I live in a town with a pretty mild climate. Even in the summer, it rarely gets over 85 degrees. The AC almost never gets used. Over the weekend, I went out of town to race in an autocross. It was pretty hot on the way home, so I turned on the AC. What a pleasure. Nice cold air blowing. I can't imagine why anyone would remove it. It doesn't weigh that much, and its so nice to have.

BTW, I did very well at the race. I'm pretty sure that I was the fastest car at the event, among those running street tires, and there were lots of them. I guess that having that horrible, slow, heavy AC in the car didn't slow me down too much

 

You know, I rarely use mine but I'm not removing it. I remember leaving the track one day when it was cool outside and my windows fogged up like they never have before (from running all day with the windows down). Thankfully, the AC helped me get home as it was the only thing that was defogging them.

 

Because (at least in my case, and I bought my car new) it didn't work all that well, and not having it made it incredibly easy to change the spark plugs. The A/C and power steering systems also represent about 40 lbs. of weight savings.

 

I'm sure that 40 lbs is pretty negligable when your car is makes in excess of 500rwhp.

 

I love AC too, but too bad I can't figure out what the heck is wrong with mine.

 

I don't rely on AC much, and if I could find some R12, I'd be using it more. lol.

 

As humid as it gets here in MD during the summer, I'd agree that AC is a must...especially for a primarily street driven vehicle.

 

But it makes a pretty big difference when your car is making 300-340 RWHP.

 

I took mine out only for the reason of that my 7 is not a daily driver, and when I do drive it, it is mostly at night other than when we have meets during the day. I dont know if it's just me but every car that I had that I did performance upgrades I would always take the AC off for some reason..

 

I love ac....man that RX-7 generates a lot of heat inside the cabin! Anyways, when I fix my A/C, I"m going to turn it on a lot of the time. As I get older, performance goes a little by the way side for comfort....I'm getting old................

 

thumbs up for a/c

 

I have been told that a radiator shop is the best place to get your AC fixed. I called a shop located near route 50 and it seems like they can solve the problem. More to follow after I get the car to the shop. After all the money I have spent to get mine fixed, this will be the last stop before I do a final conversion of my AC from 134 to 2/55 (2 windows down, 55 MPH)!!

 

OK Jim, how much difference? What would you estimate the time difference to be in a 1/4 mile run. How about a 40 second autocross race?

I can understand the reasoning behind an overall "weight loss" program for an all out race car, competing at a high level. However, that simply isn't the case for 99% of us.

 

What about just that fact that you remove a condenser from the front and allow more air to the radiator which our cars badly need. I think that is more beneficial (or gives a peace of mind) rather then the 40lbs weight loss.

Hell your girlfriend/passenger weights more then that.

 

If your cooling system is working properly, you will be fine with AC. Even with a stock radiator.

 

I daily drive my FD and use the a/c almost everyday here in So Cal. NEVER had problems with my cooling system except for the bag that covered half my radiator I couldn't live without it having all black leather interior and being 80+ degrees all summer.

 

The general rule of thumb for drag racing is losing 100lbs will drop 0.1s from your ET. So 40lbs will drop your ET about 0.04s. Of course the faster your car is and the lighter your car is, the more important weight becomes (dropping 40lbs off of a 8 second car will lower your ET more than dropping 40lbs off of a 14 second car).

Exactly!

 

I just bought a kit of FREEZE 12, a substitute for r12, I'll let you know how it turns out. Its cheap, $30 for the kit on ebay.

 

Good info Dan!! Jim mentioned that the 40 lbs was for AC and Power steering. So the AC alone might account for 0.02 seconds. I just don't think its worth it.

 

last summer wheni was drivng my car +45C in the city i lived in. no ac black int dame rear died. even on the highway with windows all the way down sun roof open still cooked liek a bitch. iam now getting my ac put back on
joel

 

got a dumb question for anyone reading this thread. i went for a drive the other day and noticed that when i got on the gas (in any gear), air would gush/blow out of the console vents (noticeably). it did this with the ac on/off and with the re-circulating button on/off. i don't remember it doing that before and think it's probably normal, but i just had to ask.

 

Check your voltage regulator. It may becoming weak/stuck. Your power dips at idle. specially with that Stereo thumpin' (just kidding)

 

I agree I'll find some other way to make up the difference.

 

Adam C, I have the same feeling you do. When I got my '89 the AC did not work at all. I cooked for about a week, even with the top down I really got hot. I went from Irvine to Calabasas and back in the afternoon and almost had a heat stroke. These cars run really hot w/o AC there is no way to vent from the outside. There is no way I would let mine go again.

 

Rub it in. Just cuz mines broken doesn't mean you should bring it up like this. j/k, it'll be good to go by the time the motor goes back in. Josh