Author Topic: Help convert A/C to non-A/C (Read 2800 times)

tylernt · « **on:** December 29, 2005, 04:52:09 pm »

I have a diesel A1 Rabbit with A/C. The A/C compressor was obviously loose at one time so it and the bracket have severely deformed and have metal missing where parts have rubbed/vibrated together for who knows how many years.

How hard is it convert from A/C to non-A/C? Will I need a new alternator or alternator pulley? New alternator bracket? Any gotchas I should know about?

Thanks for any advice... this car has been in my garage for over a year and I need to get it running. :oops:

tylernt · « **Reply #1 on:** January 07, 2006, 02:45:50 pm »

Well in case anyone was curious, I got an alternator pulley off of an '82 Quantum. The alternator was previously running off the A/C compressor on the inner belt, so the Quantum pulley sticks out more to make it line up with the outer belt on the crank/waterpump. Had to fabricate a spacer sleeve but it looks like things will line up perfectly.

I'm still hoping that I can get a non-A/C bracket from somewhere to do the conversion properly, as I consider this kind of a kludge (it will require a custom belt and whenever I need a new alternator, I will have to transfer my custom pulley over to it).

RustyRabbit · « **Reply #2 on:** January 22, 2006, 09:04:46 pm »

Did you ever have any luck with your converison?

tylernt · « **Reply #3 on:** January 22, 2006, 09:26:49 pm »

Thanks for asking RustyRabbit. The answer is, yes and no. Once I got the alternator in the car, the Quantum pulley stuck out a little too far. I got a bunch of washers and ground down the edges to clear the crank and water pump hubs, then stacked them together to "shim out" the crank and water pump pulleys so everything lined up. Of course I had to get longer bolts, too.

I bought a 15455 belt, which fits perfectly, but with the engine running it flops around a bit as a consequence of the long run between the crank and alternator. Also, my crude washer shims make the crank pulley wobble a bit, but I can probably fix that by selecting different washers (they are all slightly different thicknesses).

A far, far better solution is to use the proper non-A/C alternator bracket, but I have had no luck finding one. This ugly hack works but my V-belt probably won't last long.

Here's my mangled A/C bracket:

See the green circle? There is supposed to be a hole there where my A/C compressor mounted. The flanges on the compressor are also pretty messed up. Needless to say, it sat and ran crooked and that's why I pulled it out.