Has anyone retrofitted aircon?

Has anyone retrofitted aircon to a TD5 90? I've found a kit online for around 3k, which is a lot more than I want to spend so I would like to explore other options.
Is there a suitable donor vehicle (apart from another defender)? For example is a D2 aircon system the same/similar? If not, would anyone be kind enough to list the parts I would need to find?

mikerajjers said:

If not, would anyone be kind enough to list the parts I would need to find?

Click to expand...

Have a shufti here.
http://www.allbrit.de/NAV.cfm?PAGE=383940&SPRACHE=EN

Although I have no idea if they are handed or not?

Cheers

what are your thoughts on something like this?
https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/thermo-king-roof-air-conditioner.html

Pre puma Air-con looks terrible IMO typical LR bolt on plastic bit that reduces leg room

I reckon one of the kit car jobbies mounted in/under the centre cubby box would work well.
Ive often thought it cant be that hard to make a set up from scrap yard parts, after all its only 3x pipes, 1 x dryer, 1x pump, 1 x evap and 1 x condensor, then theres the protection side, ie low pressure, but thats just a switch and a relay.
I reckon at least two of the pipes would need to be custom made.

See here, rough work out grand ish for the parts and im guessing you could just use the a/c pump from a disco with its brackets?
https://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/heatac

mikerajjers said:

what are your thoughts on something like this?
https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/thermo-king-roof-air-conditioner.html

Click to expand...

Don't do it! You're talking about running hoses/pipes from an engine mounted compressor to the roof of the vehicle, plus, the output of these units would take the temperatures down to uncomfortable levels in a vehicle the size of a 90. Me, like lynall said I would source the individual pieces and put it together myself. In a 90, biggest challenge is finding a spot within the dash to install the evaporator and blower. If you lived in warmer climates, I would tell you to pull out the heater core from its housing and fill that space with the evaporator and insulate the whole thing.

I got the garage to price it up for me, using all genuine Land Rover oem stuff they stopped working the price out when they got £1500.

I will probably decide against the Aircon..trouble is it's been incredibly hot here this summer around 33 C and sometimes 39 C. Winter gets cold to -10 quite easily so I can't ditch the heater. The front vents work ok until around 30 C but some days I just leave the defender at home and take the Octavia

Sorry to reopen an old thread, but a) have spent 4000+ miles at 30C to 40C and surprised some of my personal bits did not fall off... and b) driven in moderate rain and even with heated front and rears miss things like, you know, being able to see out of the sides, c) whether £1500 or £3000 the existing aircon options are as awful as they are overpriced - I mean seriously, that under dash vent thing ... what were they thinking; 1.5k to 3k for frankesteindash???

So, having seen 1) the lynall link above, and 2) seen the extra space in heater matrix which 3) does not work, smells in my 300 tdi case, would rather wear an extra coat and have no heat but has space for a 'heating" and a cooling element??? 4) that there is an opposite wing vent empty and opposite hand drive assemblies / parts available to have a dedicated cooling left / heating right and 5) the improvements in TEC / Peltier devices, is there seriously nothing better we can come up with?

-Can we not parallel a heater and a cooler matrix?
-Can we not rip out the heater and make it a cooler (12v travel hairdrier on passenger seat will be a better heater anyway)
-can we glue peltiers/TEC to the doors, vents, bulkhead, floor and reverse them later to dry out the water ingress

Please, the defender, with all the amazing spares, upgrades and parts from so many great suppliers, a compressor friendly diesel, a powerful alternator, and a diy friendly platform, deserves way, way, way better than the retrofit rip-off abominations available today on the usual websites... and I read here that these do not even recirc, so no good for demist anyway???

lynall said:

I reckon one of the kit car jobbies mounted in/under the centre cubby box would work well.
Ive often thought it cant be that hard to make a set up from scrap yard parts, after all its only 3x pipes, 1 x dryer, 1x pump, 1 x evap and 1 x condensor, then theres the protection side, ie low pressure, but thats just a switch and a relay.
I reckon at least two of the pipes would need to be custom made.

See here, rough work out grand ish for the parts and im guessing you could just use the a/c pump from a disco with its brackets?
https://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/heatac

Click to expand...

My view would be to put the carbuildersolutions unit in the heaterbox and rip out the heater matrix in heaterbox... the old matrix may even make a condenser with right fan?

mikerajjers said:

Has anyone retrofitted aircon to a TD5 90? I've found a kit online for around 3k, which is a lot more than I want to spend so I would like to explore other options.
Is there a suitable donor vehicle (apart from another defender)? For example is a D2 aircon system the same/similar? If not, would anyone be kind enough to list the parts I would need to find?

Click to expand...

I would go down the donor route, take a scapper with working aircon - and retro fit the bits - it would make sense to take a Landy compressor to save fabricating the bracket from scratch but depending on your time and skills you can make anything fit.

You can then take the evaporator and incorporate it into the heater matrix. I would do custom pipework for a nice clean look - the downside is you would need to calculate the volume of the system and then work out the oil/refrigerant volume but that can be done easily enough.

cborrman said:

My view would be to put the carbuildersolutions unit in the heaterbox and rip out the heater matrix in heaterbox... the old matrix may even make a condenser with right fan?

Click to expand...

Sadly the heater box aint as big as you think and as its a crap shape would be fiddly, I always think run a seperate system but keep the old set up, so in the event of a failure you can always fall back on the original kit.

cborrman said:

.. and I read here that these do not even recirc, so no good for demist anyway???

Click to expand...

No need for recirc with a/c on, Ive never really understood the point of it you want fresh air at all times, unless that fresh air is smelly air!
Damp misty air will clear with just one pass of the a/c evaporator.

lynall said:

No need for recirc with a/c on, Ive never really understood the point of it you want fresh air at all times, unless that fresh air is smelly air!
Damp misty air will clear with just one pass of the a/c evaporator.

Click to expand...

Yup, on my daily driver if I set it to full demist it automatically switches on AC if not on already and disables re-circ. It can clear a misted windscreen in about 20 seconds or a heavy condensation on the window (cold winters night when I have left something damp in car) in about 45-50 seconds from cold.

I used re-circ yesterday with normal blower mode in my car as I was sat behind a bus that looked like it was on fire the exhaust was so filthy, that was at idle!