Debating A/C and Heater delete- Gimme Advice
 

Give me some sense here guys. I am approaching the final stages of my build here on cosmetics and am at a point to make decisions. I have been pondering the idea of heater and A/C delete to save weight and associating headaches.

I live in South TX, and it never gets too cold to a point you need to blast the heaters on. However it gets cold for a month or two. I can live without the heater.

But the A/C... On the 3.2 cars I am yet to see an A/C system works like magic. Even my previous 964 with good healthy A/C was not sufficient in deep summer hot blazing days. Am I missing something here? Should I pursue keeping A/C and getting upgrades? Worth it?

Car is coming along nicely, she is very pretty, and I am spending lot of sweat here to get it to my liking. She is a keeper.

One other thing to consider is this is not an every day driver. Weekend car with some seasons couple of days during the week days.

Any advice appreciated.

Both are very useful if you use the car much, if only to keep the windshield clear when weather strikes. More deletions mean less ability to use the car. Only you can decide how flexible you are when you have to adjust to or tolerate the weather.

If you spend the money to get good A/C (Griffiths or Rennaire), you will get every penny of it back when you sell the car. Why delete the heater? You are not saving any significant weight with that, and it will make you much more comfortable on the cold days or cold mornings when you drive it. It's not worth deleting that, and will be a lot harder to sell a car without the heater.

Berk, you're familiar with my posting shenanigans in the various a/c threads, but my system performance claims are not humor :D.

If you are willing, any 911 system can be built to freeze even the hottest "you know whats" off, even in burnass TexAss summers.

I consider all of the work, expense, learning curve headaches, etc. to be more than worth it to be able to use my Turbo during the 9 hot months of the year here, and to do so in great comfort. I primarily work in the heat, and simply refuse to melt while driving, as well, so if no a/c in a car, 911 or not, the machine gets parked - simply not fun to operate it otherwise.

A guy who lives in Lubbock (Steve/Hot Euro) added a system to his originally non-a/c 911 Turbo conversion last January, and he said that as soon as he drove the car in hot weather with the a/c on, all thoughts of the money he spent, and the many hours of work he put into the install, disappeared from his mind completely.

Do a heater backdate and keep ALL the stock parts for later if you change your mind. Take a lot of pictures before you remove stuff and document while you remove items.

As for AC, you're in Texas dude, no excuse not to get that sh** as cold as possible. Do some research and find the best system you can. It'll be worth it in the long run.

-Steve

I concur with Ronnie..I too went the Griffith's route...worth every penny!

If its your daily drive, then AC is a must.
I live in Dallas, and am in similar phase of my project as you - but seeing that mine is a weekend driver for spring / fall etc - I was not interested in the AC, nor heaters. I removed it all.

..and in case you think there are no weight savings to be had....there is a interesting thread by Joe who painstakingly documented component removals from his P....the numbers are astounding. Worth a read.

Windows, sun roof down....

I can't imagine owing a air cooled 911 in Texas and NOT having great A/C. I used to dread driving my 911 in the hot part of summer and my wife would not go with me. I fixed the AC with a Griffith's system and I can drive through Needles, CA in summer or drive out to Savannah, GA is August and remain comfortable.

No argument, removing all the heat and air will save you weight. It will also make the car MUCH more difficult to sell in the future and dang stupid uncomfortable 9 months out of the year.

It is all your choice, do what makes ya happy.

I lived in SA for several years and bought a BMW 635Csi that had broken A/C. Thought I could endure without. No way. Do yourself a favor and leave the A/C in the car. Otherwise you will limit your use of the vehicle to those 3 days in January when the weather is cool enough to not need A/C.

Same here. Living in FL, driving the car here sucked with the heat and humidity. Upgraded the AC, living the dream now. I do prefer the windows open while driving, but having the option and knowing it's going to get cold is worth every penny I spent.

Austin here. I'm planning on doing my A/C in the springtime. Griffiths I think. My factory air works but is crappy. Thought I could endure it, but really don't like getting there with my back all sweaty. Also on muggy days with rain -- rolling down windows is no option. A/C is a creature comfort yes, but a must on a daily driver.

There's a reason new car manufs don't even list A/C as a feature anymore; it's just assumed...

Don't be too quick to jump on the weight saving power increasing bad wagon to pull out the heat and AC, I think you'll regret it. Heck, I live in MN and the 4 months of the year I really want AC are the 4 months of the year the car gets driven the most. Nothing like drivin' around in your super-fly ride lookin' good while sweating to death in the driver's seat.