80's old school

iTrader: (7)

Has anyone ever added AC to their non AC car? I know a lot of folks here that have taken theirs off. I live in Texas and it gets hot. Now I know it will be a PITA to add it, but other than aquiring parts from a donor car.... any ideas??

82transam

iTrader: (18)

As long as you make sure to get all the parts its just a matter of bolting it together, wiring it up and off you go. There's nothing really different about the bodies of the non a/c cars that would prevent you front installing it.
To make things easier I'd try to find all the parts from a similar year, and try to get all the parts from the same car. There were several different systems available, also factory installed and dealer installed systems so mixing and matching might not work out...
Oh yea, be sure to get new o rings and a new drier while you're at it, they are cheap.

80's old school

iTrader: (7)

I was thinking about finding an old SA22 to use as a donor car. Maybe there is an old one in a junkyard around here in the Houston area. Like you mentioned I would get a new drier and i will probably get a new or rebuilt compressor.
The main things i was concerned about is getting a evaporator assembly that would fit my car and also the bracketts that hold the compressor. The rest should be straight forward (hoses, wiring, condensor, etc.)
Anyone out there with old AC parts for an 80 SA??

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Yeah, the evaporator assembly should go right in, you'll just have to remove your non a/c car duct that goes between the blower assembly and the heater core. People are always looking for that non a/c duct too btw so you could sell it if you wanted to.
Like I said just be careful to get most if not all teh parts from one car, the lines can differ between cars.
One of my 83's had A/C installed by the dealer and they used all flexible rubber lines everywhere. The other 83 I have came with factory A/C and uses a rubber hose between condensor and compressor, and again between compressor and evaporator, but uses a hard line from the eveporator and drier and again drier to condensor. The location of the drier was also different on this car.
Just giving you the heads up so you know what to look for. I'm in the middle of reinstalling A/C on one of my 83's and have run across some parts incompatability....

ChaosAura

My only advice I would say, get two cars right beside each other, and as you take the parts off the one, try put them straight on to the exact place on the other, it can be a confusing system, and notoriously hard to get working right. (And I speak from experience in a shop that did alot of A/C work, not from experience with RX's)

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Agreed, we did a lot of A/C work at the shop I used to work in and they are VERY picky systems....