The color of the interior can have a big effect. My AC with tan interior works quite well unless it has been sitting in the sun for several hours in which case the AC struggles to get things cool. I live in Florida so we get real heat! The car does run hotter with the AC on though.

I have lived in NoVa, Woodbridge south of DC, I am from Florida (gulf coast, Clearwater/Tampa/St Pete, home of the hotdog girls :)), and I now live in Houston. As for Humidity they are all about the same tho' the Atlantic coast of Fl might be a tad better, and the heat is actually worse in DC and Houston. I guess FL being surrounded by water is a little more temperate (but not much).

Mine works brilliantly till summer comes.

It was 40C here in Sthn Aus most of last week. If you have the windows up and the air on, you will die a miserbale death. Its brutal on a really hot day at freeway speed on a long haul. Windows down, hot 70 mph buffet. Windows up, unbearable.

Id be happy to be able to get fresh air in the centre dash vents. Any one know how to do that?

Airconditioning? Thats why we have Subarus.

stuart 87 carrera

Air-con was a bit of an after-thought on the 911, they just tried to shoehorn some kind of a system in where they could. In the UK the system is perfectly adequate (we don't do hot !), if a bit on the noisey side. I suppose the system just wasn't designed for intense heat. My helpful suggestion is 'move to England, then you won't need aircon !'. Engine revs do make a pretty big difference to the temperature pushed out - the obvious solution is to drive everywhere in first with the needle on the red line - simple !

Jamie

Can anyone reccomend a bigger condenser and/or the underbelly fitment? Sounds like a project I'd like to undertake. Also, any advice on a coolant (Freon) upgrade. Thanks.

I know a guy with a 81 SC in Tucson. He has the Performance Aire underbody condensor and says that it works fine in summer using R134, so it is possible to get descent A/C in hot areas (Arizona) but unfortunately not using only the factory parts.

Another large improvement in the earlier cars is taking the York compressor and sending it to the junkyard, and replacing it with a rotary unit. After this mod the next should be replacing all the lines in the system and then it should be able to stand up to almost any summer.

Rick, Mike in Dallas had a thread (believe it was winter A/C or the like) and he found someone in the DFW area who was also building underbody condensors and at a better price than PA. Might look for this thread and contact him. Otherwise contact Performance Aire and use theirs.

My 911 sat for two months last summer but I do not see it as any worse as the guys who have to let their car sit during the winter. The other 10 months of the year we can take the top off and enjoy so its worth driving my "beater" car during the worst parts of the summer.

Joe

I did remove the "bow tie" under the dash, per recommendation on previous thread, and that did seem to increase the flow of cold air out of this lower vent. You might want to give that a try. There are only two screws that fasten this item. You can remove one and simply rotate the plastic vent to see how the flow changes. It's worth a try and I think that it helped.

Agree with the above comments. My car is low mileage and I refresh the A/C every 2 years. A/C works as designed, and will cool the car on a humid 98 degree Chicago summer day. But it will only do it with the fan setting on high, which is just not something you want to hear for a long period of time.

Until the C2/C4, it just doesn't work like a modern system.

Although I don't have to worry about freezing to death, my '88 does fine here in NC during the summer. It normally doesn't sit in the sun though so I'm not trying to cool an extremely hot car when I start out. Another note...when I lived in Fla. in the '80s, I purchased a new '87 Supra Turbo (no ricer comments please!), which basically sat in the sun all day...I thought the AC absolutely sucked 'til I moved back to NC (where it wasn't parked in the sun) and realized what a difference that made.

The AC in my 79 is being replaced right now. I'm going with a rotary compressor, new hoses, replacing the aftermarket evap with a Behr unit, and adding the stock front condensor. The part that I'm anticipating most is the addition of a Procooler receiver/dryer. There has been quite a bit of controversy on Pelican and Rennlist about the effectiveness of the Procooler, but it seems that no one has first hand experience with it. It's effectiveness will be put to an acid test on my car because it will be installed on a system that has the same parts that are on most other 911's, plus it get's real hot in Dallas. Another cool thing is, the installation is being filmed for kind of a how-to/informational video about 911 AC systems. I almost can't wait for a 100 degree day.
M

Joe: Thanks for the tip.

I'm pretty sure Juan Ruiz upgraded his condensor when he had to make room for an intercooler. I'll check with him to see results.

Being located near the coast (halfway between SF and San Jose) it seldom gets into the 90's during the summers. If it does, the AC is good enough only to keep me from sweating....on the "high" setting of course.

over 95-100 F you might as well roll down the windows. My 89 cab doesn't like humidity either if it is over 90. Since our usual weather for May to September is above those figures, it just isn't worth turning on the ac.

diverdan

Actually, this is the same old problem, Mark.

I'm also waiting for any evidence of the Pro Cooler doing any good -- but you're completely updating all of your components (even if they are to stock specs), so you'll naturally see a big improvement. Is any of the improvement attributable to the Pro Cooler? Of course, there's no way of knowing.

I wish Pro Cooler would arrange to have a impartial third party document a meaningful comparison where only the Pro Cooler is added to an otherwise fully functioning system. I can't imagine why they don't do it, unless -- like so many aftermarket manufacturers -- they figure there's more to be gained by selling big claims to people who desperately <u>want</u> their air conditioning to work better.

Jack,
All very true - I won't be able to do a before and after comparison. The test for me will be if I get 45ish degree air from a 911 on a 100 degree day with an otherwise stock AC system. I haven't heard of anyone even with an efficiently functioning factory system say theirs performs as well.
After speaking with the owner of Procooler, Ron, many times and having him explain of it's operation, I felt it was worth trying. He truly is a one man operation who answers the phone and fufills orders from his shop. Call it a leap of faith on my part. We shall see.
Mark

I think I've resolved the A/C problems for my future 911 Purchase :D


http://www.pelicanparts.com/pmpre/im.../944_Turbo.JPG
(not my pic....but looks like mine)


I guess I'll just have to keep this one too. Damn. :p

Lynn, The rotary compressor upgrade is an improvement, from what I understand, but a big part of it is less vibration/drag on engine and a (slightly) cleaned-up engine bay. Any good working compressor will move the freon around, unfortunately the weak link in the 911 system has to do with size and location of condensor and air flow. :cool:

Well, I don't know if this is any help or not but I had an 87 Cab (black top/interior) that had been converted to R134 with a Pro Cooler. I did not know what it was till my mech. pointed it out. It worked a little better than my 88 coupe (black interior) with an upgraded condensor and still running R12. This "seems" to indicate the PC does have some benefit but Jack is right...I'd love to see a test where NOTHING is changed except adding a procooler. I still think the most effective way to get really good a/c is the underbelly condensor. I just wish I could afford one...

I switched to a rotary compressor and unfortuantly coverted to R134a. There is very little drag on the engine now but it does not cool as well as it did with the old compressor and R12. At least now I can recharge the freon.