Aftermarket A/C

[Puzzigully]

Damien,

thanks for those pics, they are very informative.

How much gap would you say you have between the A/C belt and alternator nut/shaft?

[damienengland]

Got a pic for ya just now. Its about 3.5mm between belt and shaft, but there may have been less gap some time ago. I recently upgraded my old 85A (VR Commodore) alternator for an Aeroflow 100A unit and the pulley/shaft you see in the pic is of the Aeroflow. Not sure if the gap changed when i did this...

20180803_180357.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry, i was using the wrong scale. The ruler is showing less that 1/8th of an inch, metric was on the other side.

[wbute]

C5655283-804E-41AB-9622-0F9083ED92D5.jpeg
Finally. This is how my Sanden sits with the proper Sanden mount. There is no way it hits the alternator pulley.

[Puzzigully]

wbute,

yep, thats got plenty of clearance!

The mount is obviously very different to the aftermarket one. It's sitting a lot higher than the ones Damien and I have.

Thanks for the pic

Is that a factory original mount?

[wbute]

No it’s the mount that you would have got if you put after market AC in. It’s also what VK Commodore used. Dr Terry might be able to confirm if that’s what Holden used for VK?
I fitted a WB Statesman AC system in my WB. But I hated the huge AC Delco compressor as it takes up so much room. I bought the Sanden compressor and mounting kit and fitted it in about 2001.
Can you modify the mount to put the compressor up higher like the Sanden mount? It would give you more space and fix the clearance issue with the alternator. I can’t believe they actually built it like that.

[Puzzigully]

No it’s the mount that you would have got if you put after market AC in. It’s also what VK Commodore used. Dr Terry might be able to confirm if that’s what Holden used for VK?
I fitted a WB Statesman AC system in my WB. But I hated the huge AC Delco compressor as it takes up so much room. I bought the Sanden compressor and mounting kit and fitted it in about 2001.
Can you modify the mount to put the compressor up higher like the Sanden mount? It would give you more space and fix the clearance issue with the alternator. I can’t believe they actually built it like that.

Thanks for that..

There's obviously different aftermarket?

What Damien and i have are the Aftermarket mounting plate that you get now.
I assume your's was aftermarket a while ago? (2001?)
If not, I'd be interested in the where/what/when you purchased it - as it seems a better solution to what we have.

Theres not a lot of opportunity to modify the existing mount, as supplied.
I put a pic of it up vs the std one in an earlier post

[wbute]

Yeah that’s what you got in the 90’s 2000’s. And I suspect it’s what you got from the dealer but you would need to ask Dr Terry.

[damienengland]

I think you can still get the aftermarket bracket kit that wbute has. From memory, my A/C and Radiator shop offered me the option of sourcing this same bracket kit and even showed me one sitting on a WB ute. I chose the kit that Puzzigully and I got, as I wanted the compressor to sit lower and off to the side more. You can definitely see how the belt angle changes with the other style, so it doesn't run anywhere the alternator belt.

[Puzzigully]

Still head scratching regarding the interference on the alternator..

In the meantime, spent several hours trying to make up some mounting brackets for the condensor/heater unit.

There's a lot of messing about required as the unit is designed for LHD cars.
The other challenge is the outlets are damn close to the (im going to call it) cowling and the flexible pipe will need to bend at 90 degrees almost immediately leaving the unit.

Up under the dash is 3/4 handing mounting tabs (not sure what they are supposed to be for, but saves me drilling/welding - so thought it best to use them if possible.
I made up simple straps of aluminium as its easier to bend etc and once I'm happy with the design, I'll make them out of something a bit more rigid.

Apparently the box is supposed to "float", being supported by the straps and not hit anything.

But after many hours of chasing millimeters left/right/up/down/forwards/backwards, i finally got it to a point where I'm reasonable happy with it.
The box had threaded inserts to bolts to, but if there is one criticism, there needed to be an insert on the far right side to support it all the way.
The second pic shows the two front mounts - one on the left and one in the middle - needed one on the right as well...
In the second pic it looks a bit uneven, but its about as close to level/square in relation to the car as I could get.

The other issue (because its not LHD) is that the water lines and A/C lines all need to do a sharp U turn immediately exiting the relevant pipes.
brackets.jpg
brackets2.jpg

Feel like I'm making progress

You need to put aside approx two 1/2 days to do this.
The first 1/2 day is spend locating, thinking about how to mount it, the second is refining your ideas and getting it to where you want it.

[Puzzigully]

Rejigged some of the brackets to make them more substantial and started laying out the hoses for the A/C and heater.
air con.jpg
air con2.jpg
Toyed with the idea of making the hoses in one piece to avoid the potential for leaking, but thought it was too hard.
So will be using the bulkhead fitting after all.