I have Rennair (now defunct, and it’s like Griffiths setup) on one car and Classic Retrofit in another (Gen 1, they’re on Gen 2.5 by now). I like both. Griffiths is a stock style A/C on steroids and works well enough. CR's electric A/C is an all-new system that works in a very different manner. Here in Florida, having both styles, I would go CR every day of the week and twice on Sunday unless......
- It's a factory A/C car and worth enough money to keep it stock looking.
- Money is a big issue.
- You love the factory style A/C temperature and fan control setup (including the glass tube style temperature adjustment knob.
- You like running A/C lined up the length of your car (if it did not have them before), which means drilling holes in your rocker panels (a prime area of rust in these cars).
CR kit is more money and far more advanced (It's inherently Emory Outlaw 356's, Guntherwerks 993's, Singers, Tuthill 911k's, etc.). It's also lighter weight and takes lot less HP to drive. It also requires a new alternator. For a non-A/C car it makes everything in the engine bay look stock, and all your A/C lines can stay hidden up front in the trunk. It’s blower moves a lot more air than even the Griffiths style setup.
Griffith requires an engine drive compressor and its mount to the engine, lines up to the front of the car, and the blower and evaporator sit in the smugglers box. It also requires its own fan speed knob and temperature control knob. The Griffiths condenser sits in the rear deck lid (don’t bother with the other setups, for this style system this is the best place and plenty of condenser capacity, even in Florida), so running the A/C does add heat to the engine bay in the hot summer. Some think this can cause overheating, I don’t buy that based on my cars experience. That said the engine driven compressor takes a lot of HP to drive, and the condenser is putting heat into the engine bay robs HP too. Depending on your engines output, it could be significant. I think the compressor is something like 15hp, vs the electrical load is 3hp on the CR kit, and the CR kit wont introduce heat into the engine bay. On my 3.6 that’s a lot smaller hit than on a 200HP 2.7 or something.
It's all about compromises. I'm happy to chat more offline if you want. Just PM me.
Good luck on your choice.
By the way I am in Florida. Here is an update I just posted to my CR A/C thread. As you can see it rocks in FL's humidity.
Post 39 with a 2025 update to my A/C thread from 2018