Aircon retrofit.

tom · Post by **tom** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 9:48 am

Mulley has enquired hor much it would cost to retrofit Aircon to a BX including the supply of all the parts.

The job entails considerable dismantling both underbonnet and inside the car. If you don't have an aircon shell, forget it.

There is a certain amount of rewiring which isn't entirely simple, reconditioning of components and straightforward working around inevitable problems. The job can be done in three weekends but supply of all the parts?

You 've got to be joking. One of the reasons why any aircon BX makes good money on Ebay is the sheer scarcity of bits. Even if you have a complete rig (Half a day to remove,) You will need a drier, and a condenser (Which is hard to source and not cheap,) as well as a good aircon mechanic to do the leak test, vac down and fill.

So you need research, parts, luck, skill, time and money to take it on
Reckon on being able to do it yourself for £600-700 but if you are paying somebody else to do it, they have to be both competent and dedicated.
So they won't be cheap.

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 12:27 pm

This is exactly the reason i decided not to do mine.

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 12:57 pm

Well from personal experience, once you have a donor car there isn't a huge amount more you need! Full set of R134 replacement seals from Citroen are only £15 (and cover all BX Aircon models, there are two seals difference between 16v and diesel setup), driers are abundantly available, and you can buy good quality (not halfords) recharge kits that will do the whole lot for under £150 (you do however need to vacuum the whole lot out, but a bit of cunning and thats not as hard as it sounds!).

Hardest part is probobably converting the filling ports from R12 connection to R134 but these can be bought as adapters so no need to actually change the ports!

a good 3/4 of the 'aircon' wiring loom is simply to add relays for the front fans, there is only ONE wire which goes through the bulk head to control the entire aircon system as the aircon system is either on or off, you simply add hot air to stop yourself freezing over! I of course had a bit of a get out clause in that i already had realys fitted for the fans which have a dedicated connection for aircon control (taken form a PUG 309, also found in early PUG 405's), so wiring up was a sinch.

There are only 6 or 8 bolts holding the dash in (dependant on whether you have the new or old Mk2 dash), and that can be removed in less than 60 minutes if you've had practise. There are then only 4 bolts holding the entire blower unit in place, so once the pipes are off it takes minutes to free it from the wiring loom and pull the whole thing out, probably do that in 30 minutes, it does however take longer to put the dash back together again, and you need to TRIPPLE check every function once its back together.

Engine side, well again it depends on model, but it's really not all that impossible a space to work in, all the pipes are flexible, and the wiring is simple, shouldn't take more than a couple of hours really!

All in all if you REALLY know the car, it could be done in a hard working weekend and for way less than £100, but to put that into concept, i've had the dash out of about 10 cars on multiple occasions for a lot of them so i'm well versed in getting the buggers out and back in again. It also took me many hours reading the air con wiring loom to fully understand what went where and what did what (and realise its all for the fans!), so with all the research into gasses and seals and so on, its probably taken well over 40 hours to install!! Thats a LOT of money if your paying someone!

I'm happy to fit oun for not a lot of money (well sum £1000) if you find the donor

(oh and trying to fit 16v aircon system to a diesel is an absolute pig! and theres no diffference between LHD and RHD aircon as best i can tell!

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:18 pm

I'll give you 200quid to fit it to my car then Vanny!

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:51 pm

Got a donor?

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:56 pm

I need :

The panel behind the dash (got the dash panel)

A dryer

A condensor

Secondary fan blower unit

Pack of seals from Citroen

I've got the rest.

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:08 pm

Ian_Fearn wrote:I need :

The panel behind the dash (got the dash panel)

panel behind the dash? do you mean the big plastic box? What was the donor?

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:14 pm

It came off a TZD i was told.

The bit behind the dash i need is the bit behind the sliders above the heater knobs.

tom · Post by **tom** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:10 pm

Ok, I'll sit this one out. If Vanny can fit aircon in a weekend, and get it to work, then he doesn't need any advice from me.

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:26 pm

Vanny, when are you down here next mate? I possibly have a couple of the parts on Ian`s want list.
BTW can you use air-con parts off other cars to make this work? I might have access to a scrapper (non BX) with an aircon system fitted.

tom · Post by **tom** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:35 pm

You need to have the BX heater and evaporator unit together wit the twin fan and recirculator setup. Everything else could be substituted, (compressor, drier etc.), but the amount of workarounds makes the viability of the job questionable.
BTW if anybody tells you that you don't need the recirculator setup, shoot them in the head for the good of the planetary gene pool.

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:54 pm

You don't need the recirculation unit . . .

unless you want the aircon to work

Absolutely agee with that, its never going to work for long without it in this country. And who said i'd do it in a weekend? Infact who says i don't need any advice? It's only from the likes of your self, tom, and AlanS and anders that i ever even thought of trying it! And thus far im only half way through fitting (need a new engine before i go any further

).

A huge number of cars use the same pump Billy, so they are reasonably easy to find on non BX's ( but tend to cost a few quid) other than that i'd have thought trying to fit an alternative system with different plumbing would be more hassle than just having them custom made (which can be done!).

Oh, most after market systems don't have the recirc units, and don't work anywhere near as well but are easier to install!

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:05 pm

Well Vanny, i've got the money both for the bits and your labour so........???

Kitch · Post by **Kitch** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:16 pm

I've already got air con. Far better than R134a gas too.....its WD60

Windows down.....60mph

Best of all, its free and very very easy to install.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 6:12 pm

Having read everyone's bit on this i think i will give up now, no point in spending vast sums on aircon, it would be cheaper to buy a car that already has it.... shame really as i was hoping it would be about £300-400 quid & then i might have been seriously tempted.....

Now on the other hand, can you fit one of those portable aircon units & stick it into the boot??? only joking, unless its actually possible??