adding A/C to a subaru conversion

[skills@eurocarsplus]

yes, mary tyler moore!

no! no discount! this has proven to be a bit of a challenge thus far. very time consuming. I am working on the relocation of the fuse box, and that is probably the worse part of the job (to this point)

[Abscate]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

ok, a little "kit" update here....

the instructions were written by the guy from ikea. except he didn't take his meds for ADHD, or bi polar disorder.

so, the deal today was doing the fuse box relocation. this is where the fight broke out.

they state that you need to lengthen 9 wires. BULLSHIT. here's the "short list"

-all ignition switch wires
-all hazard switch wires
-all headlight switch wires
-all wiper motor wires
-all of the grounds on the cluster
-all of the warning bulbs

and a few I am SURE I am missing.

thankfully, I was able to buy a fuse box from a junk bus, and some wire.

which makes it nice to be able to add the needed length with the correct wire gauge and color.

the other thing is the brackets sent with the kit to relocate the fuse box are just simply NOT right...so, I ended up making new ones.

I have the hazard wires to lengthen and the wiper wires left. I have been at this since 8:30 this morning. I hope to have the fuse box all squared away tomorrow.

I thought I read 18-20 hours for the install (in the instructions, I think) and at first I thought...no way. now, am beginning to think it may be a bit over that....so far, the fuse box relocation has been the biggest pain in the ass so far.

now, on that note before I install the evaporator I would like to hang it in an early bay. I am pretty sure that you wouldn't have to move the fuse box in an early bay, BUT you'd need to remove the cluster to gain access to the fuse box. if that looks like the case, I'd take that trade in a minute
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[babysnakes]

I looked at their site and read the description of the work involved a few weeks ago. All I have to say is...WOW!

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[notchboy]

She didn't scream or nuthin.
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[skills@eurocarsplus]

yep, she is a tough woman for sure. today, my legs are killing me, like I have been doing squats for a day...which well, I kind of was....

so last night I just couldn't bear the fact that I missed a personal goal, and worked on fitting the evaporator.

a bit disappointed to say the least....despite my best efforts, the case isn't made 100% correctly, which doesn't show up until you mount it

as you can see here, the T handle will interfere with the case on the right hand side

and the pisser is that's the best I can get it, as I shoved it over to the right as far as I could

it's really disappointing, as the case looks to be well made, but the devil is in the details....I guess they should spend some time on their molds....

I think the fix will be flipping the T handle over. at least that is what I am hoping. there simply isn't another way around it.

going to go get a coffee and get back on it here shortly....
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[skills@eurocarsplus]

wire extension portion is over! she's alive again

so, this is what the fuse box started out as:

you will note the fuses are not correct. only 9+10 should be 16A. shame on me for not seeing this when i did the Subaru conversion.

this is what it ends up looking like:

all new german fuses, cleaned contacts etc....

much better now

don't mind the wires hanging, they will be used after

i used the split loom to just keep the runs tidy. when you put this in, you need to "roll" it into position due to the fans on the unit. the loom prevents any stray wires from getting caught.

i ended up making my own mounts. the ones provided were cheese dog to say the least. i also put some protection on them to prevent any chafing

so, because i like to look out for the next guy (a lot of times i AM the "next guy" ) we will be adding early bay speedo support brackets to make cluster removal MUCH better

good bye asshole clips

the reality is, you'll NEVER get the reach around like you can without the evaporator in place. there will be no way to secure the cluster without having a heart attack.

now there will be "extra" work involved such as dash top removal so it can be painted, route wires for a radio, speaker, etc. but holy cow am i glad the worse is over.

here's a skillz time savings tip:

using donor harness not only gives you the correct wire colors, but if the ends are good, you can just use them, and it eliminates 1/2 of the butt connectors to lengthen the wire. just clip off OE end, but connect new wire on and you're done. see, i do have a method to the madness.

all told, there is almost 18...yes 8motherfuckingteen hours into relocating the fuse box, mocking up the evaporator unit and making some brackets etc.

not to mention the "test and tune" portion of mounting the condensers. that was pretty easy, but every hour adds up for sure....

i don't like the way the kit uses sheet metal screws to mount the evaporator to the dash pad. the screws go up too long and get REAL close to the headlight switch, which is a deal breaker for me. so i will make up some mounting plates with bolts that drop down. not only will that prevent any shenanigans under the dash, but with studs hanging down the unit will be WAY better/easier to install.

"it's a kit bro, all you got to do is put it together" mmmmm hummm.....
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[skills@eurocarsplus]

moving on....

laid out the hoses a bit. I had to custom make fittings to tie in the a/c compressor. lines are just run for mock up, and will be cleaned up and tied back when the final hose layout is done

made some plates to attach the evaporator

this eliminates the janky sheet metal screw arrangement they wanted to attach the unit to the dash.

got the belt idler all blasted/painted as well

making progress. slow, but it's progress. also figured out a way to cool the back seat passengers everyone is worried about should this not perform as good as it should.
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[Abscate]

All in this Going to be a 3500 USD AC...wow !

Kudos to your perseverance!
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.ssS!

[skills@eurocarsplus]

I applaud daveark....most would have pulled the plug long, long ago. I spoke with him in depth last night about the install. I also profusely apologized for the time spent, but here is the reality:

I have about 20 hours into the a/c now. the lions share of that was in the electrical. the bus was in fantastic shape in that regard but it still took time. I also spent the time to do it RIGHT and extend wiring in the correct colors...I could have bought a 10.00 spool of 14 gauge and hacked away...

the other 10 or so hours was spent in the test and tune of the Subaru cooling system, which ultimately worked flawlessly however, I did need to make some adjustments to that as well.

one thing daveark does appreciate is me looking out for the next guy, and modifying things to be serviceable. that has taken only a small amount of time to rework some of the stuff I wasn't happy with.

now, lets add to the list here because let's face it, ALL of these projects come with a "honey do" list...the good old fashion case of the "may as well's"

we are going to repaint the dash top, install a stereo, dash speaker, add a 12V socket and the list goes on. that is daveark's call, not mine. it is also daveark's decision to come 1,800 miles to have me do the work. I have asked him if he was on drugs....he basically said no one would look out for him like I would, and the level of detail and attention to quality is priceless to him. I am flattered and honored to have someone like him in my life.

he as told me this is his "forever bus" and that is awesome. remember....this bus sat at a VW shop for a year and a half to have the T4 built...I had his bus back in the wind in about a month, month and a half with a lot of custom work plus painting the engine bay etc....

a bunch of folks here may not like me or what I do. that's ok, but know this....at the end of the day I am a man of my word and do things that are over the top. "good enough" never sits well with me. I do my best to make things work and meet customer expectations. the hang up is making aftermarket parts work....that in itself eats time...and that is why I am not going to disclose exactly what I did for the compressor fittings. it would be a slap in the face to daveark to give out the information HE paid for. I wouldn't do that to him, or anyone else out of respect. if he want's to share, he can...but I won't.

at the end of the day when he get's it painted and the interior done, who cares if he has 50-60K in it? this is HIS Camaro...his Mustang..his 440 6 pack. it's something for him and his family to forge memories in. he is in control, not me. he can pull the plug whenever he wants, no hard feelings. in fact I have had some people pull the plug before the work was finished and tested, but what can I do? the decision to spend, or stop spending money is solely on the client.

and not for nothing, some of you may feel I am a money grubbing douchebag...that isn't the case...the reality is some of the test and tune time was done on my personal time if I had an errand to run. I do more of that for people than they realize because I DO want to try and keep the costs down. so there!
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[vwwestyman]

Having just been in the dash of both my buses recently, I can say for sure that all the little "while you're in there" projects do add up and take a lot of time!

Just curious what stereo is being installed? I put a RetroSound in each of my Buses while I had the dashes apart and really like them overall. I think the model of each was the Hermosa or something like that. I just made sure it had bluetooth capabilities.
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[skills@eurocarsplus]

hey dave!

we are going to be using a kenwood deck that does Bluetooth, has call answering/hands free. it will have the USB/AUX jack on the front of the unit, so no fooling around with other junk behind the unit.

I can dig up the model number if you like...I think its a kdc x597 or something to hat effect.
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[69BahamaYellow]

Wow! Just read this whole thread. Looks like the ready built A/C kits still require a lot of extra engineering work; Not so much "plug and play" as one would hope. Now I don't feel so bad doing a full on custom rebuild of the old DPD overhead unit I put in my bus

Skills, knowing how much work it is to put AC in a bus (that was never designed for it in the first place), you don't owe anybody apologies for your price (no matter what you charge). From all your posts, you do damn nice work, and quality work is worth 10X the cost (in my opinion). Daveark is lucky to have you installing the AC. As a fellow Texan, I can confirm that 100 deg. ambient temps most of the summer flat out sucks without good AC. If you've come up with something that will also cool the back seats, Daveark will absolutely need it.

[vwwestyman]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[vwwestyman]

You're not hacking the dash to put that modern radio in are you? Ha ha, I kid. I've got all the hands free stuff too, but I've found that if driving on the highway, the wind noise with windows open makes it difficult for the person to hear me... Though I suppose that won't be a problem in this particular bus!

I was going to add earlier to my comment about dash work (and forgot) that it will be nice how you went about lengthening the wires! Nice splices and same-colored wire will be a plus.

My '78 had a (I presume) dealer installed under dash AC. The wires were all lengthened with black wire spliced in the middle. I don't think the splices were done that great (there is black tape wrapped around them) but I haven't had any problems that I know of, so I have not wanted to disturb them.
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[skills@eurocarsplus]

yes, I am going to whack that dash to pieces and we are putting in a double din touch screen...

just kidding. single din, no big deal. my hands free works well...their are loads of adjustments in the radio to filter the noise.

speaking of radios....

speaker came in. got the studs welded to the dash, which looked like this

so I got that blasted and primed today. will need a few more sessions with the sanding block but here it is currently

and also got the early bay speedo cluster supports mounted up. the next guy can thank me

that by far is something you late bay guys need to look into doing if you have your dash apart....it doesn't take that long, and will be a huge help in the future
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[daveark]

[airschooled]

I'm glad Skills and Dave have weighed in here now. I don't know how I missed this thread until today, but this gives me one more thing to pester Skills about when I make it to CT in September.

Let us take this as a reminder that buses treat us the way we treat them. Like I just said to Brian, I just went through a mountain where there were clouds, air planes, and glaciers below me. What do I even say, "uh, thanks car?" Dave and Skills apparently both know this. Can't wait to read the next installment.

Robbie
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