Rear A/C install in Mini

[A.J.]

If I didn’t live in Arizona I wouldn’t have to do all this fabrication to my van. It takes my a/c too long to cool down my van due to the shear volume of the passenger compartment. So I decided to install rear a/c. Simple procedure right? Get the unit out of a van that has it, swap some refrigerant lines, drill some holes and your done. Wrong! The short wheel base vans never got rear a/c from what I found in the junkyard. Also long wheel base vans didn’t come with a four cylinder, which is what I have. This isn’t a step by step walk through like my rear disc brake conversion was. I haven’t seen a demand for rear a/c in short w/b vans so this is only has general information. If by some chance anyone else wants to attempt this I can answer any questions. My van is an ‘88 and the unit and the rear lines came out of an ‘89-’90. By the look of the pictures in the FSM the ‘88 and the ‘89-’90 units look different. Also the condenser in my van looked as big as the rear a/c vans so I don’t see a problem with adding the rear a/c, but we’ll see this summer.

First I had to shorten the a/c heater box. The distance between the front of the rear wheel well and the “B” pillar is shorter that the long w/b van. For those that don’t know, the “A” pillar is the front of the door by the windshield, the “B” pillar is behind the front door where the shoulder belt anchors, then “C” and “D”, you get the idea. The box has a heater core and the a/c evaporator. I need a/c, I don’t need heat. So I removed the heater core and shorted that section of the box. I didn’t take a pic of what it looked like before. I always forget that. Any ways, by looking at the pics, you can see how much I had to remove to get the size I needed. I used 2” X 1/16” aluminum I got from Ace to stitch the box back together. You can see in the “inside” pic the heater core goes in the back where my thumb is and the blend door was where that piece of foam is.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/acbox.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/acboxcut.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/acboxtogether.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/acboxtogetherinside.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/acboxtogetherbackside.jpg

Next I had to shorten the air duct. The picture is before I cut it. The lines are where I’m going to cut. Instead of “stitching” it back together, I just slid one into the other. You can see the shortened one in the pic of the box installed.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/acduct.jpg

Second I had it installed the box. Once it was shortened it wasn’t that big of a deal. Just cut holes in the floor and drill holes to fasten it to the floor. I had to make one bracket to attach the box to the “B” pillar.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/acboxinstalled.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/acboxbracketfab.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/installedevap.jpg

Third was making the refrigerant lines work. Coming from a long van they needed to be shortened. Two inches left to right, and five inches front to back. Front to back had to be shortened in the right place to go around the support beams in the floor. The front lines under the hood had to have the V-6 compressor line removed and have my four cylinder compressor line installed. It cost me about $150 to have the lines fabbed up. I took pictures but didn't post them. If you've seen a/c lines under a van, that's what they look like. They came out awesome.

Fourth was making the panel to cover up the a/c box work. Once again, too long. So I cut out the sections I needed to make it shorter then I stitched it together. I made the panels overlap because butting them together looked like crap. I was using a table saw (for wood) to cut the panels. Then I used the plastic panel fasteners to hold it all together. I drilled a round hole then used a file to square it up to use those fasteners. The panel on the right goes over the “B” pillar panel because even after shortening the a/c box it was still a hair too long to fit up tight against the back. So I didn’t have the clearance to put it behind the “B” pillar panel the way it’s suppose to be.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/panelwhole.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/panelshortened.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/vanpanelremoved.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/van12panel.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/centerstitch.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/rightpaneloverB.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/rightpaneloverB2.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/frontviewdone.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/rearviewdone.jpg

Your probably wondering why I have a winch on the inside of my van. I’ll explain in another thread because it doesn’t have to do with this one.

A.J.

[turbovanman²]

Great job, :clap:

[raccoon]

looks great and underside pictures? and explain the winch!

[A.J.]

OK, only because you asked for underside pics. I'll explain the winch tomorrow. I need to get one more picture before I do. There are not the best pictures. If I had it on a lift they'd be better.

I had to build a heat shied where the lines went over the exhaust. In the third one you can't see the lines because of the shield.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/frttobackfar.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/frttobackclose.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/heatshield.jpg

This is going into the evaporator box.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/intoevap.jpg

This view is from the drivers side over to the passenger side.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/lefttorightoverex2.jpg

This one is looking at the passenger side over the exhaust from the drivers side.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/veiwfromleft.jpg

This is looking at the front from the rear where they go up to the engine compartment.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/reartofrt.jpg

A.J.

[raccoon]

Arizona cars rock! look how rust free that things is!

[A.J.]

Ya, that's why I left New Hampshire seven years ago.

I started a new thread "Why I have a winch inside my mini"

A.J.

[Dave]

Did you retrofit your system to R-134A or did you continue to use R-12? Who did you get make the lines for you?

Awesome work though! I love the craftsmanship.

[A.J.]

I retrofitted to R134a. BUT, it's not a normal retrofit. The R-12 compressors can't handle the pressures for R134a. If anybody's done the retrofit you might have noticed at higher rpm's the clutch starts to squeal. I used a compressor off of a 94-95 (2.2/2.5) R134a car or minivan, 94-95 compressor/alternator bracket (2.2/2.5), and lines off of a 94-95 (2.2/2.5) mini-van. Until I did the rear a/c install then I had to get lines made.

The lines I had made locally. The place my shop gets it's a/c stuff from. I don't know their name but if you look around in your area you might be able to find someone to do it.

A.J.

[cordes]

That is so cool. No pun intended.