Indrid cold Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 I was thinking of removing my a.c. system as no longer works and don't have the funds to get it working. Or for some reason should I keep it on the car.... ? Don't care about resale value... From other posts it seemed a bit much to convert and or recharge. Currently all the ref. leaked out so system is empty. Should I keep the coil up front to protect the radiator or rip it out? I want to keep compressor under hood and possibly use it for pumping up tires etc.. so I guess I just remove anything that looks a.c. associated? anything I shouldn't remove? I have an electric cooling fan that I guess needs to be hardwired as that is controled by a.c. operation? 88 dl, wagon, SPFI. EA-82 Thx for the posts. Lots of good info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 I'm pretty sure the electric fan is also wired to a thermo switch on the radiator. if the coolant in the rad gets to a certain temp, the fan will come on. but maybe I'm wrong, and hopefully someone will correct me anyway, yes, you can just rip anything A/C related out. the condensor (or is it expandor...the one by the radiator...never heard it called a coil before) can go. all lines can go. there's a canister on the passenger side IIRC that's in the lines that can go. I think there's some wires that go to it, they can go. if you want to use the compressor as an air pump. save the lines that attach to the pump. those flanges would be difficult to duplicate if you had to..... none of my cars have A/C anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnot Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 If I were you, I'd just take the compressor out if you're not going to use it for A/C. That thing is heavy. I'm in the process of doing this on my '81 hatch rallycross beast. I've gotten everything out except the condensor so far. The trickiest part (for me anyway) was relocating the alternator, since it was driven by a second belt on the compressor. I didn't have all the correct brackets to mount the alternator, so I had to get creative. Now I just need to figure out what to do to replace the evaporator under the dash. I think I'm just going to fab some duct work out of dryer vent bits. You should have seen all the insulation and mouse poo that was inside the fan and the coils. It was pretty nasty. -Bryce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thealleyboy Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 If I were you, I'd just take the compressor out if you're not going to use it for A/C. That thing is heavy. -Bryce Yeah, I would say... probably 50lbs without any air. There are better options for keeping some compressed air around...like an auxilary air tank that can be filled at a gas station. Another good reason to remove the compressor is to have better access to some hard-to-get-to items like that 90" bypass cooling hose. If you are going to strip things down in the engine bay, may as well get ruthless about it!! good luck, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roundeye Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Wow. I can see you guys up North ripping out the A/C, but that's unheard of down here. You would die in a nasty egg-frying way down here without it. Carnot, isn't it still hot/humid up there in Huntsville? I see you are ripping out your A/C too like the rest of the Yankees:grin: Anything above Troy is Yank territory, isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnot Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Carnot, isn't it still hot/humid up there in Huntsville? I see you are ripping out your A/C too like the rest of the Yankees:grin: Anything above Troy is Yank territory, isn't it? Oh yeah, it's quite hot and humid. Fortunately for me, my WRX still has A/C. The hatch is my rallycross monster-in-training and won't see a lot of day to day use. The A/C is coming out along with the carpet, the rear seats, and most of the interior. -Bryce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roundeye Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Oh yeah, it's quite hot and humid. Fortunately for me, my WRX still has A/C. The hatch is my rallycross monster-in-training and won't see a lot of day to day use. The A/C is coming out along with the carpet, the rear seats, and most of the interior. -Bryce I hear ya. Check your PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvexplorer Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Haven't seen anyone post anything about the fan, so thought I would. I've got a 93 loyale ea82 spfi and the aux electric fan works just fine on that thermosensor. I wired a switch in to bypass the sensor to help keep it from overheating so now if i want the fan to stay on a bit longer just flip the switch and stays nice and cool. New radiator took care of the overheating. I've never noticed a difference with the fan if the A/C was on or off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 I have never heard it was possible to use an AC compressor for filling tires. Not trying to say it cannot be done.. I'm asking as much as anything else.. but you can go to walmart and buy a campbel hausfeld pump that plugs into your cigarette lighter that works just fine, with a nice guage on it, for ten bucks. and its ALOT lighter than the AC compressor. but you do need to find the proper brackets to keep your alternator on then.. The compressor is by far the heaviest part of the system, and if you are removing it all, that is almost the best place to start. except for needing the parts for the alternator tensioning. carnot, how hard was it to get to the evaporator coil? ive been thinking of removing mine to clean it out... i know this car has seen cigarettes most of its life (still does) with the AC on, so i know that things gotta be NASTY and it would make my AC oh so much nicer if it were cleaned.. i know it involves depressurizing the system (duh) but how hard was it to get to, and how hard do you think it would be to clean the coils on? PM me if you want, ive been meaning to ask these questions.. and i need someone who has taken it all apart to ask but i dont wanna threadjack.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnot Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 carnot, how hard was it to get to the evaporator coil? ive been thinking of removing mine to clean it out... i know this car has seen cigarettes most of its life (still does) with the AC on, so i know that things gotta be NASTY and it would make my AC oh so much nicer if it were cleaned.. i know it involves depressurizing the system (duh) but how hard was it to get to, and how hard do you think it would be to clean the coils on? PM me if you want, ive been meaning to ask these questions.. and i need someone who has taken it all apart to ask but i dont wanna threadjack.. Well, I'm no expert by any means and I don't know how similar my '81 hatch is to your car, but I'll tell you what I know. There really wasn't anything holding the evaporator assembly in place other than the refrigerant lines and ducting that was just slip fit onto it. You could probably just clean the coils out without depressurizing the system by simply removing the blower assembly (one bolt, two nuts). Once you've done that, if you decide you still want to get the coil out, you just need to disconnect the lines in the engine bay (after depressurizing of course) and pull the box out. this whole thing is probably a lot easier if you remove the glove box (I did). And to stay a little more on topic, if you're removing the evaporator for good you can use a length of 6" diameter flexible aluminum ducting from your local hardware store to fill the gap. I put this in yesterday and it works like a champ. You just bend the ends to match the shape of the other ducts and put a little duct tape around it. -Bryce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 I guess it depends on the car, but on both of my EA82s, when we ripped the A/C out. we just used the same bracket and belt. there's plenty of support from the bracket where it's bolted to the intake manifold. and the alt belt is only an inch or so longer to compensate for the compressor (the A/C belt and tensioner can be removed aswell), there's plenty of travel in the alt to tighten things up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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