A/C system removed, savings weighed

[Rennen]

This week I removed the A/C system from my 1989 fastback. First, I went to a local A/C repair shop and had them reclaim the R12 coolant, they did it fro free. Then, I removed the Compressor. This was easy and most of the lines came out with little trouble. The Condenser was much more difficult. To remove the Condenser, I had to remove the fan shroud, radiator, and battery. I needed to flush my radiator anyway, so it was no big deal.

The compressor was the heaviest, and it had a large iron bracket holding it and the tension pulley. Their combined weight was 26 lbs. Despite all the work to remove the Condenser, it only weighed in at 7 lbs, but also frees up air to the radiator. All the miscellaneous lines/hoses/screws and the pressure switch weighed in at 3.5 lbs. I think the FSM said there was 2 lbs of refrigerant in the system.

The grand total was 38.5 lbs removed off of the front end. This combined with a smaller/lighter battery might make the hatchback near 50/50 weight distribution.

Oh, all these weights are just approximate values, I used a basic bathroom scale for the readings, so they might be off a bit.


-Matt

[Ghettokracker71]

correct me if I'm wrong,but don't you have to remove a belt as well???

[SaintlyCharBoy]

last weekend i did exactly the same with an S14, and came out within 2 lbs :bigok:

[Steeles]

ahhh but you forgot to gut the box inside your car!!!

[nightwalker]

I gave up my A/C too, but to gut the box in the passenger part of the dash, you need a vent connecting piece, because the a/c box connects the sides of the vents.

[Steeles]

nah the exposed parts of the box can just be duct taped. theres not enough air being pushed through it to blow the tape loose. hell my buddy used electrical tape. you MAY have to hack part of the box flat.. i cant remember that may be because of the RDM wiring in the car...

[nightwalker]

how much does that box weigh btw?

[Bbandit]

hah.. when i swapped my KA last week.. i found out that my a/c compressor is not good anymore.. so i had to junk it...
texas summer time.. here i come!

[hmooblis]

does the a/c and heater use the same parts? i remember in sacramento that either you didn't need to use the a/c or it was too hot and the a/c would blow hot air. for those people in sac. do ever use your a/c?

[nightwalker]

I live in Sac, I don't have a/c. Only wussies have a/c

[Steeles]

nightwalker - I forgot but i'd say a good 5 - 10 lbs... I gotta figure out a shady place to park my car this summer. black cars with no AC. Im pulling a kookz and driviing naked everywhere

[mellojoe]

I live in Sac, I don't have a/c. Only wussies have a/c
Live with me for a year and you'll be changing your tune.

100+ degree heat
90% humidity

Yeah, A/C is a must. I'm running A/C this week, and its only in the 70's (fareinheight). The humidity is ridiculous out here in Arkansas. You need the a/c just to breathe.

Anyway, thats for the add-up. I was really curious how much you could save by dropping the a/c.

[Zemus]

Live with me for a year and you'll be changing your tune.

100+ degree heat
90% humidity

Yeah, A/C is a must. I'm running A/C this week, and its only in the 70's (fareinheight). The humidity is ridiculous out here in Arkansas. You need the a/c just to breathe.

Anyway, thats for the add-up. I was really curious how much you could save by dropping the a/c.

pussy... :-P :)

[old_s13]

great ,.... now no woman will EVER want to be in your car.

not that they did in the first place. HAHAHAHA :)

[Steeles]

Mike - thats why I only go out with chicks that have their OWN cars. so we can take theirs.

[Rennen]

Ghettokracker71 -- yeah, there was a belt there a long time ago. I cut it off when the compressor seized up on me.

SaintlyCharBoy -- Thanks for that info, I was wondering if my numbers were really far off because of the ghetto weighing technique.

Steeles -- Yeah, I knew about the other A/C condensor inside the dash, but I knew if I tore into the dash to get it out, I would end up breaking stuff. :smash: I just needed it to look like I didnt have A/C under the hood for Sunday's autocross. I will get that other condenser out of there eventually.

mellojoe -- Pussy! haha ;) I would argue that Missouri summers are the same as Arkansas summers, and my A/C compressor has been seized for over a year, its no big deal. :CoolDance:

old_s13 -- thats so true... :wtc:

[Steeles]

nah it aint that hard to get out.getting the dash is a pain to manuver out of there but other than that its gravy

[hmooblis]

during 100 degrees, wouldn't it be better to roll down the windows than turn on the a/c?

[black s13]

the thing under the dash is easy to take out. no need to remove the dash. just take out the glove box, and drop the big black plastic box thats sitting there. it unscrews into 2 pieces, then take out the AC part, screw it back together and put back in place, use some duct tape to seal it all up. that internal condensor thing is heavy too...

[West]

Sweet! I did this just last week, I just need the last hose that runs along the firewall and Ill be done. I was going to weight it and post the same thing but I guess I dont need to now!

Did you have to take the sway bar off to get the compressor off? Mine is still sitting up waiting to fall out, didnt play with it to much because with my HICAS model it looks like I might have to drop the sway bar.

[mellojoe]

during 100 degrees, wouldn't it be better to roll down the windows than turn on the a/c?
Not when the humidity is so high. The air is so hot that the open windows just moves hot air around...

When there is no humidity the air is a lot cooler, so you can open the windows and get a nice cool breeze flowing.

Here, you need the A/C. It dries the air off and gives you that blast of cool air.

[Rennen]

Did you have to take the sway bar off to get the compressor off? Mine is still sitting up waiting to fall out, didnt play with it to much because with my HICAS model it looks like I might have to drop the sway bar.

Nope, I just pulled mine out the top actually. Of course, I don't have my AIV system or any HICAS jibberish in the way. I had to take the compressor off of the bracket first, then remove the bracket seperately. I also disconnected the line going to the front of the car, and used the other line as a handle :)

-Matt

[nightwalker]

I have a black 240, and I don't have a/c. I grew up in Fresno (100+ degree summers) In Sac, it gets pretty close to 100 in the summer too. I also sometimes mob around in the summer without a shirt. It's all good though, and I don't care about women riding with me, I hate having passengers anyways.

Thanks for the weight Steeles, I think I'm going to be taking that box out when I do the next major weight reduction I have planned.

[SaintlyCharBoy]

Did you have to take the sway bar off to get the compressor off? Mine is still sitting up waiting to fall out, didnt play with it to much because with my HICAS model it looks like I might have to drop the sway bar.

when i pulled mine, the compressor fell out the front drivers side of the engine compartment. after it was unbolted and the lines were off, it pulled a titanic right out the front.

note also - i pulled the evaporator today - about another 3 lbs for the aluminum guts. i had to put the hollow plastic box back in to keep the heat (we still have snow). this summer i am going to bend up some aluminum sheet metal to get rid of the box

[element240]

does anyone have a picture of the evaporator?

[INeedNewTires]

hey all you people that are ripping your a/c's out like mad men, sell the system to me!!! i need it really bad, i live in texas and my black car is a scorcher in the summer... pm or email me at [email protected]

AIM is eauauauau

SELL ME YOUR AC PARTS!!!!

[mike13]

i laugh at people who sacrifice basic comfort for 25 pounds...
you people are really confused by thinking your car will somehow serve you better by losing that weight.

[transient]

There's also something called simplicity too. Getting rid of the AC clears up a lot of room, lets more air go to the radiator, makes wiring and plumbing a WHOLE lot easier when doing a swap... There are a lot of reasons people do it.

[MakotoS13]

hah.. when i swapped my KA last week.. i found out that my a/c compressor is not good anymore.. so i had to junk it...
texas summer time.. here i come!

i've gone a summer without A/C and call me a pussy but screw that, the heat can literally kill you here!

i ain't about to go sans A/c especially when my drivers window wont roll down :)

[stealthj]

your dash, u dont need no dash, throw that out instead

[Shin_Kudo]

Try living in LA with no A/C. My old car had none, it was a nightmare. You may think, "you can just put the windows down", right? Well, that's when you have to consider that a heck of a lot of time is spent in stop and go traffic here. And being stopped, surrounded by running cars, on a 100 degree day, on top of blacktop, and with no A/C isn't just a nuisance, it can be a real danger of heatstroke or heat exhaustion.

[transient]

your dash, u dont need no dash, throw that out instead

I hope you're not trying to compare that to throwing out the A/C. That would be pretty ridiculous.

[mjjstang]

hell i live in michigan and its hard to live without the ac here. on my mustang I just dont use it because I am a cheap bastard and that thing guzzles gas. but I took mine out on the 240 a few months ago because the line busted while removing my engine.

[INeedNewTires]

Someone Sell Me Their Ac!!! Pleaseeeee!!!!!

[SilviaSativa]

I just pulled the A/C compressors off my S13 & S14 motor, which do you need?