Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 08:30:07 -0800
Reply-To: Tom Forhan <fourwdvw@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Forhan <fourwdvw@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Heater Box Question and Front Air Conditioning Revisited
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
After my first post I've gotten a couple of pmails on
this, and think there may be interest in a joint
project.
First, I am aiming this primarily at Westie owners
with the existing stock a/c in the rear. Regular
Vanagon owners with air have the central ductwork and
I'm presuming those systems (when functioning
properly) are adequate and so most of those folks
would not be so interested.
Here are some bits and pieces of what I have learned
in the last day, please feel free to chime in if I
have any of this wrong:
The airbox is about 26"w x 9.5"d x 14"h. This is not
radically different from some of the aftermarket units
available.
The stock airbox runs only in fresh air in mode, no
recirculation.
One option is to figure out how to get an a/c coil
system into the existing airbox.
The second option is to install a complete aftermarket
unit with heat, defrost and a/c.
Most -but not all- of the aftermarket units run only
in a recirculation mode and do not include a provision
for fresh air intake.
One unit that does have fresh air and is about the
size of the stock unit is the 62-5002 from Hotrod Air.
I have not gotten a price from them yet, but my guess
is that this a $300-$400 unit.
http://www.hotrodair.com/freshair.htm
R134a conversion, which one most likely would do a the
same time if you have not done it already, are much
more efficient if you increase the size of the
condensor by about 20% over the stock condensor.
The SD709 compressor, stock in some 1987 vanagons and
all later years, is more than adequate for a dual
evaporator system. This seven cylinder, 9 cu in unit
(709 -get it?) is also very smooth.
Earlier vanagons used five cylinder SD508 or SD510
units, which are not as smooth as the SD709.
In any case, replacement with a slightly larger
capacity two cylinder US made units (the squarish
ones) should not be considered as an upgrade.
Some Eurovans were/are available with dual evaporator
units.
That is what I have so far...
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