Alot of cars from the 70's and early 80's are like that on the vent selector, and saw one once but it was on a car in the bone yard so not really a good reference but pretty sure it's stock.

Early cars had a different switch without a seperate push button for the A/C. I think Stu knows the S/N break. If the car had air, you just turned up the fan speed for more or less. Not sure if it was always on, or if it activated at the same time you turned it up.

Like the hood prop rod locations, speakers in the dash, door map pockets and dash vents, these details changed during that first model years production. These subtle evolutions between March 78-May 79 created an early, mid and late production versions of the 79 production year.

Well put banzai, makes some things unique to THAT year only.

my/NODE's SA has that knob too. car did not leave hiroshima with A/C. mine did get a really horrible aftermarket POS a/c system somewhere along the line.

i was thinking about going thru the parts fish, and making a list of all the changes. its common for the english cars, and mazda made it much simpler. some cars need to be looked at to tell what was changed in some parts but that's kind of the fun part

One of local guys have I believe what would fall into the late 79 group and the a/c button is in the middle of the fan switch.

Fish sounds interesting as I intend to add a/c to mine, any idea where the early 79 switch would be?

FWIW, 80 SA switch was likewise in the middle of the fan knob.

Per the parts fiche, the small AC button in the middle of the fan switch (Knob, Air Con) first appeared with Serial #541117, and then changed again on Serial #588207. Pretty sure change was to have the button light up in the center when active.

The original fan switch knob (Serials 500001-540410) was strictly a one-piece deal.

The actual switch also went through only one change, at 540410. Probably (diagrams are not clear) to accommodate the push-on AC function.


Apparently, if they didn't have the button in the middle of the fan switch, the AC was turned on when you pushed the entire knob in, if you had AC. The button-in-center design came later.

79 wiring diagram B shows the AC relay (controls the compressor clutch) being under the control of the ECU, but shows no reference at all to what would switch the AC on... which means it was in a different document, most likely. The diagram shows a lead going to the "Air Con Harness" which likewise gets no further reference.

80 diagram, same thing.

The 1979 product information book states:
(Note)
Air conditioner made in the US will be installed on the vehicle in the US.

Which explains the factory manuals not providing details.

wow great info, so as my SA is 504000 I would be looking for a fan switch that push in as well as twisted if I am following correctly.

Talk about a treasure hunt lol

That's my guess, based on what little I could glean from the docs I have.

Real answer would come from someone with an early 79 owner's manual. Or an early 79 with AC.

Guess that answers my question :)

I would think that even if your car didn't get the A/C installed once ashore, it would have left the factory with a fan switch that was configured to operate it. Does your fan controll knob have a push feature to it?:scratch:

Either that, or AC fitted prior to 540410 had a completely separate switch installed, but none of the Mazda factory documents show it, or where it would have mounted.

Interesting thing is, even with the 80 wiring diagrams, the fan switch appears in the wiring diagrams, but does not show any schematic representation for the AC center-push contacts. They are simply not shown, even though they are physically part of the switch.

Bizarre.

Wow sweet SA find. Bidding closed under the sellers reserve price. I don't blame him this one is worth 25 grand. This car really should be protected let's hope someone takes care of it.

oh yea, forgot what this thread started out as.

Funny thing about the value of things such as these. They are only worth as much as someone is willing to pay. Supply and demand. They are srarce enough, there just doesn't seem to be enough buyers with both the desire and bank accounts, all clammering over them. That's what keeps even the exceptional ones languishing under 10K normally.

DD, that is strange. I have never heard of a seperate off/on switch for the early ones. Stu believes it was just "always on" and you just turned up the volume so to speak. I just wondered if 13K's selector had a push feature. I doubt it but stranger things have happened.

lol I assume you meant 13x, it's a dang good question I will be checking this evening cause in hot vegas I am too damn old to not have a/c when it's 117degrees outside

I really like driving the SA and it would allow me to drive it more :nod:

no 13x yours is early enough it will have the always on type of switch, as posted the a/c units are what is known as port installed and there were 2 or 3 different ones hence you will find different types of compressors at one point in time i had some of the A/C manuals if you are looking for their specific parts and numbers I would suggest looking in the service bulletins from that time that is where mazda published alot of US special part numbers. Also as for the break out of the parts in 79 and 80 or any year for that matter determining if it actually a different part. Look at the part number if the only thing that changed was the last letter the only difference is a price code not part change. This could have happened because of a vendor change or mazda wanting to make money. If the part number itself changed then it is a totally different part.

From reading old articles in the Rotary Rocket and car mags of the day, the early non-push-button, AC-equipped 79s had the AC on _All the Time_ ! ook. Lots of bitching and moaning with owners in the RX7 Club of the day about how to wire around this annoyance. My understanding is this was only finally addressed by Mazda with the push-on, push-off center button.

Stu Aull
80 (non-air-con'd) GS
Alaska

There ya go "X" man. If you had air, it would always be on! Stu, what would you want A/C for in Alaska anyway?

Does anyone know when A/C was no longer port installed? I have a pristine '83 GS with no A/C. If I am not mistaken, I would think that A/C would be an easy install if you could put together the parts that made up the port or dealer install kit. Not so easy if the A/C was factory installed, I would think.

It slows the mosquitoes down.

awesome, thanks guys, so I can move foward without having to find the holy grail/or vin correct switch, but at 101 hp always on err nope lol but there is a replacement for R12 that we are getting really good feedback on so no retro-fit yeah

the US government taxes cars higher with A/c than without, so A/c is still port installed.

however there are cars which did get factory A/c for sure.

the 84-85 GSL-SE's ALL had factory AC.
84-85 GSL's with PS AND AC have factory AC too

everything else generally had port installed. so maybe 80% are port? it does seem like the 83's its more common to find factory air.

Interesting, I have an 83 shell, currently for sale, and it appears to have factory AC. There is a Mazda information plate on the evaporator housing, and the condenser is a little larger than all the others I have seen.

About the AC always being on in the early cars, in most newer vehicles the AC is always on in most of selections on the switch, even on heating/defrost, to remove moisture(prevents windows fogging). On my 03 Ford pu, it's only off on panel, or in the off position. Just sucks on the 7 because it robs so much power.

So the switch w/o the button is still in question, AC on when switched on, or no telling by looking at it? I would think that if it has air conditioning written on the selector, it would have AC. As far as I can recall, all the other makes of cars I've seen w/o AC didn't have it written on the control panel. Maybe as to not remind the owner that they opted not to get it.

There were multiple part numbers for the light-up insert in the console panel that displays the vent modes and temperature; I'd guess they were for AC and non-AC versions. I'll check my owners manual when I get home tonight; it no doubt shows pictures of both panel configs for the 80 year.