'95 LS400 has his-n-hers independent (mostly) front temperature settings.

50 years, she's from MT, me, Arkansas.

Not allowed to go shirtless in the house...makes her feel cold....

I'm thinking my AC blower motor has also slowed down over the years.
Can anyone point me to a thread on replacing the AC blower motor in the smugglers box? Can it be done without unsealing the refrigerant?
Thanks, Algernon

If it is not "unduly" noisy in full high speed setting it's unlikely to have slowed significantly. You could probably measure the blower current flow in high speed mode to get a good idea of the motor's status.

Someone "here" probably has the "as new" factory current flow rating.

Evaporator fins blocked to easy/free airflow with years of "debris" is yet another story

The low speed blower settings traditionally do not produce "enough" airflow.

Sorry, I took out the whole box. I think you can do it, the clips that hold the top are going to be difficult. The motor is attached to the top. There's gotta be a thread.

Flow ratings, here. Courtesy of Griffiths.

Porsche 911 evaporator blower motor tests, Porsche 930 evaporator blower motor tests, Kuehl Wirbelsturm Hurricane Evaporator Blower Motor, 901-624-901-00,911-624-899-00

I'm running a non-Porsche evap fan and motor. I have a 99ish(need to check my notes) Civic fan assembly grafted to the top of an 86 and up Behr top. Mimmicking Griffith's test I'm at about 2900-3000 CFM. Better flow, it is quieter and cheap. I had an extra evap box top to play around with. I'm not 100% satisfied with the finished look. I have Revision 2 in my head if I get around to setting that up it'll be worthy of a post.

You can remove the evap box lid and service the fan with the evap box in the smuggler's box. It's a bit of a pain but can be done. Remove a couple of braces. Remove the temp probe. Remove the four clips holding the box together. Top comes right off. Do yourself a favor. Tie some monofilament line to the clips. There is a hole in each one. You will drop a clip into the bottom of the smuggler's box. The line won't be in the way and when you drop a clip just pull it back out. Use a big screwdriver to slide the clips on and off sideways. You can also snap them back on.

While you are in there clean the evap coil. You can also clean the bottom (the dirty side) through the hole in the passenger's footwell. It's not fun to access but can be done. You'll likely also find that the sealing foam installed at the factory is gone. You'll want to seal up the evap coil to the sides of the evap box. You want to force air over the coil and not around it. -J

Did you keep the resistor pack in the air intake, the Retroair gets rid of that obstruction.
Also, back to the original questn, what did you do about the hole for the tunnel, si far no one has cancelled it.

On factory air cars with a center AC vent above radio (controls in center console, no knee pad vent panel):

The 2 air inlets to the evaporator box are under both foot boards,
the LH drive side leads to the tunnel. The issue with the tunnel
is when your shift linkage boot in the back of the tunnel
is torn or not in place properly, you could suck in some outside
air. So, you could inspect that by removing the shift linkage
access cover plate under the carpet between the front and rear seats in the back,
or get the car up and inspect in front of the tranny.

Going back to the original question - 'why draw air from the tunnel' - I remember seeing a picture of the plate over the tunnel (behind the front seats) filled with slots, rather than being solid!
I wonder if this was ever an original - it certainly looked so, with the carpet trimmed back and set under the plate edges. And I recall at the time wondering what it was for!
Maybe that is the answer, it certainly makes sense. Perhaps someone here can fold back the carpet and leave the plate off for a test to see if it makes any difference.
I haven't ever seen this idea followed up, but it could(?) improve air circulation if the draw through the tunnel is strong enough! Comments?

Yes, a slotted "air intake" cover over the back might pull in floor air.

When we ran our tests on air output at the vents, to see what happens when you block
off the RH side intake under the foot board; with the stock fan speed control resistor pack vs. other things... including the obvious (the carpets), the difference was nominal, meaning if you remove the resistor pack you don't gain much. Tests were performed taking anemometer measurements on a 86-89 center vent and side vents.

The biggest gains you can easily make with pre 86 vehicle is something like the Tri- Kuehl Vents and Hurricane blower motor.

On the 86+ it would the center Kuehl vent; if you want to add a Hurricane motor to the 86+ you need the pre 86 box top and blower wheel.

Kuehl at Pelican

I didn't install the underdash centervent that came with the kit. Like to keep the stock look. Instead i closed off the air to the bowtie to force all the air out the dash vents.
BTW, it seems the factory kept open the tunnel hole for extra air in case the carpet covers the hole behind the footrest.

some evaperator tips and tricks
 

George,

You have asked excellent questions most people do not know about all the tips and tricks to make your early model 911 a/c colder, it kind of makes me laugh Retroair had no clue when you asked them what you did <GRIN>

These are some Evaporator tips and tricks that will help you DIY

# 1. your shifter mechanism goes all the way back inside the tunnel, just after the removable rear shaft coupling the shaft that is held together with an Allen screw the rod continues until it exits to the outside through a the body opening; These shaft body seals should be replaced, they are usually both inside and outside seals; these seals really can make a difference between having a cold or warm A/C system and people rarely inspect them DUH.

ALSO that shaft coupling has plastic spacers that are used as part of the shaft coupling and if they get worn which they do, they can really affect gear shifting; so if your shifting is sloppy or difficult replace the rear shift plastic spacers (the rest of the coupling rarely needs replacement) When you inspect these body seals it is a good time to also inspect and/or replace the plastic spacers on this shaft coupler, and the plastic spacerers are not an expensive part

On one or both inner and outer sides of this shifter shaft body opening there are Porsche parts seals, these seals get old and disintegrate over time and when they do they allow air gaps. These shaft/body/ air gaps no longer properly sealed cause problems engine heat induction into your cabin and are a known problem for poor a/c cooling. It is amazing how much heat gets inside the cab that is radiated by the rear of the engine when these seals need replacement

#2. The hole in the bottom of your evaporator box (picture shown) fits over a metal duct that goes to if I remember correctly, the area near where your back jump seats are; the amount this duct helps your a/c cooling is not much to say the least if you had passengers using your rear jump seats.

This is how I seal this duct hole on 911’s I do.
If you want to block this hole off (but still leave it so you can unblock it easy later if you decide to) look around for the plastic cap from a paint or other spray cans, and you should find one to fit this hole to seal it that fits pretty good, fairly easy looking around different spray cans. If you decide to seal the hole, Put the spray can cap down into the hole fitting it where it works best and seal the top of the cap (spray foam sealer works good from home depot, warning be careful not to get it on you it’s extremely hard to get off everything it touches!!!) Many people that are knowledgeable that work on sealing and insulating the evaporator in the smugglers box, close this hole off for several reasons. Personally mine is blocked off and sealed.

#3 You should strongly consider a better insulation material then the cheap crap that Retroair uses; there are much better insulation materials for many reasons to seal your plastic evaporator box to say the least, and your evap box addional insulation covering makes a difference

I see your in Miami, I am in Ft. Lauderdale; A good friend of mine Justin Stokes owns Stokes Automotive Porsche west of Hallandale Beach Blvd off 95 where I work on engineering my new technology 911 A/C components and testing designs sometimes, and I have had many discussions with Justin about this hole your talking about below the bottom side of the plastic evaporator case inside the smugglers box.

I cant remember the name of the excellent insulation material we use to insulate the black plastic evaperator box at the moment but if you give Justin a call maybe he will tell you

pc100porsche

I sent you a private messages

this capping off of bowtie (closing it up) is an intriguing idea. I may have to test that out as well as partially closing the trapazoid intake hole behind the passenger footboard, and opening up the access hatch to the tunnel behind the seats to cycle in air from the back.

I notice with the bowtie open, it seem to just cool my legs

No personal knowledge, but if there is a hole in the bottom of the evaporator plenum, wouldn't it be there, logically, for A/C condensate drain..?

In which case it would be a serious mistake to block it off somehow.

And: the bottom of the evaporator plenum is the evaporator fan/blower suction, intake side.

If Kelog is referring to the picture below, you do NOT want to close off this inlet pipe in the smuggler's box.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1369151438.jpg

Try capping the bowtie vent first. It's likely to get you 95% of the effect you want with 5% of the work. You can simply tape over it and see if you like the changes. I ended up cruising my local hardware store and found a simple plug for irrigation pipes for less than $1. Couple wraps of tape to get the diameter just right. Done.


Most cars have the resistor pack for the fan hanging in the passenger side opening. I think you would want to maintain some airflow for cooling. Don't know that I'd close off that intake. -J

thanks I'll cap the bowtie, and see if increased output from center and side vents
make the difference. The small side vents are a joke on my car.

BTW I have Griffs Wilbersturm motor on my evaporator blower, and the improvement is significant. I am just trying to find ways to get more.

Yes it can be done. I did it long ago shortly after I bought my car 16 years ago. My evaporator fan squealed like a stuck pig. It is a pain to do but easier than evacuating and recharging. There are 4 clips as I remember. They just slide sideways. Tie a string through the holes in the clip so when you drop them you can retrieve them.

The biggest thing to be very careful with is the temp probe. Make careful notes and take lots of pictures of the "White wire" that goes into a brass tube. Do not bend that wire more than absolutely necessary. If that wire gets kinked it is ruined, and very difficult to replace. You have to get the brass tube in the same spot as before, and the tube down inside the tube to the same spot.

The rest of the process is pretty simple. I had to use a pair of bent needle nose vice grips to get the clips back on. The clips will make you cuss.

My fix worked like any OEM Carrera for years until I did the real AC system fix of the Griffith's system 4 condenser upgrade.

Blocking off the bow tie vent outlet in the bulkhead will increase the air flow
through the other vents. But, that's not the wisest way to increase air flow
in the cockpit. More vents allows the air to move through the system easier
and also improves the spread of air flow:

Tri-Kuehl Vents for 78-85 years

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1369161001.gif

Yep, I want to cool my face....

Kuehl..... I`m sorry but did you explain why not to close off the round inlet pipe in the smugglers box, apparently some people do, perhaps in an earlier post, was it you that said that maybe Porsche left it there as an air return path in case the main opening ( trapezoidal one) is inadvertently blocked off with say a carpet.