Universal Front A/C Units

[r39o]

[kayakwesty]

$ 850.00 for the small front unit

$1050 for the bigger front unit

$1050 for the bigger back unit

includes all fittings, hoses, mounts, vents, and evap unit with instructions, and it is made for the Vanagon

[[email protected]]

My 85 westy had pre-existing, non-functional air. I bought an entire AC system from Jerry at European Cooler Air. Including: new larger parallel flow condensor, new dryer, larger front unit and larger rear unit, and larger compressor, all new ac lines and electrical wiring. The whole kit and Kaboodle.

Installation was done by Bill at Affordable German. Jerry has modified the large rear unit based on the installation to make it easier to install. The large front unit fits, but is a tight fit. But, I didn't lose any glove box space. It is really quite amazing how small the front unit is.

The quality is top notch. This was the first installation for Bill (of this type of AC). So there was a learning curve involved. But Jerry was very helpful along the way, and has modified the back ac unit.

I don't like the center dash vent (that replaces the ash tray). Jerry is working on coming up with a set of vents that fit in the radio hole, and a new radio holder.

[r39o]

[wbx]

[r39o]

[usedcarr]

kayakwesty, I may have missed it, do you already have AC or are you totally retrofitting your van? I had talked to Jerry about a van I wanted and it was close to 4 grand to retrofit an 82 w/ a Subie conversion. I would have bought it at the prices you quote there.
_________________
10'0" Lance Carson
6'3" Hamisch Fish
Schwinn Beach Cruiser
Sold the westy, never even drove it

[kayakwesty]

I have existing air and it works good...not great...I'm tired of the back of my head getting cold and my face cooking

I want more cold air in the front
_________________
1984 Westy 2.0 Jetta ABA Motor/1.8 head converted to auto tranny, with 180,000 on body, 55K on engine and transmission

B.5.5 Passat Wagen with 30v V6-67000 Miles

DAS AUTO

CHANGE YOUR FUEL LINES!

A post without pictures is useless

http://www.kayakwesty.com

http://www.waldensridgewhitewater.com/

[[email protected]]

[quote="r39o"]

[roadguy]

Volks,

My self and another friend have purchased front AC Units from Jerry West at WWW.Europeancoolcrair.com and had him injstall both systems. Neither system, worked for long.
My system went thru three compressors before I gave up. When I went inside the dash to remove the wiring for this unit I found wires with melted insulation and cicuits that were overload and not fused. It was a mess and a diaster wanting to happen. The other syetm does still wrok, but will only blow slightyl cool air when you first recharge it. A short while later the temps rise to just barley cool. Jerry talks a good game but I have yet to see a successful, long term, functioning system instale dor sold by him. I apoligize if someone has been able get one of these systems to work and would really like to undertand the details of how you were successfull.

larry c

[r39o]

Larry,

I am sorry to read this. I called Jerry a few times. He talked like a book. No stopping him. But, he never did send me the information he promised. I never did find out, for example, what it would cost, let alone, the pictures of what it looked like. I gave up.

I have now collected two Behr units and will integrate them into my van when the weather cools down.

No body likes to pay for a job and then it just does not work. Sad. Not only do you have a system that does not work, but you have, what amounts to be, an expensive anchor installed in your van.

Where are you? Maybe some one can fix it for you. There are other good AC places in Texas besides him. San Antonio is the headquarters of Vintage Air (Jay Leno loves these guys) for example. http://www.vintageair.com/

Best of luck.

-Walt
_________________
"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....

Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently)

[dr. no]

I will try to get a picute of mine this afternoon; along with more of the story...
_________________
Scott
http://lungehphoto.com

'83.5 Westy s/p 1.6td JX and 4sp DK transplant--wonderful!
'86 MB 300GD
'06 MB Sprinter
'17 BMW X1
'89 Isuzu Trooper


PAST VWs:
'82 NA diesel Vanagon
'86 7-passenger Vanagon
'77 Bay
'71 Bay
'74 Things (2)
'69 Karmann Ghia (the only one I miss--in nice weather, anyway...)
'91 Fox

[Tomswesty]

This is a post by someone over on the suby conversion group about european. Just thought it would help too.



""I've posted this before, but for anyone new on the list I want to
reiterate the problems I have had with europeancoolerair.com (Jerry
West) and his installation of dual a.c. system in my '85 Subie-
Westy. Avoid this guy at all costs! I have spent an embarrassing
amount of money trying to a.c. my bus and am about to give up. When
he put the system in (using Freeze 12) it worked beautifully for a
couple of weeks back in early 2005. Since then I have gone back to
him (from Santa Fe to Dallas) once and had it worked on by others
twice. No one in New Mexico would work with the Freeze-12 so it is
converted to R-134 now.

I charged it up before a recent trip across country and back and
when driving in roughly 100 degree temps the temp in the bus is over
90. So I get "coolish" air, but not enough to provide any real
relief - only sweat!

I have recently seen some of the under-dash wiring that was done by
Jerry on another Westy - fried to a crisp, bare wire showing, and no
fuses! More on that later.

Maggie
'85 Subaru-Westy "Anne Bonney"""
_________________
87 Westy
2.2L Suby convert

[r39o]

FYI: D&S in Costa Mesa California has made dual systems for Vanagons. Works just fine. No BS place. But, you do get what you pay for and it is not cheap.

He will make my system work after I prep it for him. I do not want to pay the big bux for him to do the tedious parts that any some what handy person can do.

D&S Auto Air
1661 Superior Ave # D
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 645-7802
(714) 835-3666
_________________
"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....

Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently)

[westy81]

[r39o]

[vwsyncroguy]

I have a Behr unit.

I installed the front evaporator, switches and vent hoses myself.

A local AC shop (San Francisco) still charged me almost $1600 to make the system work....which involved making the custom hoses to tie the Behr system into my factory rear overhead Westy system and install a later model R134 compressor I bought for my Suby 2.2L engine.

System worked well for 2 years before the compressor died. The opinion of another good AC shop was that the first shop did not put in enough compressor oil to compensate for the dissipation throughout all the extra length of hoses in the new system.

There's a very good AC shop in San Diego, called I.C.E. that installs custom front units in Vanagons for about $2000 ....if you already have air in your van.

Warren

Warren C.

[vwsyncroguy]

The Behr unit has a custom made dual center vent that goes in the radio slot with a curved 90 degree plenum behind it and moves the radio to a custom plastic box that mounts vertically onto the front of the heater unit cover. I had to remove my cigarette lighter to get the fat center vent hose in and covered the hole with stick on VW emblem.

That custom radio box is hard to find with a salvaged Behr unit and I don't much like this location anyway since the new radio displays are not meant to be seen from a position that is below the radio face...I can't read the radio display on my particular radio....a Sony....and my remote won't work the radio when lying in the back ...guess line of sight is required for the infra red remote.

I plan to make some kind of a custom mount for the radio that will mount on top of the dashboard.

Warren

[vwsyncroguy]

Some points about these front AC units....Behr or otherwise.

They all draw their air supply from under the dashboard....often a very hot place when the van sits in the sun. None of them draw fresh air from outside the van. So the unit must cool down the air that is heated up inside the van. So they take longer to cool down the van than we are used too in modern cars.

They also replace the heater vent ducts from your side vents in the dashboard with the vents for the AC unit...so you have floor heat after installing one...but no heat coming out the dashboard.

I did a bit of "customization of my left vent hoses...both heater and AC....by cutting the thin plastic vent hose with scissors so the hoses would mesh together....kinda in a "Y" shape.....so that the two hoses could be joined together where they hook to the dashboard vent with good duct tape. So I still get some heat out the drivers side vent. With a Behr unit, the big evaporator sits rig ht behind the glovebox and the left vent and connects to the vent with a very short coupling so this is not possible.

Warren

[dr. no]

Finally, a conjunction of camera and bus:

This is the vent that replaces the ashtray, installed by Jerry. I had no real problems with his install, it was done on time and tucked in neatly. Other than the extra knob for the front unit and the vent itself, nothing shows. Cold air comes out of the two side vents as well. As I remember, these were only fresh air before, not heated. This setup worked well the first two summers, except driving into the sunset, then you are warm.

The next summer it would not come on. At all. I could never find the short in the wiring; Jerry emailed a circuit diagram which did not match what he installed, but insisted that it should. I eventually "wired around" the switch and it again works very well, to the point where (except driving right into the sun) we run it on the lowest setting to stay cool. This is on R-134a without changing all the hoses.

I don't know what the current price is, but 4 years ago I paid $6xx for the conversion/addition. Maybe some customer skills are lacking, but a much better deal than some of those above...[/i]
_________________
Scott
http://lungehphoto.com

'83.5 Westy s/p 1.6td JX and 4sp DK transplant--wonderful!
'86 MB 300GD
'06 MB Sprinter
'17 BMW X1
'89 Isuzu Trooper


PAST VWs:
'82 NA diesel Vanagon
'86 7-passenger Vanagon
'77 Bay
'71 Bay
'74 Things (2)
'69 Karmann Ghia (the only one I miss--in nice weather, anyway...)
'91 Fox