Ever since I am convinced I want to have airconditioning and came to the conclusion that the original Frigiking underdash vaporizer has the best centered fit, I continued looking for the other components.
HV airco compressor
For an airco compressor I came across this unit.
It’s relatively small, light, and it’s PWM controlled. The only question is, where will it fit? I had a small space left underneath the front battery casing in front of the motor.
Moving the DC/DC again
Oh well, I had no other choice then to move the DC/DC converter to another place again for the fourth time. Combined with the heavier IPD anti-roll bar I once bought from Tinustuning that will be fitted, it allowed me to place the converter just a bit lower.
It was quite a convenient that there was a recess in this new anti-roll bar.
Steering angle didn’t become a problem either. It was however important that I would center the converter correctly.
All of this work resulted in a nice spot for the airco compressor.
Condenser
Finding a condenser that would fit in the small front panel from an Amazon turned out to be another challenge. Because the battery case was sticking out quite much towards the front, I wasn’t able to use the original place for the radiator. Modern vehicles seem to have more height clearance. To add to that issue, I preferred to use a parallel flow condenser. Eventually I came across a universal unit with the following measurements 539 x 247 x 20 (Part 120AA1104 from Cool Car Automotive). First let’s try it with a dummy I made out of plywood.
Even the real condensor fitted perfectly.
Evaporator
The evaporator , the radiator inside the underdash unit became a whole new story. I went by Cool Car Automotive and despite their busy days because of the hot weather I got some great service. They’ve provided me with a whole bunch of info that allows me to work on the details which will happen somewhere during the winter times.
They at least provided me a universal unit to start working with.
The evaporator that was inside the Frigiking unit is a tube evaporator and no longer of this time. Modern evaporators are using plates because they have an increased efficienty of %30 compared to the older models.
Unfortunately, these tube models have a slim and long design, while the newer units are more square and higher. After half day underneath the dash I had still no idea of how to make this work.
The main obstacle was the wipermotor.
Rotating the wiper motor
Suddenly it hit me. Why is the wiper motor in that position? Maybe I can rotate it. It turned out that the wiper linkage already had the required preparations for it. Eventually I only had to undo the wiper arm that was sitting on the crowned axle, the 3 bolts holding the motor, rotate the motor assembly, and put it all back in reverse order.
The motor even had the required recess. After putting it all back in, I ended up with much more room to work with.
Finding a new evaporator
The evaporator I got from Cool Car Automotive didn’t really fit, but it gave me more opportunities. I went online to look trough all the catalogues I could find to search for a more suitable candidate.
Eventually I ended up with a shortlist which contained a Denso out of a Peugeot 307 or a Nissens for a BWM 5-series. Before I made a purchase, I gave it a go with some foam board.
This might actually work to turn this into a combined cooling and heated underdash unit. I went with the evaporator for the Peugeot because this one came with side mounted connectors that lead up to a block valve. This would be much easier to work with. I bought one from the local scrapyard and started to work on a proper housing.
Translation by Stefan Dieters.
