Air Conditioning

[ffgb]

Who here has air conditioning on there 1.6n/a motor?  Did you keep it or remove it?  If you removed it, what all did you remove and how did you still get the alternator to work correctly?

[vwjets]

My 1990 Turbo Diesel Jetta has functioning ICE-COLD air-conditioning.  I've had to replace the condenser twice in 5 years due to corrosion (from winter road-salting).

[mystery3]

I removed mine. You need an alternator, bracket and pulleys from a non-a/c car. It's pretty straightforward. There are also serp belt options.

[ffgb]

What's the reason for the removal?  Did it break or did you just not want any of the extra weight?  Did you still keep the factory dash setup for the air conditioning?

[burn_your_money]

V-belts with AC are a nightmare.

[wolf_walker]

The belts do suck. Power steering is worse(and for girls).
I used an A2 lower bracket to get myself an adjusting bolt for the ac comp.

That being said, mine is still there and hasn't worked in ages.  I could make it work, and
it has many times in the past, but it's damn near unusable other than cruising on the highway
with a NA motor, it's such a drag on the already anemic engine.  It was somewhat less so on the turbo, but it was still putting a good load on the thing.  I'd love from a maintenance standpoint to have it out of the way, but keep thinking I'll fix it.  And I probly will eventually.

[mystery3]

What's the reason for the removal?  Did it break or did you just not want any of the extra weight?  Did you still keep the factory dash setup for the air conditioning?

Both. I don't really like a/c in any case and would only use it for maybe ten days out of the year. Removal also cleared up some room in the engine bay.

[wolf_walker]

climate must be lovely out there.  One has got to be really, really dedicated to put up with old non-ac cars in the summer out here.
It was 97 here today, and it's only june.

[jseeley]

I'm running factory PS and a/c on my 1.6 N/A... I will say the a/c does take away a noticeable about of power when engaged, but when its over 100 degrees... it's needed. The a/c is also like ICE still being on the old R12... The v-belts are not too fun, but I recently replaced them all.

[Soot Sandwich]

I have AC on my 1.6NA and it works better then my 2006 GTI AC.  It was converted to R134 and it does take some power away but, with the Giles pump, I can get her up to 80 no problem.  I did have power steering but I removed the belt because  the rack was leaking. And I just recently replaced all the Vbelts and I would not say they were a nightmare by any means.

[VW Smokr]

Our '79 Dasher 1.5L had dealer-installed VW A/C system, not factory A/C, but never had a problem with belts. It was purchased from a dealer tech (2nd owner), who had everything set up correctly, but he & buddies cautioned not to rev it over 5300rpm. Being the old upright compressor system, it did definitely sucked some power from the engine!

Have also seen several V-belt A/C compressor setups that weren't running absolutely true (bent brackets? inadequate bracing?), and they did have problems with noise, as well as throwing belts at 3,500+ RPM.

Too much heat in the engine compartment can also distort V-belts, causing them to be thrown off. We bought a new '82 Vanagon (air-cooled engine) with a VW dealer-installed A/C system that, once the cheap VPC foam heat shields disintegrated, wouldn't go 30 miles without tossing NEW Genuine VW A/C belts from overheat. Answer was to fab up an effective system of 1/8" aluminum heat shields that stayed in place... never another problem.

IMHO our VW A1, A2 and B1 models aren't that good at getting rid of excess engine compartment heat, especially when running in stop n' go traffic. Header wrap on the exhaust manifold & down pipe, as well as turbocharger heat shields can help, but better venting would be welcome. Any assistance in eliminating some of the heat soak through the firewall and into the cab would be great, too, and that would also cut down on the need to use the A/C as much. Sorry if this is OT.


J.R.
SoCal