wait to phone them in the morning my only issue with my car may be solved how excited am I !!!!
www.nfauto.co.uk/acheat.htm
Thanks Very much !!!!!

[mongoose]

looks interesting phib,the only issues i have with kit so far are siting of radiator in griff,and compressor pulley looks like itll need changing-mines a serpentine engine.would be gratefull if you let me know how you get on with enquiry tomorrow.cheers mate.

[shpub]

Well add the compressor to the cost and then the dryer and other bits and I think that you will hit the £1200 mark and then there is the cost of installation which is not pleasent. The whole of the front interior has to come out , pipes are fed through the wings etc etc. Not a cheap thing to do.

On the serp engine cars, the compressor replaces one of the jockey idling wheels.

I have an air con 500 and cooling has not been an issue.

Steve

[swilly]

I have air-con in my chim. Apart from the odd short or loaded-up drive in hot weather when taking the roof off hasn't been practical/possible i wouldn't have considered air-con a neccessity especially for the £2000 asked.
I believe the air-con is also used to cool the fuel ?!?! so maybe there are other benefits other than cabin conditioning/cooling.

[phib]

Well here is the update basically parts from this company are £850 /£900 and they recon it takes a day to fit the basically have done it allready in Countach, P4, original GT40's etc etc etc.
They sound like they know what they are talking about but I would like to try a car with the unit in, in slightly hotter weather just to make sure it made a real differance.
I have tried the normal Tvr's A/C system and its ok ish but what I really want is something that make a real difference its about the only thing that I don't like about the Chimaera. The only main reason that I didn't have it put in when I bought the car from TVR was because it wasn't that good.
Think it will probably cost about £1200 -£1500 all in including fitting which is very very worth the money to me.
Now it may not be cheap to some people and you probably wont get your money back but hey its not as bad as it could be !!!
Cost us £20,000 to have A/c put in a Ferrari !!!!!!!!

[shpub]

The TVR cooling system is also like nothing else with the motors etc in the wings and so on. The TVR unit fits inside the existing air box and this unit seems to be a complete replacement for the heating/cooling box. There is not the space to fit it under the dash which is the normal place so I have no idea how this would work.

I would be very very careful before proceeding.

[anonymous-user]

Any progress on this?

[Guillotine]

mine works well...and its fab!

stuck in traffic, touring abroad, and i've had it on this year already!

getting a car with a/c is the answer, but i'd have thought its well worth the money 1-2k.

parts are standard range rover, compressor, drier etc so sourcing these from breakers could keep costs down.
my cooling element is over the l/h wheel arch in the wing! peninsula serviced mine recently and do A/C work, so give them a call and see if the can do it or know someone who can.

good luck

[mack]

It seems a daft question after all the previous posts,but,has anyone actually removed the aircon system from their car and is it a pain to do?I'm just debating with stripping mine out at the moment as I don't really want it,plus,I'm just fitting some stainless manifolds and I could do with the extra clearance,as it just touches the compressor at the moment.I know the manifold could be reshaped to fit,but,I just don't like the 'cluttered' feel to the engine bay compared to my last griff-daft I know!
So watch this space,there could be a complete system up for grabs,if anyone's interested.

[julianhj]

mack said: It seems a daft question after all the previous posts,but,has anyone actually removed the aircon system from their car and is it a pain to do?I'm just debating with stripping mine out at the moment as I don't really want it,plus,I'm just fitting some stainless manifolds and I could do with the extra clearance,as it just touches the compressor at the moment.I know the manifold could be reshaped to fit,but,I just don't like the 'cluttered' feel to the engine bay compared to my last griff-daft I know!
So watch this space,there could be a complete system up for grabs,if anyone's interested.

I had my system removed at the last service. All the pipework in the cabin remains, but the reciever/dryer, compressor and rad were removed to boost power and aid cooling. My A/C was non-working when I bought the car (apparently something more than a simple recharge required). As I had no intention of spending big cash to get it working again, I took professional advice and had the engine bay items removed (now in a box in my garage). I can't comment on the precise effects of this work, as during the service I had a new camshaft and a new radiator fitted - the car now feels far quicker and runs noticably cooler...

To get the bits out you need to remove the rad, replace the compressor with a suitable pulley tensioner (£55 Land Rover part) and alter some pipework (gizmo that cools the fuel, plus sealing the pipes that lead into the cabin). This was done for me FOC as the rad. was being replaced - I guess it requires little effort to remove.

i was told that the most time consuming part of installing air con was fitting the pipework in the cabin - you need to take the car apart to do it. If I, or anyone else wants to ressurect a/c in my car, they just need to get working parts, labour is minimal...

I'm going on what I was told, in layman's terms, so forgive any inaccuracies...

Edited to correct spelling, I'm very, very drunk...


>> Edited by julianhj on Sunday 6th April 03:22

[boosted ls1]

I've got a soft top TR8 in bits at the moment and it really would benefit from air-con. It's always had turbo's and the amount of heat that comes through the footwell is unreal. In high summer this car can get unpleasantly hot so I'm hoping the aircon can keep my feet cool. I'm using the LS1 stuff so that along with the link above should be ideal. Great link, thanks.

[shpub]

The air con consumes power only when it is on.
It only increases the cooling load when on but it does cool the fuel so you gain extra power that way.

It is also very very good at demisting the car.
Certainly worth having in my opinion.

[mongoose]

looks like im going to have to pay someone to fit it rather than DIY as nobody seems to have taken this one on before!,just one question steve,how does it cool the fuel then?

[mongoose]

latest update,rang peninsula who didnt want to fit it but pointed me in the direction of team proactive who have done the job a few times before and are going to fit it for me after my return from le-mans.only downside is theyll have my griff for 2 weeks-should be worth it though.

>> Edited by mongoose on Wednesday 23 April 18:36