air cond question??????????

[Donnie]

Does anyone know where these units are made?
Does any one care to tell me how much they cost?
How would you rate the quality of the parts, cond, evap, comp, dryer, etc.
Does this unit use an expansion valve or an orfice tube?
Is there a name printed on the hoses?

[greenmeanie]

It all depends on who's unit you choose to buy and how advanced a system you put in. I ended up doing something slightly different from the description I gave in the other thread. The system I ended up building was based around:
· Sanden 7H15 comperssor I found cheap and brand new on eblag. It had some odd connections on the end cap but I swapped that for one with o-ring connections. Total $100.
· Old Air Products Hurricane 1100 series inside package that includes the evaporator, expansion valve, controls, electronic valves for heater bypass and bunch of other small stuff. $595
· I picked up my hose, fittings and drier and a binary control valve at a local AC spot. Heater hose is Gates while my aircon hose and fittings are Parker . Approx. $200
· I can't remember who's condensor I bought but it cost $114 and is the biggest one you can fit behind a series radiator panel outline. I revised my radiator panel for a larger rad and did my own sheetmetal so I could go considerably larger than the unit you can fit on a stock truck.
· Then you have compressor mounting bracket. You can by laser cut fabrication pieces for the more complex geometry but you'll still be using them to fabricate your own mounts. Figure on approx. $100
· You need to source pulleys to drive the compessor...no idea how much but you can get them from some MOD trucks.
· There is also a strong arguement to be made that an electric fan should be installed too.
I then modified the evaporator to fit in the footwell, modified my bulkhead to open up some room and built a dog house to cover that where it projected into the engine bay plus a new splash guard to make room for the evaporator valve....cost is unknown as it was all my own work. As you can see the more custom you go the more expensive it gets as all the little stuff adds up quickly.

Most of the complete kits are adequate but hardly optimized in their performance. Place a few calls to the vendors and you quickly find out that very few of them can tell you the BTU/hr capapcity of their units - most replies are something along the lines of 'That one typically gets used on a pick up' etc. Its quite a complex subject but the three things that will give you most bang for the buck are:
· Find the biggest condensor you can that will fit but remember you still have to make the line connections. This is, after all, your heat exchanger.
· A comperssor with the biggest pumping capapcity is a little simplistic as the bigger the are the more power they suck. A Sanden 508 should do for a Rover. I think Sanden has performance curves on their site.
· Look at the CFM rating on the evaporator fans. In general, warmer air with more flow is better than colder air with little flow.
As to your original question of cost....I'd say that if you have change out of $1K you'll be doing very well. If I was setting a ROM budget I'd be more inclined to think $1200-$1300 for parts.

Here's a couple of pictures of my install. At that point I still had to add the controls and the eyeball vents to the heater duct.




http://www.roversnorth.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4944&stc=1&d=1303071239

http://www.roversnorth.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4945&stc=1&d=1303071239

[Donnie]

I want to give credit to both of you guys for the info.. got confused there 4 a minute..........................:confused::confuse d:

[JimCT]

A classis RR has wonderful air conditioning, and lots of other perks. Take the top off a series if it gets hot. I know, personal choices, but wtf.

[greenmeanie]

A classis RR has wonderful air conditioning, and lots of other perks. Take the top off a series if it gets hot. I know, personal choices, but wtf.

Oh brother, well seeing you're from the NE and not a desert dweller. The WTF is:

A RR classic is a modern boinger with lots of perks I don't want like an auto box, coil springs, a RR body, leather seats, a radio and rust and it is not a series. If I wanted a RR I'd have one but I don't. I like series. I like the fact I can modify the series to suit my needs much as you have modified yours. I'm sure you could have bought a Jeep Rubicon with all the traction aids you have added to your series and better articulation but you didn't. WTF?
In the desert taking the top off a truck just exposes you to the sun which makes you hotter,sunburned and means you cannot touch any of the controls without gloves. Shade is important here and its a pain in the arse to take the roof off a 109 SW. It is easier to add aircon with the added benefit of a better heater when I go to the mountains.
I have a fleet of 3 leafers in the US. My IIA is a pretty stock runabout and I can live under canvas driving my 101 but both are fearsomely hot and tiring to drive when the temperatures are 110°F+ for more than 30 days and 100°F+ for up to 100 days in a year. Contrary to popular belief the safari roof on the 109 does not lower the internal temperature below ambient. My 109 is my family truck which is much more comfortable for my very young kids and dog to ride in if it is cool which therefore makes aircon a far more useful mod to me here than any improvement in traction, winch or camping attachment.

As you say it is down to personal choices but to modify your truck to suit your purpose and then criticize others' mods seems hypocritical.

[Terrys]

Donnie, if you're clever, I have a complete D90 under-dash AC unit, evap, duct, blower, etc. You would need a new dryer and hoses, and I can't vouch for the compressor condittion, but have it and the mount off the D90's 3.9, Also have the condensor off my 110, but can't vouch for it's condition either. 'Looks' ok. PM me if you're interested. I'm easy.

[LaneRover]

Having spent time in the desert I agree that taking the top off isn't always the best solution.

Still want to beat the guy who thought it was a great idea to make a silly low budget action film in the Anza-Borrego desert in July. Hottest day was 124. Though we only had one or two people go down because of heat stroke. Beast Master 3 (or was it 4) had 10 go down on the first day!

That is when I learned that deserts are not always bitter cold at night like I had been lead to believe from reading about the LRDP in North Africa during WWII.

[Donnie]

Donnie, if you're clever, I have a complete D90 under-dash AC unit, evap, duct, blower, etc. You would need a new dryer and hoses, and I can't vouch for the compressor condittion, but have it and the mount off the D90's 3.9, Also have the condensor off my 110, but can't vouch for it's condition either. 'Looks' ok. PM me if you're interested. I'm easy.
Thanks Terry, just dreaming now as I have most parts needed to do the job...
Been putting it off 4 a couple of years....Lacking effort....Appreciate the offer..Donnie