Request for info on Fitting Air Con

[Marty V8]

Hi,

Iam in the process of rebuilding my Griffith 500 motor after snapping the rear valley gasket bolt off in the back of the block. The bolt had literally welded itself to the block over the ten years that the car has been running around, and just necked straight off when I tried to undo it. Its turning out to be an expensive bolt to replace, as I had to remove the engine to be able to drill, tap and helicoil the damn thing, so it seemed only sensible to take the opportunity to go through the motor whilst its out of the car and renew where possible.

Aside from scraping 10 years of waxoyl off the chassis to have a look at whats underneath, what I also want to do as part of the rebuild is to retro-fit air conditioning into the Griffith. I have some of the major components such as compressor (P38 V8 Range Rover), filter/drier, trinary switch and I have also got some bits and pieces from Pistonheads classifieds and e-bay e.g. Cerbera aircon box, fuel cooler, expansion valve, P38 range rover combined evaporator and heater box. The heater boxes were bought with the intention of either gutting them for parts or modifying them to suit, as I have yet to find a Griffith/Chimaera air con/heater box for sale. I intend to buy a new condensor rad from one of the air con suppliers.

Having had the heater box out of the Griff already, I'm happy to play about with saws and hammers and glassfibre to get a combined heater and aircon unit to fit, and fitting the compressor and aircon pulley and belt is also fairly straight forward as they just bolt to the block.

I assume that the condensor rad sits in front of the std coolant rad and that the filter drier bolts to the condensor rad - please correct me if I'm wrong. (Not sure how he condensor rad is fitted in position though)

What I'm less certain of is where the smaller minor components fit and how they are mounted - such as Trinary switch and expansion valve and would be grateful for any advice/photos on where these are positioned. I am also finding it dificult to get hold of the aluminium pipe that runs from the compressor back along the engine towards the engine bay.

Would anyone know if the std Griff heater panel switches are wired for switching air con and is there a multi-pin plug that attaches to the panel, or is it a case of soldering to suit?

Additionally, where are the rubber hoses routed from and to the condensor radiator - one runs from the compressor and disappears into the inner wing, but I'm not sure where the other goes. I assume (probably totally incorrectly) that this runs back along the passenger side inner wing into the air con/heater box in the passenger footwell, but would be grateful (again) for advice/knowledge.

Maybe someone has a photo record of a rebuild with photos showing the install?

Any info and advice would be very gratefully received.

thanks

Regards

Marty

[Pum]

Don't do it! Keep it pure - no aircon, no power steering, etc

[deetes]

I know this is going to sound realy racical, but if it gets too hot inside the car, you can actually fold the roof down and hey presto instant AC. Free of charge and weight penalty.. Just a thought.

Threw my compressor in the bin.................

[neutral 3]

Yes, dont do it, my air con isnt working and i intend to remove all the clobber and throw it over the hedge.

What is involved in removeing the engine driven pump etc ? Does this sap power ? Do i change the Drive belt for a shorter one ?

[dnb]

If you feel you must have AC then drop me an email. I have looked at it quite extensively (but then came to my senses

The heater controls should already be wired for AC and the mess of wiring near the ECU can be populated with relays to make it all work (somehow )

[hiltonig]

Ahh proof at last that you griff chaps drive around with your lids on !

Edited by hiltonig on Sunday 24th October 09:24

[phib]

I have to say I had this done twice by the factory when they were new. More recently I have been looking for ac again for my griff, have tried a couple of companies in America who retro fit ac to classic cars unfortunately no real results yet.

I wouldn't bother with factory air ... It was seriously rubbish the first time round !!

If anyone finds a better option I would love to know

Phib

[phib]

I have to say I had this done twice by the factory when they were new. More recently I have been looking for ac again for my griff, have tried a couple of companies in America who retro fit ac to classic cars unfortunately no real results yet.

I wouldn't bother with factory air ... It was seriously rubbish the first time round !!

If anyone finds a better option I would love to know

Phib

[Marty V8]

Thanks for the replies.

I know its sacrilige, I also know that I can put the roof down - but thanks for the useful tip anyway. As for keeping it pure, the car was fitted with power steering as standard. Maybe I should throw the power rack away, possibly along with the servo assisted brakes. Then I could get rid of the V8 and put in a small 4 pot engine, cut the wings off and nail cycle wings to it and make it into a TREVOR original. Would that be pure enough? Jeez, Im glad I didnt suggest putting a yank V8 in the engine bay. I'd have been burnt as a Witch by now.

The air con wont be used that often, but there are just some times when its useful to have, such as driving with a boot stuffed full of holiday clobber with nowhere to store the roof. Not that this happens everyday, I grant you but on the odd occasion that its needed, its very welcome. When its not being used, its not a noticable drag on the system, just a bit more weight, and a couple of bars of Ex-Lax should sort the problem out if it comes to it .

As Ive got the motor and gearbox out of the Griffith at the min, now would seem like the most sensible time to consider fitting it, and any sensible sugestions on how to go about this would be very welcome.

If anyones throwing air-con bits over hedges or into bins, you could always throw them in my direction, please.