nditiz1’s classic retrofit electrocool installation questions and comments

[Nditiz1]

*Edit Update - Adding video at the beginning

https://youtu.be/5AOfSk0faQo


Feeling very impressed by Targa80 and wanting to emulate his thread I decided to have one for myself. If you are looking to do an install or thinking about getting the kit hopefully this thread, Targa80's, as well as numerous others, will assist you on your adventure.

I own a 77 Targa that has gone through a transformation since I purchased it. This will be the next chapter in it's life.

I was part of the 2nd group buy for the kit and like Pat(Targa80) I went with the washer relocation, 175 amp alternator, and the full kit. Everything, after charges, set me back a decent chunk but can you put a price on non sweaty clothes. I live in Maryland and it is within the realm to see 95+ days with %100 humidity. It could be making a mistake by not going with a second condensor, but hopefully that is an easy add later if I feel the car is not cooling down enough.

Ok let's delve in:

The kit came on Friday of last week. Most of the weekend was spent doing family things so I only started to tackle the washer bottle relocation. I am waiting for a Pelican order to arrive tomorrow with some much needed seals to freshen up the boxster washer bottle.

With the front end up and the wheel removed I was able to see what needed to be removed and where things should go.



Mounting screws to remove slightly, not sure what the black bar is for, possibly something for the factory a/c lines to attach to



Both mounts installed with ease. I brought the 2 bolt mount as far as I could to the top and left the washers behind the mount. It was a fairly tight squeeze to initially get it in( insert Michael Scott quote).

Not adjusted up yet


Top Mount


Since I no longer needed the front pump, I removed that, most of the washer lines, and of course the old washer bottle. I still have a hardened line running along side the brake fluid overflow on the inside of the frunk. I'm not sure If I will cut this and run the new line right to it with a splice or see if I can run the new line all the way to the source inside the frunk. The kit comes with a splice connector. I have seen a small line from the pump to it before passing through the body. I ran the electrical components loosely and will firm them up once the tank is fully installed. I used the upper hole, previous washer line hole, for the wiring, but may change it after looking more into the a/c lines. There are 3 holes available up front. 2 from the old washer lines, 1 unknown - maybe front headlight washer.

Next post I dig into removing the Behr fresh air box

[targa80]

The bracket in the second picture was for mounting the original ac dryer. I removed the bracket and sealed the two screw holes.

In response to your pm l took a closeup of the bracket holding the lower part of the fender condenser.






Good luck with the install

[timmy2]

A lot depends on how it wants to sit in there and which way you put it in, as the bracket location for a brace is different on opposite sides of the unit.

This is what mine looks like that I installed 3 weeks ago.

[Nditiz1]

Thanks Pat and Dennis, you both are aces!

Dennis did you do a thread with pics? Also, it looked like you used the horshoe bracket, but didn't put the drier there?

I was able to get a little more done this morning after some much needed parts arrived from CA. The seals for the washer bottle. I was able to test up the pump and I now have a more advanced washer setup. *For those not even performing the AC upgrade I would look into this setup as a minor upgrade to your washer system.





I was able to get the BEHR fresh air box out without too much trouble and noticed some un-needed wires and relay currently in my smugglers box. I assume these were for the A/C control console that was given to me with the car.



I also got my condensor zipped together and put in. I will need to fabricate an "L" bracket for the bottom and install it similar to Pat's. After I took a break I was hit with my first hindsight. Not knowing the best way to run the freon lines and I had already installed my washer relocation. If I end up installing them in the standard approach - up and over the wheel arch - I may run into issues feeding them behind the washer. So up and over and through going up into the smugglers box near the front sway bar seems to be the most common approach.



I was going to add a loop into the front part of the condensor to later add a factory 2nd condensor, but realized I no longer have the rock guard, or never had it to begin with. I will keep moving forward and setting it up with the notion of only one condensor and see how harsh the MD climate will be.

Ok back out to the garage now that the kids are down.

[timmy2]

I didn’t do a separate thread , I just added to my 10 year old thread…
Plus I was doing a few things to the car at once. Still have to
Finish the 2 major ones.
It starts a few posts down on this page.
Finally, back in the game!

Drier is in the smugglers box.

[targa80]

I ran the Freon lines down and in front of the boxer washer bottle on the wheel well.

[timmy2]

Yup, tucked right in beside my white bottle.. (I have water bottle color envy)
Pretty sure I looked at Pat’s post when I did it…

[Nditiz1]

Last night I was able to move forward with the install. I managed to get the factory AC harness out. I did it without messing up the harness, well except for 1 wire. It was a ground and nested under the depths of driver side wires behind the blend control box. I also removed a second relay box mounted inside the smugglers box.





I love removing items from the car that have no use


I built the bracket holding the compressor in the smugglers box. Everything went together as the updated document explained. I did add two washers on the "left cheek" top bolt as there was a gap between the spacer and the cheek that the plastic washers did not fill. Tightening it would start to bend the cheek and I did not like that. The instructions have the updated relay and how to mount it.





*EDIT - The kit came with a bag taped to the cooling fittings. Looks to be some extra M6x20mm screws. Will report back at the final if they are not used elsewhere.
The last bits to be installed. I too was plagued by the extra missing M6x20mm button head screws. The kit came with 6, but needs 8. 4 mount the top plate. 2 mount the side clamps. 2 to attach the ECU. A trip to Ace Hardware today will fix the issue. The last bolt in the pic is for mounting the red post I believe, which I am not using/was not included(RHD).

[targa80]

Did your kit come with the small black fan relay? If it did where are you mounting it?



I mounted the isolation relay on an angle facing upwards because I wanted access to the two main contacts and the two control contacts going to the black fan relay. This was done just so I can access them in the future without having to pull the compressor out of the smuggler box.



Since I was using the original front condenser and fan from the factory system I decided to leave the AC fuse panel relay in place and the cooling fan motor AC relay in the smugglers box. I tied the green wire on pin 86 of the cooling fan motor AC relay to the white wire pin 86 on the new black fan relay. This allowed control of the old front condenser fan motor via its smuggler box relay by the AC ECU while still using fuse 20 (25 amp) fuse to supply power to the front condenser motor. So the old condenser and the new condenser fans are controlled by the ECU but are individually powered on separate fused supply circuits.

[Nditiz1]

Great question. I do have an extra relay. I thought it was the original one supplied that later got upgraded to the two post. Funny enough the documentation, while updated, did not provide details about where it should be mounted. Maybe it gives the option to wherever the owner wants, but a best practice/simplest approach would not have been hard to add in. The bracket I have on mine is a little different looking than yours. Mine has 3 screw holes across and looks more horizontal in nature where yours looks more vertical. I will most likely use the same install place as yours and will possibly need to get a little bit longer screw to allow for the additional thickness of the relay.

I have none of the original AC components left besides this wiring harness. If I ever decide to add a second I'll probably run all new wires for them. I'm hoping the climate is not harsh enough to warrant a 2nd condensor.

[targa80]

The wiring diagram shows the black fan relay and the optional isolation relay connected. I guess there is no set fast rule on where both relays should be anchored. The only limiting factor would be the length of the attaching wires. In that case both relays could be mounted on the smugglers box wall but would be an issue if you needed to remove the compressor from the smugglers box in the future.

[targa80]

Originally Posted by Nditiz1

……………

I was going to add a loop into the front part of the condensor to later add a factory 2nd condensor, but realized I no longer have the rock guard, or never had it to begin with. I will keep moving forward and setting it up with the notion of only one condensor and see how harsh the MD climate will be.

Ok back out to the garage now that the kids are down.

Many owners have removed their original AC systems and I would suspect they are some sitting on a storage shelf taking up space. May I suggest that you create a thread asking if anyone would donate a front condenser assembly or offer one up for sale. When I was rebuilding my air box it did not have the cold start spider. A fellow pelican read my post and offered up a used spare spider he acquired from a friend due to a car fire.

[Jonny H]

Hi Guys, the small relay switches on the condenser fan. Don’t confuse this with the big contact relay (which is used to isolate the compressor pump) You need both.

Small relay sits sideways under the ECU tray. You can see it in targa80s post above.

[Nditiz1]

Thanks Jonny - I attached it how Pat attached his.

Pat - That is a very good idea if I decide to go that route.

I was able to get a little done yesterday/last night. I managed to mount the fan relay to the compressor setup. I notched out part of the bottom so it would sit flush and not angled up. The holes that were predrilled into the mounting plate might need to be moved up so the notching step is not needed.



I was able to get the passenger side T connector installed by unbolting the bottom of the control box from under the dash and pulling the hose down and trimming a little bit off. I then shoved it down through the hole and pulled the pipe back up to attach it to the T fitting. On the top side I test fit the T fitting into the control box with the small piece of hose I removed.
I remembered seeing some hose that came with the kit. Upon inspection and reading through the doc I found out that it is 50mm. This is somewhat disappointing as I would say most applications of this kit are not utilizing the wonky looking pipe coming out under the dash. In my mind this portion looks unfinished and last minute vs refined. I would have liked to have seen extra 60mm pipe since adding the T fitting has now required the addition of more 60mm pipe. This should also be accompanied with some 42mm hose and here is why - I upgraded the tops of my control boxes to have the port going to the side vents. These were great as I could get hot/warm/cold air from them depending on the outside temps and how I directed the heat. I will be reinstalling the other style with out that port. In order to use the ones with the port I purchased OEM 40mm hose duct which fits over the metal inlet attached to the body and the plastic inlet attached to the control box. Fortunately those ports are under 40mm which allows the pipe to slide over with ease. Had the new air box from CR had 39mm ports these ducts could be reused.

I order both 60mm duct and 42mm duct from Amazon to solve these issues.

I began to work on the driver side and was feeling the pain others have stated about "a tight fit." I managed to tear the pipe under it. I used some flex piping that was about 58mm wide, slid it inside of the oem duct to create a flex coupler. The real test will be getting a 60mm hose over the T with all the wires and ground post right next to it.



Lastly, I started to mount the drier. I cut the mounting horseshoe that came in the kit and mounted it in the same place as Rennch. I'm going to go the same route and run my lines and electrical through the factory AC hole. I also mounted the inlets "D" and "E" into the condensor in preparation for final mounting. One question that I need addressed is regarding the Drier. I see it has a stamp on the top that says "TN" I'm assuming it is "IN" and it was stamped crooked making the "I" look like a "T". Does the port opposite the "IN" go to the Airbox? It makes sense that it would, just looking for clarity.



Last item I addressed was installing the push button. I used the location behind the wiper stalk.

[targa80]

I agree that the TN port is probably meant to be The IN port from the fender condenser. This is how mine was mounted in the smugglers box.

[Nditiz1]

Ok I worked on the drivers side hose some more. I managed to lose the shock pin while putting it back in place, it is in the abyss of ground and wiring monster in that corner. I decided it will now be part of the car disconnected and I will acquire another pin to replace it. The bottom one is always a real bear so I may get a hinge pin with a ball on the end so it can be pulled in and out easier if the shocks ever need to be removed again. The german hose I used in that corner is very thick and the shock does move into it upon closing the frunk. I may just deal with it as it was a real pain to get a clamp around the current one with a thick strand of wires pressing against the side of the T fitting. Note to future customers - patience and beer on this one unless of course they put your car together a little differently and you don't have that mess pressing against you. I bet Dennis had no trouble as he rewired the entire Frunk.

I started to connect the lines after getting the final resting position of the condensor. I am routing them up and over much like everyone else. I plan to go up through where the brake lines travel and into the smugglers box. I temporarily moved the washer bottle to mockup everything.

Lastly, I removed some more useless items from the Frunk. Maybe some concourse guy or Cali guy needs this EGR junk.

[timmy2]

Lol, I had a heck of a time with the drivers side. And especially with the shock pin. I think I had to use my extendable magnet to fish it out at least 3 times. I walked away disgusted more times than that.

I likely used the same duct you did, and it rubbed the shocks as well, until I squeezed it out of the way…
There just isn’t a lot of room in there.

[targa80]

The driver side is a headache, I dropped the Bowden cable bolt at least 3 times. A magnet wand and a strong flash light helps to find the dropped part. If the blend valve is moved the part may be laying in the driver side floor. I found one of the bolts on the floor after searching high and low in the frunk.

[Nditiz1]

Not too much to report, but I have been working(slowly) on it, family commitments and 3 kiddos under 6 take up a lot of the day.

I test mounted the blower a few times. I managed to get the entire driver side ready to go. The passenger side needs a hose or 2 coming in the mail, was supposed to be here sunday :-/

With the blower installed everything looked good, that was until I installed the expansion block with the fittings loosely. I am hitting the brake lines out of the master cylinder. I slowly bent the lines some and it has given me more room. I will need a little more persuasion to get the blower fully into place. I can only assume the lines were replaced at one time and they were not routed exactly to spec even though they look pretty good. I had not heard/read of anyone else running into this issue.

I have run most of the electrical wires, 1 to the wiper high speed, the large cable to the battery, the condensor fan wires, constant power wire for the yellow ECU wires, and lastly the push button was wired into the radio switched on power. I tried to get a small win while temporarily grounding out the black wire on the button to see it illuminate blue. Car switched on, Radio turned on - no blue. Either my ground is not good which Im pretty sure it was OR the additional wires need to be hooked into Black ECU cable in order for it to light up...I have another wire to run for jumping of the rear defogger switch, 2 more for switched on power, and then I can splice everything in the smugglers box together.

[targa80]

I ran the two Freon lines from the blower towards the instrument cluster and routed the lines back around and under the blower. This provides extra length on the two lines just in case you need to remove the blower in the future. Initially I added the two lines without the high and low gauge connectors.



I added the high and low gauge connectors by splicing into each line. The low side length was still to long and so I had cut the line shorter and redo the crimps.




Both high and low gauge connectors sit in the smugglers box. The high connector is pushed further down in the smugglers box but is accessible for the gauge connector. I also notched the black cardboard cover over the steering linkage to allow the hoses to exit the smugglers box without cutting the box cover.



This was a picture at the AC shop during the initial charge. The tech had no issues with making the connections.