Air conditioned 2000 TC

Demetris

Well-Known Member
Well, i have been very patient using my TC as an everyday car for almost 6 years now, but last summer i decided that i had enough of the heat in the cabin during summers. Perhaps as i am growing old i like more and more some comfort, perhaps it is not nice to torture (sort of..) my passengers, so i planned to install air conditioning for this summer. The first step was to do something with the heat coming through the glass, so i fitted some UV absorbing films on the side and rear windows. The film has a very light green tint, a little lighter than the sundym glass. As it is illegal to install films on the windscreen, i replaced it with a sundym one. It already made a difference, so i am in the right path. I had the choice of the factory NADA type or something aftermarket along the lines of the simpler Delanair system. After some thought, i rejected the first option, despite it being nicer, because it seemed rather complicated to me. After all this unit was never designed for a 4 cyl car, leading to marginal clearance to the rocker cover, a need for a new windscreen scuttle panel, wiper system, vaccum tank etc. So last fall i bought a used aftermarket Alpineair system from the Rovering member. It is rather similar in principle to the Delanair unit, as it comprises of a new console incorporating an evaporator with a blower. Hardly a beauty, but at least it leaves room for the radio, retains the standard heater controls, as well as the choke and petrol reserve knobs. As i find the facia of the unit neither nice, nor efficient, i have in mind a modification to improve both issues. For the rest of the system, there was no point in chasing old inefficient parts, so i already bought a new Sanden SD7 compressor, and i am after an A/C condenser from an E39 BMW, as it has the correct shape and size to fit in front of the Rover radiator. A drier and pressure switch will complete the system, while the hoses will be mostly purpose made rubber. It seems that it is possible to mount the compressor in front of the carbs, using a similar bracket with the one the factory used for the York compressor. Of course this will have to be fabricated from scratch (thanks Kiwirover for the photos :D ) a new pulley attached to the existing crankshaft pulley, and the engine steady moved forward to make some space. The standard 2200 TC air filter box is way too bulky to be retained, but i figured out that it is possible to fit a modified 2000 TC air filter box. So this is not exactly a simple bolt on excercise, but nevertheless everything still is quite feasible.
A couple of photos testing the Alpinair unit.

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Hi Demetris,

Have you investigated fitting an additional fan for engine cooling, or a large cowling around the exisiting fan, for improved directional air flow? A larger radiator perhaps or all of the aforementioned? On a hot day with the air conditioning running in slow moving traffic, the additional load on your engine is certainly going to increase the coolant temperature, especially with the standard fixed engine fan. On the open road though, much less of a problem.

Ron.
 
Hi Ron,

my car has already a 3 row radiator core, and a big plastic 7 blade fan on a viscous coupling.
Even at idle, you can feel that it moves quite a bit of air. So i am not in a rush to add things that may not be needed.
I know that the factory instalation used a purpose made cowling so if the system proves to be inadequate in traffic, i'll think of it.
At the moment, i have other things to be puzzled with.
 
Hi Demetris,

I didn't realise that your Rover already had a 3 core radiator along with a more efficient fan plus viscous coupling. All the local 2000s that I have seen only have a fixed metal fan and a small radiator.

Look forward to seeing how the air con installation goes.

Ron.
 
I look forward to seeing the progress on this. Air-conditioning must make a huge difference to in-car comfort in warmer climes!
 
It sure does Fraser. Unfortunately my Rover doesn't have air con, so being called a mobile oven especially in Sydney's Summer traffic is very apt. My in car themometer has read 48 degrees C on a 38 degree day, not nice. Having had the pleasure of riding in a P6 with air con on a hot Summer's day, and then having to turn it down because it was just too cold is just lovely.

Ron.
 
Demetris,

I'm in the process of striping down an aftermarket air con from my 3500 in Melbourne, I might have a few bits you need, pipes, regulators, condensors etc. Let us know if you're interested and I'll give you more details.

Fraser
 
Ron, these were upgrades that i did myself using Land Rover parts, the car had as standard a 2 row radiator and a six blade metal fixed fan.

Fraser, (FrazzleTC), it is not only a matter of heat within the cabin, now the car is so much quiet even cruising at 80 mph, that i can't be bothered having the windows open at speed.

Fraser, (Fraserp6), if the parts were off a 4 cyl car i might be interested, but the 3500 instalation isn't much useful to me now. Thanks anyway.
 
Looking at various pulley options as almost nothing is available off the shelf, i am looking at the pulley arrangement of the series 2 cars with alternator. The shallow water pump pulley that goes with the different water pump is obvious, but does it mean that also the crankshaft pulley in series 2 cars is different, bringing the drive belt forward? Is this why the lower bracket for the engine steady is also different on series 2 cars? In order to clear the deeper crankshaft pulley?

Thanks in advance for your help, i am trying to figure out the differences from photos and from the parts manual, but there is always a limit on this.
 
AFAIK all the crank pulleys are the same, it's just the waterpump and alternator/dynamo that changes, hence the need to have different pulleys on those to get them back in line with the one on the crank. Those people that have converted 4 pots to PAS have run up against the same problem so it might be worth investigating those conversions to see what they did if you can't find another 4 pot with aircon to look at.
 
Thanks Harvey, it seems that the factory used a very deep custom crankshaft pulley, along with what seems to be a series 2 water pump pulley on a series 1 water pump. This combination brings forward the main drive belt in order to clear the compressor bracket.

Probably on series 2 cars, the combination of the shallow water pump pulley with the different water pump leaved the belt at the same place, hence no need of a different crankshaft pulley.

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Well, it seems that alternator equipped cars have a also a different crankshaft pulley.
At least this gives me a few more options.

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Is there any requirement to have the compressor driven from the crank?
Virtually all moderns have power-steering and many of them are electrically powered.
Whilst PAS & A/C have different power supply needs (PAS intermittent and an A/C compressor continuous), I would think you could avoid belt alignment issues by having a remote mounted, electrically driven A/C.
Just a red wine inspired, midnight idea - shoot me down!
John
 
Hi John,

there is just no comparisson of the power requirements between a PAS pump and and A/C compressor. Even modern ones of the latter need about 5 to 10 bhp to run, therefore you'd need a big and expensive 12V DC motor to drive it, and in its turn a very big alternator to feed it, and of course you will have power loses during the conversion of the kinetic energy to electrical and vice versa. It is something not practical at all and this is the reason that something like this is not used in cars. As far as i know the only car with an electrically driven A/C is the Toyota prius for obvious reasons, but this is something totally different.
 
Thanks Demetris
"Morning After-thoughts" confirm that I was talking through my a**e - fuelled by a bottle of Malbec!
Kind of you to let me down gently, it was the sight of a Prius cab dropping passengers outside that sparked :idea: the thought in the first place.
John
 
It seems that i am lucky with the pulleys. It appears that the series 2 pulley is just a series 1 damper with an extension pulley bolted on. So it is possible to bolt a series 2 pulley on a series 1 and have an instant doudble pulley. Actually the holes are already there and threaded! :wink:
This also has the advantage that i can leave alone the belt and pulley configuration for the water pump and the alternator. The second pulley - belt line will be 55 mm forward, connecting the cranshaft and the compressor with the jockey wheel at the same place with the factory instalation, creating the triangle and used also as a belt tensioner. This configuration also clears easily the series 2 engine steady that i will be using.

I also made a template from fibreboard for the front bracket. In this way it is easy to be replicated into a 6 mm steel plate that bolts on to the cylinder head and will be welded to the compressor craddle. The factory York installation used also a lower bracket under the compressor that bolted to the engine block behind the alternator, and also another sturdy tubular bracket that bolted on the engine mounting. I doubt that the Sanden compressor needs to be harnessed as much as the York one. I am tempted to use only the front cylinder head bracket, but perhaps i will try to replicate also the block bracket just to be on the safe side.

In the photos you can see my first attempt for a revised facia. It needs some refinement, probably without the scrim foam behind the vinyl, but in my opinion looks much more better than the Alpineair item, it seems that it flows better, and the louvres are quality parts, felt lined inside with a nice feel when you adjust them. Round handles will be used for choke and petrol reserve control, just to continue the round theme. :mrgreen:

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Blimey, that's radical. Not sure I agree that it looks better though, maybe a tad too modern. I would no doubt have left it stock if I had kept it, but may change my opinion when the final version is complete.
 
After finishing some urgent work commitments, i took a few days off work in order to start seriously with the project. After all the summer is here for good and air condition in my Rover would be nice. Of course the progress is not i hoped, but by the end of the next week the A/C should be up and running.
First i dismantled the interior and the engine bay where needed to replace and install the relative parts.
I made a milboard templete of the main compressor bracket and i am having a 6 mm steel plate laser cut into shape. Since the Sanden is not the heavy vibrating beast the old York compressor was, there is no need to go OTT and replicate all the Rover brackets. The main plate with additional welded strengthening ribs and an additional supporting strap from below will be fine. The Sanden compressor fall nicely into place, leaving enough space from the carbs (i just had to shorten the shield by 3 cm), the alternator below, and also some space for the air cleaner snorkel. The compressor belt line will be 55 mm forward of the alternator / water pump one, taking drive from the additional bolted crankshaft pulley.

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With the help of a friendly hydraulic shop we made some metal pipes to bring the inlet / outlet of the evaporator to the passenger side of the car. At the passenger footwell they will be connected to rubber hoses that will pass to the engine bay. After insulating the pipes to avoid the formation of condensation on them, i fitted the evaporator / blower unit into place, and securing it on top of the tunnel. Actually it was rather more complicated than the weedy strips shown in the photo suggest.

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I have decided on the placement of the drier and the condenser, but the engine bay still needed quite a bit of work. At the moment i am stuck with the crankshaft pulley, as it seems that it is impossible to undo the pulley bolt. With the car in top gear, handbrake pulled hard, and heaving as hard as i could on an 1 m bar on the 3/4 drive socket, didn't do it. Hitting the bar with a heavy hammer to shock the bolt didn't work either. Nudging the bar on the base unit and operating the starter did nothing to the bastard either. I'll try and borrow an air impact gun and feed it through my small compressor. If it won't work either, i will bolt the additional pulley with the spacer to the one on the car, hoping that it will sit correctly and run true. The pulley i want to fit has been "cleaned" on a lathe.
 
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