Date:         Mon, 30 Sep 2002 03:23:54 EDT
Reply-To:     FrankGRUN@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Grunthaner <FrankGRUN@AOL.COM>
Subject:      On Westfalia Air Conditioning
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

There have been several exchanges on AC in Westys including the advisability
of a front mount solo unit, a front supplement to the standard rear and mods
to the rear unit for effectiveness. Others have asked about the difficulty of
adding an AC to an existing non-AC vehicle. The answer was too much work.
Well, I agree and disagree.

Any project of this order is more challenging than replacing the rims, but
probably on the same order as redoing the interior paneling and acoustically
insulating the vehicle. With the number of miles on my carcass, its hard to
truly estimate time anymore. Nonetheless, it didn't seem all that big a deal
to me.

My approach has been detailed in the archives and pictures of the
installation are on Alistair Bell's website. I mounted the stock Vanagon AC
system from an '85 passenger van. I moved the evaporator a little closer to
the front cabin, modified a few lengths of duct, put the control unit in the
stock position, ran the hoses up the inside of the refrigerator cabinet and
made a shelf to cover the back of the unit in the poptop opening. I made a
poptop latch extension to access the lever and freely gave up 10 inches of
open space. The condenser mounted easily in front of the radiator, and my 90
8V 1.8L Digifant GTi engine came with AC compressor in place. I had Hoseman
make new hoses for the connection from compressor to evaporator and replaced
the dryer. The components were all removed for me by Russ's Recycling and set
me back $300. Add hoses and the AC professional pumpout and recharge, I'm
into the system around $450 to $500.

Good money, well spent. I can frost my brow, freeze out the wife or cool the
rear passengers whether I'm cruising the central valley of CA at 75 on a 105
degree day, or pushing across the A* end of the Universe (El Paso to San
Antonio, TX) at 80 and 110. She never overheats, and the interior is kept as
comfortable as I please. Of course, the need to add an AC was the key reason
for doing the conversion in the first place.

Oh yeh, I'm driving with the original diesel transmission that general wisdom
here says simply must be replaced. Nonetheless, more than 100K miles, many
years and never a breakdown due to engine or AC.

Frqank Grunthaner