Airconditioned V8.

The Rovering Member

Well-Known Member
After a change of mind by the owner subsequently followed by another one, I've got the car I mentioned a while ago fitted with the Alpinair aircon unit. Anyone have any experience of it.
FayV8005-1.jpg

It's not as neat an installation as the Delanair unit but rare enough all the same I should think. The gearlever is curved backwards so as not to foul the unit in park but it's a close fit anyway. Would it have been the same for the Delanair? The interior needs replacing but I have one to fit. Kids tried to hotwire her & cut the wires hence the Heath-Robinson ignition wiring in place at the moment. Took her for an MOT & the failure consisted of wipers, tyres, front shocks, front brakes releasing unevenly & a bit of welding under the offside sill so all-in-all not too bad. The master cylinder needs re-rubbering & also a new water pump is required. It's a viscous coupling. Would this be standard or from a later car? She's a '72. I assume the pump is different from the fixed fan type. Is that right? I've never had a viscous fan before. Outwardly she's fairly tidy but scabby in places. Complete boot-mount & (worn) wood-effect steering wheel & unusually, the bonnet badge is like new. Drives o.k. Tickover too fast, smooth gearchange though I could smell a faint clutch-odour at times. Still, for less money than a set of new tyres, who's complaining. Haven't checked around too much yet though (including the aircon which apparently works), just put her in the lock-up to await some attention. Overall, I'm pretty chuffed though it's a shame she's green as it's a bit of an unlucky colour for us. Hopefully this one will break the trend.
FayV8003-1.jpg
 
I took this one. You can't see it very well. Compressor's under the top hose. It's a substantial bracket holding it all in place which you can see the top of. I'll take some more next time I'm with the car. It was fitted in the Indian summer (remember those?) of 1976.

FayV8001.jpg
 
A very curious installation. I'm pretty sure the ex NADA system was available as a factory option at this time, so presumeably this is an aftermarket job rather than a factory fit. Nevetheless it does look quite neat and professional. The choke and reserve are particularely well done. Under the bopnnet it uses what appears to be the same York compressor as the NADA system - but I'm pretty sure there wasn't anything else available then, so no surprise there. With all the guts in the cabin the heater box and front decker are standard non A/C. What I can't see from the photo is what has been done about the engine steady bar. On non A/C cars this runs laterally from the front of the R/H head to the inner wing. The York comnpressor on A/C cars gets in the way of this and it is rerouted forward to the bonnet slam panel just to the right of the bonnet prop socket. If it hasn't got either the engine will be quite lively in there!

I certainly have never seen anything similar, nor do I remember hearing of anything like it at the time. Very interesting! One possibility that springs to mind is that the Australian and New Zealand markets had decided not to use the NADA system and instead opted for locally sourced and fitted systems. Could this be one of these fitted to a factory car for assessment? Best check out Gaydon's records and see if the car has any factory history!

Chris
 
PS combination of the large diameter wood effect steering wheel with power steering is unusual and will make for superlight steering!

Chris
 
One of my cars had a similar system.
The vents for the air outlet were identical but side by side not on top of one another. The gear lever was also bent to suit.
This system is aftermarket and was fitted by a garage in Melbourne back in the late 70's. It worked quite well, but the engine struggled at times to run both compressor and the wheels! The compressor setup was the same with the twin piston type, and a bracket that could have been cut off the Sydney Harbour Bridge! :p
I have ditched it since it siezed and there was no way to rescue the unit. The car now will be fitted with a combined A/C heater unit fron a Discovery, as soon as we can squeeze it in.

Cheers

GUY :D
 
Chris, as far as I know, it was fitted under the instruction of the owner at the time rather than the factory. She was first registered in Devon so maybe it was done down there. I'll see if I can find a bit more out from the guy I bought it from, he's local. I haven't noticed the engine-steady bar so I'll check it out. The steering is nice & light as you surmise. The cabin unit does look as if it was designed for the car as the heater controls are also accommodated. They're missing the knobs at the moment. It does foul the passenger foot-locker slightly as you can see but I'm hoping I can fit it a little better as it's at a slight angle towards the drivers seat which is probably the cause of it. The car performs well enough (though I didn't press her too hard). When the A/C is operating I assume this puts more load on the engine even though the pump is being turned permanently.
Guy, you'd better have a look at that bridge before you use it again. It looks as though someone else has been nicking bits of it. :;):
 
I forgot to take the camera with me yesterday but had a quick look for the engine-steady bar. I can't see one so the engine must be, as you say Chris, quite lively in there.
 
hi,
answer to your first question about the viscous unit. the viscous was fitted to all NADA cars that went to the states, either air-con or non air-con. if it is the same it will run a 13 blade plastic fan and a shroud that is fastened to the radiator. it is a lovely system and when stood in traffic the temperature gauge never shifts ( rover should have fitted it as standard )

ian
 
Thanks for that. I haven't counted the blades but there are quite a lot so it's no doubt the same one. Mines spinning water all over the place so needs replacing. Do you do them Joseph? Can't see them listed on your site or Wadhams.
 
you may need to go to Rimmer bros lincoln for the viscous fan.

They were fitted to all the sd1 and some range rover. The one on my range rover had seized but I managed to get a good second hand unit. The guy has stopped trading now.

Colin
 
hi rovering member,
i only have one and that is for mine in case it goes. you can use a standard V8 water pump and cut off a bit of the front centre shaft before you use your old special piece ( can't think what it is called ) which is a push fit on to the centre shaft, then fasten your viscous unit to it then your fan.

ian.

p.s. any questions ring me on 01777 816600 9.00am - 4.30pm or mobile 07761 329149 anytime
 
I bought a couple of Motor show review mags for my collection and they arrived today. I was just flicking through the 1976 mag and I found this:
scan0002-2.jpg
 
Hello The Rovering Member,

The gearlever is not bent backwards on cars fitted with the Delanair air conditioning system. In fact, of all the systems that I have seen, the one that you have is the only one where that has been done.

The viscous coupling and fan on the SD1, Range Rover, Discovery etc will not fit onto the correct P6 waterpump. My Rover as with all NZ assembled cars for the Australian market have viscous couplings as standard along with 13 bladed nylon fans. The 13 bladed nylon fan for the Triumph Stag is very similar to the P6B fan, but unfortunately the bolt holes for the P6B viscous coupling prevent fitting, so I am advised by my local Triumph-Rover spares centre.

The viscous coupling and 13 bladed fan unfortunately don't prevent the coolant temperature from increasing when in stop start traffic here in Sydney, especially in warm weather,...25 degrees and over.

Have you managed to locate a correct waterpump ERC 2810?

Ron.
 
My V8 had the aircon fitted as an afterthought and it does not have the engine stay bar fitted. Fuel pump is also blanked off in favour of an electric pump due to the great big York compressor it runs (or rater has standing there, seeing as a/c is non functioal).
 
unstable load wrote,...
My V8 had the aircon fitted as an afterthought and it does not have the engine stay bar fitted.

Hello John,

Have you noticed if your engine mount on the side where the engine tie rod should be is showing signs of cracking? The tie rod ensures longevity for the engine mounts, both of them, not to mention the transmission mount which will also be twisting more than would otherwise be the case.

With the bonnet open if you rev the engine slightly you will see how much it moves on the mounts.

Ron.
 
Ron,
To be honest, NO.
I have not driven the car in a few years now, but I remember the engine being rather steady on the mounts.
It got some pretty spirited driving back when I was using it so I will have a shufti at it. I am actually planning on gettin it out and about again, but need to replace the water pump first.
I parked it up with the coolant filled with an anti corrosive called Aqua Clear and when I went back to start it up I discovered all the pipe stubs on the pump had corroded right off, resulting in some bright blue language.

An interesting snag I do have is a side to side gentle "wobble" when running off throttle at about 20kph. It's not the wheels as they are balanced and true, so all I can put it down to without a good rummage around under her is the U joints.
 
Thanks KiwiRover, that's a great advert. I don't suppose the picture would blow up very well if you tried would it? :wink: You have a good memory as I see I posted that two years back.
No Sydney, as yet, I've done nothing to this car since I bought her, much to Harvey's disgust. :LOL: Though mine too if truth be told, I really must get round to it but the need to earn money is getting in the way. I'm starting to think that I have really got too many cars as they all need work which I don't have the time to do myself or the money to pay other people to do it. It relates to the values discussion going on elsewhere on the forum I guess, they are really too cheap to buy making the temptation too great. :roll: (Deciding which ones to sell though, would be bl**dy hard! :cry: )
Still, better me than a breakers yard or a banger boy & I'll get on it's case soon.
 
I'll give it a go.
scan0003.jpg

I know what you mean about too many cars though. I scrapped a fair few saveable P6s in my time because I didn't have the inclination to finish them and no-one else did either. I'm quite determined now to make sure that I save as many as possible. I'm looking for more storage space! :LOL:
I figure that as long as I have them, they are still around and not being scrapped and I will probably get around to them eventually or they will become more sought after and someone else may want to finish them.
 
Back
Top