Air conditioning

Lewis Stephens

New Member
Greetings one and all, I am considering purchasing a NZ assembled 4/76 3500 to keep company with my 2000TC. This 3500 has the air-conditioning fitted by the Australian distributer at the time, Regent Motors, from 10/75 to 10/76 NZ 3500's. All new 3500's in Australia during this period had aircon. Prior to this period they were a option. They were installed by a company called Malvern Air in Melbourne ( long gone ) and involved shortening the passenger side glove box. In my previous 2 P6B's
( owned 83-90, 94-96) they worked very well. I remember taking my first P6B to the flinders ranges in '86, and in the last 200km the outside air was 115 F, and the car was very cool inside ! Now, of course time has moved on. The seller tells me neither the heater or aircon work. I would like to keep the interior aircon set up as IMO it didn't look too bad. However the issue is could this air con unit be repaired, and with a non piston type compressor ? Obviously with the new type of gas. The car is in regional WA and I live in Melbourne, some 3,600km's away, so i can't just drop by and inspect the car.
Any advice would be most appreciated. I have attached a screen shot of the aircon unit in the car I'm looking at.
Cheers, Lewis
 

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chances are the compressor just needs a service. Im going from experience here as I have a/c and the York compressor is bullet proof hard to beat once working.
I would get an a/c service guy in Vic to survey it for you and he will find any weak points.
 
You can certainly combine a period retrofitted evaporator with a modern compressor and a more recent refrigerant.
 
trouble is with air con it takes out all the bog standard levers that would give you hot/ cold air and up/ down, with air con there's no space for them and more to the point , no need for them I suppose as the new air con has its own controls , I see from your photo that 2 original levers are in fact there on the left hand side, on mine they're gone
 
trouble is with air con it takes out all the bog standard levers that would give you hot/ cold air and up/ down, with air con there's no space for them and more to the point , no need for them I suppose as the new air con has its own controls , I see from your photo that 2 original levers are in fact there on the left hand side, on mine they're gone

That's because it's an aftermarket unit that still utilises the original heater box, much like the series 1 P6 aircon did.
 
Chris is right, there is more to the install though than just the shortening of the glove box. the centre console is replaced with a bit that goes under the air con unit and the original is chopped up and screwed to the side of the air con unit for the sliding switches. The fan slider/switch has the split linkage straightened out and a long (2"ish) screw used to line up the lever. Generally the screw is gone by now as its a B+*^ch to keep tight and operating so you get more than half movement in the flap. Removing it doesn't really help but it doesn't make it worse and its heaps easier to get the bolts tight and keep them that way.

both the compressor mounts and interior units vary wildly, even within the "factory" setups. There is a huge variety of more modern compressors available but I'd avoid the very new stuff as the internals are coated aluminium rather than steel. Most systems use a Sanden 604 or similar if not the York one (which is still available both new and in parts).

Overall they a pretty bodgie jobs in most cases, particularly where the hoses go through the firewall and the mounts for the condensor unit to the front grill. I extended the (hard) pipe on my condensor so both fittings are at the top and accessible. Plan A was to replace as much pipe as possible with aluminium with just two short lengths of hose going too and from the compressor, still working on it though as it has to pass the exhaust header...
 
I got the latest R1234yf installed on my P6 a few months back, it was originally R12 of course

I met the MD of Alpinair in London recently and he looked over the P6 with great interest and I believe he mentioned a Discovery that they had converted to R1234yf or R134a, they can still convert to either at this time. he will ask the customer to choose R1234yf or R134a and can quickly summarise the 3 for you R12, R1234yf or R134a, he wrote down a short and sweet timeline for me to explain what had happened history wise
Car manufacturers have been forced to change from R134a. the refrigerant used in air conditioning systems from 2017 onwards cannot be installed in new vehicles. The EU has decided that that refrigerant used for the past 20 years is less environmentally friendly than a refrigerant with a lower Global Warming Potential (GWP). R1234yf is the new 'hero solution 'o_O
 
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