1971 Iia Ac

[braganjackson11]

this is a repost from the show it off section but do any of you guys know of someone that has put in an air conditioning on a 1971 IIA with the 2.25 litre petrol engine?

[p76rangie]

Yes.

Ian

[braganjackson11]

what kind did you fit in and what kind of modifications did it entail?

[jaguiler]

someone in south america is working on a kit for this as well.... I will let you knwo as I get more details...

I also read the argentina land rover club webboard info from down south....

[p76rangie]

There was an old generic type air-con that the fan and cooler sat under the shelf on the passengers side. I have also been involved in another where they got a air-con unit from a small car and mounted it in the box under the passengers seat and then ran the vents out the front and rear of the box.

Ian

[TerryS]

The problem isn't where to put the condenser/fan unit inside the truck, and it isn't even how to mount the compressor (even though you can't ignore the fact the engine had no spare HP to devote to anything but moving the truck)
The real problem is where to put to evaporator coil/fan unit on the outside of the truck. What do you do, stick it on the roof like a Good Humor truck?
To my way of thinking, the only proper AC on an 88 is the cowel vents.

[p76rangie]

The ones I have been involved with have had the unit in front of the radiator. But not having a condensor fan.

Ian

[TerryS]

I'm missing something here. There are two coils in an AC system; One is the evaporator coil (hot side) the other is the condensor coil (cold side) There are fans to force air accross each coil, one to extract the heat, the other to get the cold air into the cabin. How are you getting the cold air without a condensor fan?

[p76rangie]

Sorry Terry, used the wrong term. The evaporater coil in front of the radiator does not have a fan. Vehicles for many years did not have a fan on the evapoater coil and many cars still do not. The main radiator fan is used to draw air through the core.

Ian

[TerryS]

That makes more sense

[braganjackson11]

are the series radiator fans strong enough to pull air through the radiator and the evaporator coil? or would we need to fit an electric fan? i'd heard that the installation of an electric fan could actually free up some extra horsepower is this true?

[Rat Patrol]

I just finished re-reading the Hanyes resto manual. There is a sectionin the back that discusses the merits of an electric fan to the fact that it will "substanitally" increase the power.

I'm thinging of installing an electric fan just for that reason...with a little more research first.

[pickuprover]

Electric fan will increase horsepower as the engine is not turning the fiscous fan. Generally a couple hp. The main draw back of the electric fan is when they are continualy dunked in the water offroad they tend to seize the bearings, or blow the motor if it comes on while under water... Alternately you can switch it off from in the cab if you wire it properly to allow you to wade without worrying about soaking the engine with spray when the bow wave fails to keep water out of the engine compartment. Just make sure you turn it back on as soon as you finish wading or else you will over heat rather quickly. They are a bit of work installing as you need to get a sensor into the coolant to turn on the selinoid that in turn turns on the fan when the engine hits a certain temp.... There are pro's and cons.

I personally like the fiscous fan as there is very little to go wrong with them. If I am doing a lot of deep wading then I just remove the fan belt for the crossing and put it back on at the other side... big advantage to this that I see is that if your fan is throwing water, then your alternator is probably under water... unhooking the fan belt, prevents the alternator from turning on and frying your alternator circuits while under water. However it is a little more work, but it is only neccessary when doing deep wading at very low speeds where you cannot keep a bow wave to prevent the water from entering the engine compartment...

[p76rangie]

Electric fans will pull more air than a motor based fan at lower revs. As most off roading is done at the lower end, they keep the car a lot cooler off road and in stop start traffic.

Ian

[AAXD]

Before the advent of AC in cars, many cars used a simple rig that hung on the outside of the door to keep the occupants cool. It consisted of a small water tank with a tiny orfice which let drops of water through. Underneath it was a small fan that was driven by the wind moving around the moving car. The water dripped down into the path of the fan and was vaporised upon hitting it. The cool vapor/air was then ducted into the car. The amount of water that dripped was not enough to soak the inside of the car, as it mostly evaporated before it hit the occupants. Basically the same way those little spray bottles with fans attatched work. I'd Imagine a setup like this would work with a IIA, especially with the cowl vents open. A tropical roof would also be beneficial in circulating more air through the car. Of course you'd have to be moving in order for it to work, unless you had some way of driving the fan. Another thing I've often thought of doing is mounting an aircraft venturi to the front wing and using the vaccum created to run small fans inside the car. This too would only work while the car was moving, but it would be free power so the wimpy 2.25 could devote all its power to moving the truck along.