Air con removal

Author
Discussion

snotrag

Original Poster:

14,465 posts

212 months

Wednesday 15th April 2009
quotequote all
Mine doesnt work. I've been stung by attempting to fix dead aircon before, which left me with nothing more than a few extra shiny bits of pipe, and no cold air.

Its dead weight.

How easy is it to remove? Yes - I know its illegal to vent the gases into the atmosphere. I'll make sure its drained properly.

Obviously I can remove -

-Compressor/clutch assembly (then change powersteering belt, obviously)
-Condenser/radiatior thingy
-Pipework
Then, whats at the other end - is it inside the heater matrix?

How much weight is to be saved?

vrooom

3,763 posts

268 months

Thursday 16th April 2009
quotequote all
i think you needed to replace a bolt on rad or somewhere on front of engine bay, not too sure, have a search on this subject on PH. and the weight of entire air con is 38lb

you can remove the 'box' behind the glove box

<edit> i found a pdf that how to install it. do it reseval. http://danotech.com/temp/90ACINST.pdf



Edited by vrooom on Thursday 16th April 00:57

anonymous-user

55 months

Thursday 16th April 2009
quotequote all
Very easy to remove, assuming you don't want to put it back later - the aircon metal pipes are very thin and can be snipped with wire cutters, so just cut them out in short segments to avoid having to dismantle anything else. The a/c compressor and its huge metal mounting bracket weigh a lot, so take them both off. You'll need a shorter power steering pump drive belt, which I think MX5Parts sell.

I left the a/c fan in mine, which I'm going to wire up to a manual dashboard switch at some point for some extra cooling. I removed the a/c rad completely, but I didn't bother getting all the stuff behind the dash out.

vrooom

3,763 posts

268 months

Thursday 16th April 2009
quotequote all
what size is that belt?

snotrag

Original Poster:

14,465 posts

212 months

Thursday 16th April 2009
quotequote all
Nice one, thats a healthy weight saving right there.

As i said - Fingers burnt with trying to fix faulty a/c before. I know its not worked for at least a good few years - the fitting/compressors etc dry out and seize up without use, so you end up chasing the leaks round until you've replaced the whole lot - that could cost nearly as much as i paid for the car!

I needed to replace the Auxilliary belts anyway, so ive ordered one of each length (w or w/o AC) so i can change it over whenever I get round to doing it.

anonymous-user

55 months

Friday 17th April 2009
quotequote all
vrooom said:
what size is that belt?
I think it's this one :

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/product_info.php/product...

best to ring them to check though. I got mine from Halfords by measuring with a piece of string and then getting the closest match, was a while back so I've no idea what size it is.

FELIX_5

952 posts

198 months

Friday 17th April 2009
quotequote all
If you have a look on NUTZ, I think 'AVONEER' has done a step by step thread which is what I was going to use as a reference when I strip my air con. If you can't find it, I'll try and find it and put a link on here...... thumbup

Edited by FELIX_5 on Friday 17th April 14:33

snotrag

Original Poster:

14,465 posts

212 months

Wednesday 22nd April 2009
quotequote all
Piece of piss really.

I've removed the compressor and all the pipe work today. I managed to do it wihout cutting all but one of the pipes - so I have spares if anyone is looking.

Compressor came out easy, looks to be fully working if anyone needs one. To be honest, I bet if I'd have had the system gassed it would have worked ok rofl but I'm more interested in weight. Its not as if I ever have the roof on anyway if its apporaching 'warm'.

Regarding the weight - bloody hell fire. The compressor, plus the ENORMOUS pig iron bracket onto which it mounts, are seriously weighty!

Gotta take the Condenser/rad out. Left it in for time being as I was worried about puncturing my water rad with no grill - however, as you'll see from y next thread, thats not going to be a problem frown