Building A/C system from scratch

[projectxj]

So Im going over the details of my project on paper before i go bankrupt :banghead:

And Ive come upon a problem.. after I swap motors... how am i going to go about putting air conditioning in.

Im going to have to build a whole AC system from scratch...

 

[westvirginia24976]

Don't go crazy ripping stuff out you should only have to deal with rerouting hoses and possibly the compressor and some brackets. If you can leave the evaporator housing and fan alone(space permitting) you should have very little to fab. Any time you disconnect the lines take extra care to immediately seal off the lines to prevent dirt AND moisture(refrigeration oil will pull moisture from the air). You should also get a new reciever/drier to install after everything is complete just prior to pulling a vacuum and charging. If you have an r-12 system and you don't loose any oil from the lines you may simply recharge with 134A. The replacement oil that is used with 134A is what attacks seals not the refrigerant, so as long as you keep the mineral oil you'll be fine assuming you don't have leaking o rings now.

 

[projectxj]

Don't go crazy ripping stuff out you should only have to deal with rerouting hoses and possibly the compressor and some brackets. If you can leave the evaporator housing and fan alone(space permitting) you should have very little to fab. Any time you disconnect the lines take extra care to immediately seal off the lines to prevent dirt AND moisture(refrigeration oil will pull moisture from the air). You should also get a new reciever/drier to install after everything is complete just prior to pulling a vacuum and charging. If you have an r-12 system and you don't loose any oil from the lines you may simply recharge with 134A. The replacement oil that is used with 134A is what attacks seals not the refrigerant, so as long as you keep the mineral oil you'll be fine assuming you don't have leaking o rings now.

umm... right now my XJ is a shell on jack stands.. just a bare unibody.. NOTHING else.. shes been media blasted and then primed.. thats all she is at the moment.. im doing this rig from the ground up.. the AC is going to have to be 100% from scratch.. from the bracket on the compressor to the blower motor

 

[westvirginia24976]

Get a complete stock setup from a donor xj. You want to remain as close to stock as possible. since you are starting from scratch try to get a complete system from a '94 up so you can have the proper expansion device for 134A. Get anything you don't have, harness, dash controls, etc from the donor vehicle. I am an hvac contractor by trade and I would not recommend complete fabrication from scratch by anyone that doesn't have a very strong knowledge of the refrigeration cycle and how all the components work together. You CAN do this with mostly stock parts from a donor car however. Don't forget the relays and really anything you can get from a donor vehicle. Most of what you'll be doing is transferring parts from one dash to the other and mounting stuff in the stock location on the firewall(as long as you don't have some monster v8 eating up all your engine compartment). Once you have all that in, you just have to fab hoses and brackets to connect your compressor. Once you have it all in place have it professionally charged because you want to pull a long deep vacuum on the system to remove moisture and non-condensibles from the system so you have a long trouble free life. As you reassemble get new o-rings wherever you encounter them(very cheap) so you aren't plagued by leaks later on.

 

[MrShoeBoy]

What year vehicle are you building? Also what year of motor are you using? Depending on the year vehicle, and what motor, will deterimine which engine brackets you need and which compressor will fit. I have a compressor off my old '89 thats setup for R134a with very little use for sale, PM me. Rolled my XJ and my new one already had good A/C.

AARON

 

[projectxj]

My chassis is an 88 (for emissions reasons here in ontario) and the engine is a brand new Cummins Diesel on a pallet shiped to my door.

 

[Root Moose]

Good luck getting it too fit.

Post pictures once you have it in situ.

 

[projectxj]

the motor is only 2" taller than the 4.0L, all ive done is made a cowl hood.. i fits rather nice actually.

Its also alot shorter than the 4L so I have lots of room to play with up front


arty:

 

[Ramsey]

how about width difference?

 

[projectxj]

Its a Cummins B3.3T incase your wondering.. I was looking at a couple other motors Caterpillar C2.2T and a John Deere 2042 but for the size and weight the B3.3T had the highest output and cost was right on target with the project.
That and im already bias having a Cummins Ram already

 

[projectxj]

Jeep 4L

Length 34"
Width 27"
Height 28.5"
Weight 427lbs

Cummins B3.3T (From my build sheet to take into account my options)

Length 28"
Width 21.9"
Height 31.4"
Weight 553lbs

85hp@2600rpm
215ft-lbs@1600rpm
Before Tweaking atriot:

 

[projectxj]

how about width difference?

Roughly 5" smaller

 

[Root Moose]

Cool. Looking forward to pictures. I was thinking you were trying to make a 6BT fit.

Maybe you are aware of this already, for emmisions you will likely fall under the "hot rod" category so you don't have to meet current emmissions standards (I realize you used a `88 shell, but still worth mentioning - wasn't '87 the cut off?). I think you would need to meet 1980 standards (kids play).

Also, the diesel test is just a visual on particulates at idle.

So, you didn't have to start with an `88 shell to beat emmisions. Just throwing that out there. '88 is pretty much as good as any vintage to start with anyway.

If you want, I can sell you an 88-89 Limited with the engine and AC/HVAC still in place for $125 (what I paid). No axles under it, you'd need a trailer. I'm about 20 minutes north of Perth Ontario. (~4 hours away). If you have a trailer to pull with your Ram it might be worth your while so you can have a known original AC setup in front of you? I dunno if it works, but it is complete/unmolested. Some of the components are likely to be worthwhile. If you are interested I can take some pictures for you.

 

[RichP]

I would put a new heater core and new evaporator, new fan in the heater box and a new condenser up front. From then on you can do pretty much what you want, the hot rod aftermarket industry has a pretty good selection on A/C kits. The question is are you going to be using the stock fan/temp/selector controls ?

What kind of tranny is that engine going to get hooked to ? Curious about the fuel system too, is that all new including the tank ? I like the idea of a diesel XJ very much but diesel in this area is about $.65 cents more a gallon. I just went out to get kero for the cellar heater and almost fell over, my gas is between $1.99 a gallon in NJ and $2.15 up here in the poconos, kero is $2.76-$2.89 a gallon.

 

[RichP]

posted twice, getting 'server is too busy, try again later' quite often the past few days..

 

[casm]

What about the possibility of going with electric A/C? While I don't know the specifics involved with the conversion, I do know of a couple of people who successfully adapted RV units to retrofit older vehicles with A/C. Granted, this was done mainly because they were installing them in vehicles from the '40s through '60s with small engines that wouldn't've been able to handle running a compressor at all well, but it may be an option for you provided you can fit a higher-output alternator to cope with the added electrical demand.

 

[projectxj]

Cool. Looking forward to pictures. I was thinking you were trying to make a 6BT fit.

Maybe you are aware of this already, for emmisions you will likely fall under the "hot rod" category so you don't have to meet current emmissions standards (I realize you used a `88 shell, but still worth mentioning - wasn't '87 the cut off?). I think you would need to meet 1980 standards (kids play).

Also, the diesel test is just a visual on particulates at idle.

So, you didn't have to start with an `88 shell to beat emmisions. Just throwing that out there. '88 is pretty much as good as any vintage to start with anyway.

If you want, I can sell you an 88-89 Limited with the engine and AC/HVAC still in place for $125 (what I paid). No axles under it, you'd need a trailer. I'm about 20 minutes north of Perth Ontario. (~4 hours away). If you have a trailer to pull with your Ram it might be worth your while so you can have a known original AC setup in front of you? I dunno if it works, but it is complete/unmolested. Some of the components are likely to be worthwhile. If you are interested I can take some pictures for you.

I currently have my shell stripped to bare metal on stands.. tossed just about everything.. media blasted and primed for now so she does not rust away on me

i also have a 91 thats sitting i may use.. however there really is no point as both frames are straight and rust free

 

[projectxj]

I would put a new heater core and new evaporator, new fan in the heater box and a new condenser up front. From then on you can do pretty much what you want, the hot rod aftermarket industry has a pretty good selection on A/C kits. The question is are you going to be using the stock fan/temp/selector controls ?

What kind of tranny is that engine going to get hooked to ? Curious about the fuel system too, is that all new including the tank ? I like the idea of a diesel XJ very much but diesel in this area is about $.65 cents more a gallon. I just went out to get kero for the cellar heater and almost fell over, my gas is between $1.99 a gallon in NJ and $2.15 up here in the poconos, kero is $2.76-$2.89 a gallon.

TH400 or TH350 trans, they both fit, getting a shop to build me one.... and the tank will be new just because everything is going to be 100% new and heavy duty on this build.. the plan is to DD and Offroad this jeep forever.
as for the rest of the fuel system. the injection pump on the motor is all i need.. any fuel pump to bring the fuel from the tank to the injection pump and fuel filter will do, however i will be using the F.A.S.S pump to ensure everything lasts forever..

To address the cab ac and heat controls... i have to rig up some kinds toggle switch set.. very basic,.. high, low fan... high low cool... etc

I plan on making a thread with my plan on paper.. i could use a few extra sets of brains to see if ive made any mistakes in my plan

 

[projectxj]

I would put a new heater core and new evaporator, new fan in the heater box and a new condenser up front. From then on you can do pretty much what you want, the hot rod aftermarket industry has a pretty good selection on A/C kits. The question is are you going to be using the stock fan/temp/selector controls ?

What kind of tranny is that engine going to get hooked to ? Curious about the fuel system too, is that all new including the tank ? I like the idea of a diesel XJ very much but diesel in this area is about $.65 cents more a gallon. I just went out to get kero for the cellar heater and almost fell over, my gas is between $1.99 a gallon in NJ and $2.15 up here in the poconos, kero is $2.76-$2.89 a gallon.

TH400 or TH350 trans, they both fit, getting a shop to build me one.... and the tank will be new just because everything is going to be 100% new and heavy duty on this build.. the plan is to DD and Offroad this jeep forever.
as for the rest of the fuel system. the injection pump on the motor is all i need.. any fuel pump to bring the fuel from the tank to the injection pump and fuel filter will do, however i will be using the F.A.S.S pump to ensure everything lasts forever..

To address the cab ac and heat controls... i have to rig up some kinds toggle switch set.. very basic,.. high, low fan... high low cool... etc

I plan on making a thread with my plan on paper.. i could use a few extra sets of brains to see if ive made any mistakes in my plan

 

[projectxj]

I would put a new heater core and new evaporator, new fan in the heater box and a new condenser up front. From then on you can do pretty much what you want, the hot rod aftermarket industry has a pretty good selection on A/C kits. The question is are you going to be using the stock fan/temp/selector controls ?

What kind of tranny is that engine going to get hooked to ? Curious about the fuel system too, is that all new including the tank ? I like the idea of a diesel XJ very much but diesel in this area is about $.65 cents more a gallon. I just went out to get kero for the cellar heater and almost fell over, my gas is between $1.99 a gallon in NJ and $2.15 up here in the poconos, kero is $2.76-$2.89 a gallon.

TH400 or TH350 trans, they both fit, getting a shop to build me one.... and the tank will be new just because everything is going to be 100% new and heavy duty on this build.. the plan is to DD and Offroad this jeep forever.
as for the rest of the fuel system. the injection pump on the motor is all i need.. any fuel pump to bring the fuel from the tank to the injection pump and fuel filter will do, however i will be using the F.A.S.S pump to ensure everything lasts forever..

To address the cab ac and heat controls... i have to rig up some kinds toggle switch set.. very basic,.. high, low fan... high low cool... etc

I plan on making a thread with my plan on paper.. i could use a few extra sets of brains to see if ive made any mistakes in my plan