Factory Air

[wbute]

How many Sandmans had it? Is anybody going to fit it?

[agr071]

Have thought about it, but as i have it in my HZ, it's a pain in the a..e to work around.
May use the style that goes between vent hole and heater fan.

[wbute]

Yeah Im hearing you Agro. I thought I was smart and went for a mixture in my WB. Aftermarket compressor so I could get to the spark plugs and integrated vents and evaporator. But..... one of the vacuum servos has died (I think) and I have to pull the whole lot out to get to it. They must have had a Pom working at Holden when they designed that setup.
I am going to fit it to the Sandman as well. I am just a sucker for fitting Holden options. Am going for the full set up though.

[agr071]

The most effective one is the under dash one, but it looks ugly and sticks out like a sore thumb.
I'm using a standard WB heater box (as it has the centre face vents).
Possibly looking at putting firewall fittings on. (Like this one http://speedyairspares.com.au/produc...g-162-174.html)
Small aftermarket compressor as hidden as possible.
Run A/C hoses along chassis rail so it can hardly be seen.

HOPEFULLY this way it'll still look very standard but i'll have nice cold air con. :D

[jennie285]

(Rodney's quote)We had a very good air con in my original van...it was aftermarket, but was intergrated....and worked well, only needed gasing every other year....

in our HZ wagon which we bought for kids.....we had a factory fitted air conditioner....we must have spent nearly as much on the b@#y thing as we did on the wagon itself....the Delco pump played up endlessly...luckely my brother worked for Transcity, a bus Company in Parkes...and the buses all had Delco pumps fitted, so parts were available, and a little less expensive....

unfortunately it will go against the original thing, but the s@#t time we had with Delco pumps, we won't be interested in putting the genuine a/c and looking into integrated, after market if still possible....we haven't got enough money to keep a delco pump operating....would rather spend it on resto....that is my opinion....they never worked properly when they worked......:angry:

[Absinth]

Bunch of bloody wimps if you ask me..... didn't have or want air back in the day and won't have it in my Sandman now....

If you have a 253 Sandman and are fitting original Holden AC then expect the same performance as a 173 6cyl when the AC is on.... it really drains the power and doesn't work overly well in a van anyway.

As Rodney says, if you really must have AC go modern aftermarket and you'll spend all your time cruisin rather than in the shop getting repaired.

[agr071]

Bunch of bloody wimps if you ask me..

if you really must have AC go modern aftermarket and you'll spend all your time cruisin rather than in the shop getting repaired.

Are you refering to the under dash unit and smaller compressor?

[wbute]

Yeah I know its a sign of weakness but......... the Mrs said if I want to take her in it then it needs AC.
Got to stay on the right side, especially at this stage of the rebuild!

In a van couldnt you just run a bonair water cooler and a generator?:D

[jennie285]

(Rodney) a smaller compresser yes, but not sure if these are still available today, but they had integrated units, which were aftermarket, which fitted into or near the heater box....and the air came out of the dashboard vents.....(this was in my original Sandman)
You could actually still run the heater onto the windscreen, and have the air con blowing cool air on your face

(Jennie) yes I am soft, but R did a lot of driving out to Ivanhoe (sheep station country near broken Hill) and it can get up to 45degrees out here.....

[wbute]

They were still available about 10 years ago, I got the mounting kit for the compressor for my WB.
They do work well, my brother has that setup in his WB. They have the thermostat control too which is good because you can adjust how cool the AC is. Bit like a tractor.
There was another setup which you had to cut the glovebox out to fit in, pretty ugly I think.