Air Conditioning a Deuce

[m-35tom]

i should mention the belt numbers i gave may not fit your install. i notice you moved the compressor further away from the water pump than i did so your bels will be longer and your problem with belt wrap on the alt will be worse. anyway, be sure the belts are gates green stripe with the HD at the end of the number and you will be pleased. i am guessing you needed access to the heater connections, i do not like hot water heaters so don't have that issue.
tom

 

[Woodsplinter]

Tom, thanks for the update! In my case the brackets I bought dictated the compressor placement. I do have a hot water heater but I doubt it will get much use here in Phoenix. (Gonna have to take it somewhere COLD to use it!)

 

[DHennon]

m-35tom,

I kept the heater that came with the deuce. I thought I might need the defroster so did not want to remove it. I most likely will hook up the heater in the evaporator. The ac evaporator just clears the existing heater box on the firewall.

Thanks for the tip on the Gates Green stripes. I picked up 2 today. I got them from Carquest locally and they have a good supply of them if these are too long, or short. I will let you know.

 

[DHennon]

I have installed the A/C system in my deuce and left the heater the gov't installed. The new evaporator has a heater integrated with the a/c, and I also am hooking it up. Here are a few pictures of the install, although still temporary, you will get the idea. You need to clear the right side of the factory heater where the defrost lever is located if you keep the government-issued heater.
I decided to mount the evaporator under the dash, rather than to modify the seat. I made a frame to set the evaporator on and the base of the unit is level with the trans cover. This gives clearance to a passenger for their feet. The frame is slotted angle I purchased from Ace. It is easy to work with and sturdy enough to handle the unit. I temporarily bolted the frame work together to make sure everything fit and then had the frame welded and removed the bolts. I thought a weld would be much better than the bolts.
This was a fairly straight-forward install. I used a piece of slotted angle across the bottom of the rear of the unit to mount to the floor board. I cut each end of the rear angle and bent the end up at an angle and will bolt it to the angle part of the floor board.
I will drill through the floor board where the floor board angles up toward the fire wall to pass the hoses through.
I will take some more pictures tomorrow of how I fastened the evaporator to the frame and the dash.

 

[m-35tom]

DH, since i am VERY familiar with the heat in orlando, i wonder how many btu's the evap is rated??
tom

 

[Lonesome715]

No leg room, that may get old for the passenger.

 

[Stonepicker1]

DH, since i am VERY familiar with the heat in orlando, i wonder how many btu's the evap is rated??
tom

18,000 BTU's
Takes 2.25 lbs of R134A Freon and 2 oz of oil.

 

[m-35tom]

well, that may be enough since mine is 22,000 and i have no insulation. i agree, no leg room will suck. there must be a better way. i think a custom evap that mounts on the rear wall of the cab between the seats, and below the cab window. (since an obvious upgrade is 2 real seats)
tom

 

[3dAngus]

Curious how the Btu rating works on these MVs as 18000 obtuse will cool a 1000 sq ft house.
That's a lot of space for a vehicle though the lack of insulation and gaps make a considerable difference.
Anxious to hear Raves report after his install on whether he has to turn it down.

 

[m-35tom]

in orlando i doubt it will ever get turned down!!

 

[DHennon]

I am 6', 220 lbs and have sufficient leg room. Since I mounted the evaporator up off the floor, there is a place for feet. The general consensus here at our compound is: in Florida, summertime temps 95+, humidity100%; Cab temp 100+ standing still. With a/c, same outside temp and humidity; inside 75. All agreed the a/c was worth any legroom sacrifice. Still, all in all, plenty of legroom.

Condenser gets mounted tomorrow if Hurricane Beryl doesn't come knocking.

 

[Lonesome715]

I think I saw a universal kit where all teh HVAC needs are taken care of in one box.

 

[overtheedge]

Has anyone tried this in an A3 yet? I just bought a kit and am wanting to put it in my A3. Just haven't figured out how to do that yet.

 

[DHennon]

Overtheedge,

These kits are designed to fit on the new vehicles with Cat engines. I would guess the compressor would be a bolt on using the existing compressor bracket. If you have National Guard Armory or Reserve unit close by, check with the motor pool and see how the a/c fits in the new 2-1/2 tons

 

[DHennon]

Here are a few pictures of the evaporator temporarily mounted in the cab. That is a 6"2" , 230 pouder in the seat. We did not sacrifice too much leg room and again, the trade off is worth it to be cool in the hot, sunny south!

I scrapped the front radiator condenser mount and relocated it above the fuel tank and attached it to the bottom of the bed. I have ordered a low profile 24 volt cooling fan to handle that chore. I will post pixs of the install shortly. Now I am fabricating coolant hoses and the drier getting ready to charge the system. Also working on the wiring.

 

[3dAngus]

Dave,
If you ride as a passenger, that thing is going to make you shrivel.

 

[DHennon]

I spent about 2 days working on bracketing to mount the condenser in front of the grill. I could have bought a smaller unit, but since this one came with the unit, I thought I might as well save the bucks and mount it. It was a presentable fabrication, but needed to be mounted horizontally rather than vertically, and that just did not work. (I have a couple of pictures to show the radiator install).
So………..I started looking for alternative locations elsewhere and settled on a mount above the fuel tank fastened to the underside of the bed. I fabricated some more slotted angle and went to work. After building a frame work around the condenser, and used pickup truck camper top foam on the mating surface between the condenser and frame. I made angle brackets to fasten the frame to the underside of the bed. It is a strong mount and I left enough room to mount a 24 volt reversible cooling fan to the top of the condenser frame. The pictures are a bit deceiving. There is adequate room between the tank and the bottom of the condenser.
I will mount the drier this weekend, starting making the hoses, and finish wiring. Hopefully by the middle of next week I can charge it and see how cool it will get.

 

[DHennon]

I spent about 2 days working on bracketing to mount the condenser in front of the grill. I could have bought a smaller unit, but since this one came with the unit, I thought I might as well save the bucks and mount it. It was a presentable fabrication, but needed to be mounted horizontally rather than vertically, and that just did not work. (I have a couple of pictures to show the radiator install).
So………..I started looking for alternative locations elsewhere and settled on a mount above the fuel tank fastened to the underside of the bed. I fabricated some more slotted angle and went to work. After building a frame work around the condenser, and used pickup truck camper top foam on the mating surface between the condenser and frame. I made angle brackets to fasten the frame to the underside of the bed. It is a strong mount and I left enough room to mount a 24 volt reversible cooling fan to the top of the condenser frame. The pictures are a bit deceiving. There is adequate room between the tank and the bottom of the condenser.
I will mount the drier this weekend, start making the hoses, and finish wiring. Hopefully by the middle of next week I can charge it and see how cool it will get.

 

[DHennon]

The rest of the install.....................

 

[Woodsplinter]

D, do you think the condenser will get enough airflow mounted that way to work ok?
Hope so after you put all that work into it! Let us know- great job!

Mark