A/C or no A/C for daily driver?

[twin plugged targa]

I would say A/C in any car is only effective if you drive more than 15 minutes without the stop and go traffic as it pulls down your revs and reduced HP.
I have a Rotary compressor and tail condenser/underbelly condenser with aftermarket install system. It PUMPS ice cold air more than my 2002 VW GTI. I use it regularly to keep the seals good and it has not needed recharge since I bought the car in 2002!. The unit was installed by the PO and so it is even older than that!.
If your old 911 does not have A/C installed then you have to spend the $$$$ to make it even worth while.
This all adds weight to your performance car thus reducing performance (plus the compressor drag on the flywheel/motor).
If it had not already been installed (well) by the PO I would NOT have spent the money and would have lived with open top/windows down driving!.
Rgds Ben

[real911]

Driving in down town Phoenix yesterday afternoon. Temp 111 degrees. I sat at a stoplight next to a silver 911t , windows down. Now I'm thinking that a real Porsche man!

[Noah930]

Larry,

I spent a year in PDX. If you're willing to rough it a bit, you can use a non-A/C 911 as a daily driver in Lake Oswego. It's really only hot enough from July-Sept that you'd even contemplate using it (for cooling purposes). If you're willing to drive with the windows down, you'll survive. Maybe a little sweaty, but not too bad.

That being said, it's nice to be able to get into a car after it's been baking outdoors in the summer sun, flip on the A/C, and get instant cold. And it helps a bit (though not totally necessary) to have A/C assist in demisting the windows on those rainy days the other 9 months of the year.

[DARISC]

Originally posted by Formerly Steve Wilkinson
Air conditioning is for pussies, unless you live in Houston or Florida or the like.

HAHAHA!! I love it!

I'm smiling to myself because AC has only been around for a relatively (depending on how old you are) short time. What year was it first introduced, late 40s?

We have become soooo pampered and spoiled !

I know it's really a nice thing to have AC in hot sticky climates, but people DID survive and drive before AC (not to mention having no AC in their homes and workplaces either).

I'm CA coastal, don't have AC and really don't need it as long as I stay within 8 miles of the coast on hot days.

And I have vestigial Luddite leanings that I kinda take perverse pleasure in preserving .

[the]

you'll burn up your engine if you kick in that AC compressor, sonny!

[ToddM]

Originally posted by DARISC
HAHAHA!! I love it!

I'm smiling to myself because AC has only been around for a relatively (depending on how old you are) short time. What year was it first introduced, late 40s?

We have become soooo pampered and spoiled !

I know it's really a nice thing to have AC in hot sticky climates, but people DID survive and drive before AC (not to mention having no AC in their homes and workplaces either).

I'm CA coastal, don't have AC and really don't need it as long as I stay within 8 miles of the coast on hot days.

And I have vestigial Luddite leanings that I kinda take perverse pleasure in preserving .

With this global warming ****, I think Ill move coastal too so i can dump my AC

[fintstone]

Yeah...modern conveniences like AC are just not necessary. I think you should get rid of the big screen Plasma TV before the Superbowl and play with your sock puppet...maybe get rid of the 911 and get a horse and wagon.

[Driver Ed]

This Sunday's sermon will be entitled "Air Conditioning and the Fall of Man," subtitled "It'll be a cold day in hell..."

I just thought I didn't have AC because I'm too lazy to put the top on, and too cheap to fix the compressor, but now I see that it's because I'm as noble and righteous as I am hot and sticky.

[DARISC]

Originally posted by fintstone
Yeah...modern conveniences like AC are just not necessary. I think you should get rid of the big screen Plasma TV before the Superbowl and play with your sock puppet...maybe get rid of the 911 and get a horse and wagon.

Finally! Someone who understands!

Proud to say I haven't succumbed to buying a big screen plasma TV - my 14" B&W works just fine, thank you.

I don't watch the Superbowl (some have labeled me Un-American) but I do watch boxing. I'm trying to get that awful, brutal sport banned but haven't moved on that yet (there are some good bouts scheduled that I don't want to miss).

I have a great collection of sock puppets including a left and right hand pair of Porsche mechanic puppets named Klich undt Klach (actually, they are typing this post).

I'd get rid of my 911 but I can't keep a horse in Carlsbad. I'd have to move 8 miles inland.

Can't do that because it gets hot there and I'd have to get AC.

Vestigial Luddites have it tough in this high tech world gone mad!

[Barrpete]

For those of you watching your weight you could install one of these. It just hangs on the window. Environmentally friendly too just runs on water.

[dentist90]

That contraption looks like a huge old radar camera!
Perhaps instead of AC one could place the windshield washers on the inside, on the dash, and aim them directly at our faces! Aahhh, refreshing!

[DanielDudley]

I never had AC in my sports cars until I got married. I was driving my new bride in my Fiat spider on interstate 90, near Syracuse, NY, when we got caught in a traffic jam that lasted three hours. Cars were overheating left and right, but my trusty Fiat never did.

My wife however, needed me to put the top up. Then she turned pink. Then red. Then I started to get scared, and she started to get real quiet. When the traffic cleared, I floored it, and took the next exit. We spent a quiet hour in a Dennys, until I was sure that my wife was OK.

That day I vowed my next car would have AC. My SC does not have it, but it iis a Euro, and never did. My rather fast 951 does have it, and it is a meat locker on low.

Technically, I would say in my case AC is for pussies. However, I am in construction, and there have been times in my life where I have had to drag men out of the sun, and even resort to pouring a bucket of water over my own head. Real men have been known to die for being too damn macho.

Mad dogs and Englishmen aside, I'm sure that the artist formerly known as Steve is prolly a whole lot tougher than my wife, and probably me too. I do however seem to enjoy the benefits of having working AC when touring America with my wife, on my all too infrequent vacations. I even got some for my house, and I no longer have to worry about the sofas going musty or the dining room table turning green.

It is good to know that there are real men still out there. It is even better to know that I could have AC in a 911 if I so choose. Otherwise there could be a Boxter in my future, adding to the wussification of America as we know it. I'm afraid I would prolly like it too. As a matter of fact, My wife wanted me to buy a Boxter instead of a built SC, but hey, we have to draw the line somewhere, even if a Boxter can prolly lap as fast as my SC with the AC on. Um, it sure is easier to get to the engine in my SC, isn't it ? Much more raw. When it isn't overdone that is.

[ToddM]

Boy, you are really asking for it with that Boxster comment

lol

[KFC911]

Originally posted by Driver Ed
I'd say those of us in the south still DO have a choice.

Yes indeedy! Some folks are more heat tolerant...I never used my a/c (and it worked fairly well), and don't miss it.

[Jetjockey]

My stock R12 Carerra does an acceptable job up to about 85 degrees as long as the car has good forward motion. It may be able to get away with 90 degrees on a mostly cloudy day at highway speeds. This requires the highest fan setting which is rather noisy. I normally turn it off in stop and go traffic on a 95 degree day because it causes oil temp to rise too much. In Atlanta I use the car a lot more often than if it didn't have A/C.
I have a line of oil on the deck lid from the compressor seals. When it stops cooling I will probably try a Sanden compressor and eventually a pro-cooler with new barrier hoses.