A/C for a Subaru powered Bus

[martyrg]

I am in the process of converting my 1978 Westy to Subaru power. I am using a belly mount radiator with two Spal 13" pusher fans, mounted on top of the radiator. I want to install air conditioning while I'm doing the conversion.

Has anyone installed air conditioning in their Subaru powered bus?

-What system did you install?
-How well does it work?
-Does it cool the passangers in the back seat?

[Shonandb]

I'm in the process of installing A/C in my 76 Westy. I am using the A/C system (compressor, evaporator, and condenser) from my Subaru donor + an additional heater/evaporator from another donor (dual zone setup).

I installed one heater/evaporator under the rear bench seat and a second heater/evaporator unit between the front seats. I have the front unit tied into the heater tree for defrost and heat to our feet and the rear unit vents under the bench seat as well as up each side of the bench seat to heat/cool the rear of the Bus.

Having the dual zone heating in the winter keeps the Bus toasty warm front and back even down to 0F. I anticipate that the dual zone A/C will be similar but have not finished the installation yet.

I am using the stock Subaru rad and fans in a belly rad set up and it works well so I don't want to mess with the cooling of the rad by placing the condenser there so I've mounted the condenser on an angle between the passenger side frame rail and just under the sliding door rocker. I have 2 spal fans on a relay that is controlled by the ECU Fan #2 wire that is triggered by the A/C button on the heater controller mounted under the my dash.

I did the wiring harness myself and extended the wires for the Subaru speedometer unit, the heater - A/C controller, and the radio to the front of the Bus so everything works as it did in the Subaru.

To finish the installation, I need to get the final wiring connected, install the existing A/C hose from the compressor to the condenser, mount the dryer, and have a local Auto A/C shop make up the remaining high and low pressure hoses needed to connect both evaporators, and then vacuum down & charge & test the system for leaks.

I expect to have everything mounted this weekend and will book a time to take it into the shop in the next week or two and we should have A/C for our Aug 1st long weekend camping trip.

I'm sure there are aftermarket A/C systems that you can buy but I wanted to use as much as I could from the Subaru donor. Check the Vanagon A/C install threads as there are some really compact units that will fit and actually cool the entire Bus, not just the front section.

Also, read through the last 5 to 10 pages of this thread as "scirocco crazy" mounted and installed what looks be a good possible solution.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9443081#9443081
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76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
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