Small Car Performance, DIY Front A/C Installation

insyncro · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 8:32 am Post subject:

Some trimming is needed.

rmcd · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 9:21 am Post subject:

insyncro · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 9:25 am Post subject:

I just made everything work but any means necessary haha.

Still working on finishing it up the install hooked to a Zetec.

I will write up everything when I have it completed, still working through everything under the dash.

rmcd · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 11:05 am Post subject:

I highly recommend anyone taking this on to consider having a vender who has done this like smart car or Insyncro do the install. There seem to be 1000 little tricks. It's all doable but it is very fiddly!

Thanks for the tips.
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kourt · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:30 pm Post subject:

Okay, my Samba love is showing on a Saturday night. I'm taking break from a beautiful pizza to post some photos.

Here's a photo of the glovebox showing some of the cutaway:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Here's the glovebox lowered and showing the wiring harness and heater hoses. In my installation the heater hoses were routed around the fan housing on the passenger side of the air handler, and then along the sheet metal back towards the gear shift, and then through the rubber grommet behind the gear shift to the undercarriage. One of the original heater hoses was held in place by a rubber hose clamp--and that was re-used in this install to put the hoses in the same vicinity. The AC hoses don't route this way--instead I drilled them through the front bulkhead so that they exit behind the passenger headlight, where they interface with the receiver/drier, or travel back to the compressor. You can see the #10 hose exiting the cabin through the bulkhead at the far right of the photo:

Here's an overview of the dash. Still not totally done tweaking the fitting of everything here, so it will look incomplete for now:

Here's the Brickwerks dual gauge pod (purchased at T3 Technique) with my VDO gauges installed. I made a wiring harness for these gauges that terminates in a six-pin connector from Radio Shack. This way, I can install the gauges, install the dash, and let the harness fall down for connection in a reasonable way:

(Yeah, that's my 87 Volvo 240 wagon in the background. 300,000 miles.)

If your van formerly had AC or even a rear heater, you can use some of that now-defunct wiring circuitry to bridge the gap between the engine bay and the front of the van for the purposes of wiring the AC compressor and other accessories. Just pick a circuit, test it for continuity, check it in Bentley, and then repurpose it as needed. Help the next guy out by labeling all your mods of this nature.

Also, your hose installs need a little slack in them. You'll find yourself removing and reinstalling the air handler a few times to get the fit right, but those hoses stay connected. I found myself creatively setting the air handler on my lap, crouched between the seat pedestals, or finding a small stool to set it on.

kourt

rmcd · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 7:32 pm Post subject:

GreggK · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 2:46 pm Post subject:

Kourt, Where did you re-locate your rear heater switch? Or did you say you removed your rear heater. I like the dash where you have your radio, looks great.

rmcd · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 5:36 pm Post subject:

Uh ohh. I left my rear heater switch in place. The Small Car plate mounts directly to the right of it. I'm nowhere near the clear.

Maybe it won't work. I haven't done wiring or stereo and I'm also having some un-resolved interferences at the glove box.

I think I'm going to have to relocate or delete the diagonal brace inside the dash as it interferes with the hose feeding the passenger side dash vent.
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=749359&highlight=

kourt · Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 7:13 pm Post subject:

More photos from my install.

Here we see the second tear-down of the dash to move the air handler into the nose by about 1cm. You can also see how I sealed the ducts with air duct tape--but I later just used zip ties.

More of the second tear-down.

Here's the setup installed after moving the air handler.

I removed the rear heater the day after I bought the van, so that switch is long gone. I'm using that old heater wiring harness to run AC compressor signals and trans oil/engine oil temp sender signals now.

Very pleased with this setup.

kourt

ALIKA T3 · Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 7:32 pm Post subject:

Hi Kourt!

Crongrats on your hard work!

are those grills facing back alongside the stereo absolutely needed when installing the kit?

I'll purchase it when I have the funds, but I don't want to cut the metallic dashboard....

Aloha!
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kourt · Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:00 pm Post subject:

Howdy,

The stock vanagon only has two dash vents. The whole point of adding dash AC is to maximize dash cold air output, so the extra two vents are supplied with the Small Car kit and you will want to have them installed with the kit. The kit pretty much demands that you cut the dash. This is a "no going back" kind of modification, and you have to cut up the dash to move things around, make holes for the two extra vents, make holes for the new AC controls, etc. Small Car supplies a handsome steel plate, painted black, with all the required holes... and that plate provides a very finished look to the installation. You wind up cutting a big hole in the dash, placing the steel plate over the hole, and inserting your vents, controls, radio, and accessories into the plate. It's a great system. If you have hangups about cutting your dashboard, you're probably not ready for this kit.

Other than not having illuminated controls, my other complaint is that the dash plate screws are already showing rust. They are black steel allen head machine screws, but I haven't even been to the beach lately and they are already rusting.

Still, having cold AC in my face is worth it. So worth it!

kourt

nilza · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 3:35 am Post subject:

Sorry if I am blurring the thread a little, but I am just finishing up a GEN 4 install in my bus too, thought I might throw up a few photos as a comparison. Though I did not buy as a kit I modified my own dash and added a few extras while I was there.
I too have had to modify the glovebox quite a bit to make to work, I found heating the rear plastic and then closing to worked well Laughing

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bajaleo · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 8:37 am Post subject:

Kourt,

Your work is really good. I hope to do this someday to my Westy.

Leo

ALIKA T3 · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 10:35 am Post subject:

kourt · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:15 pm Post subject:

Gotcha. I think the Gen IV system is pretty flexible--it's designed to go into dozens of different vintage cars--so I'm pretty sure you can creatively wrangle what you want out of it. They do offer a number of different control panels for the air handler:

http://www.vintageair.com/2014catalog/Pages%20from%202014%20VintageAir%20Cat%20rev%208-15%2045.pdf

Let us know how it turns out.

kourt

nilza · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 2:29 pm Post subject:

Thanks ALIKA! The dashboard is all steel (I do alot of sheet metal, so was right up my alley) We never got the padded dashboards here in the land of Oz.
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ALIKA T3 · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:28 am Post subject:

ALIKA T3 · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:30 am Post subject:

kourt · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:07 am Post subject:

All their stuff is electrical. There are three primary controls for the Gen IV system. In order to make use of any VW controls you would have to use the Vintage Air switch pots mounted behind the dash, and then somehow take the VW knobs and put them on. You could do that with the original Westy dash AC controls (AC fan speed and AC temperature) to control the Gen IV fan speed and Gen IV temperature.

The Gen IV vent controls are another matter. The VW heater controls (the sliding mechanical controls to the right of the steering wheel) are not used at all in this new setup, and are not reusable at all, so that entire panel, with rotary switch, and all the mechanical parts behind it, will have to come out, or remain but be useless. Dash space is too precious to let useless things remain. The vent controls for the Gen IV would have to be mounted somehow, not sure.

All the Gen IV controls are digital--meaning they are infinitely adjustable.

The Small Car modification plate I mentioned in a previous post is really the best option here. It simplifies the controls of the climate system and consolidates it all in one area, and makes a clean final product.

kourt

djkeev · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:28 am Post subject:

I understand where he is coming from with the controls.

They do indeed look "modern" being installed in a classic Van that uses few circles and a lot of square patterns throughout.

I personally struggle with the use of visible screws for attachment of the controls and the new dash vent.
Not seeing it in person, I haven't a clue for an alternate mounting system, I'm just making observations.

Is this design a deal breaker?
No........
It doesn't look bad at all but it does have a non factory added on look to it.

Dave
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Small Car Performance, DIY Front A/C Installation
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