County A/C-heater into Defender?

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Just wondering if it would be possible to fit the County combined A/C evaporator and blower/heater into a defender so the front passengers can have a footwell.

[jerryd]

Would you have to fit the County dash though or could it connect to the defender type vents ?? You are giving me more ideas now :)

[VladTepes]

As far as I can tell the short answer is - anything is possible given sufficient time and money. I'd suggest the solution is worth neither.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Vlad

I take it you're suggesting the evaporator unit in the county isn't a very large capacity.

The plan wasn't to use the interior side of the county only the engine side. The thought only came up because a local repairer is wrecking a county with air.

Diana

[Davehoos]

the county harrison a/c wasnt much good.
it suited cooler climates.with the V8 Ive had to wrap lots of heat proofing around the case to get the cool air into the cab.not that expensive now is sheet of heat sheild used for exhaust to body sheilds.

I also wondered why go to the trouble of sqweezing in all the face vents.
and loosing the outside air vents.and why hasnt someone made an aftermarket replacement for the harrison to fit in the wing.but it always been cheeper to throw it and fit a roof or in cab unit.a large stand up unit in the rear could easily do soch a bit area.

have a try with your defender and see where the air vents through.the demister is small and the 2 floor vents.is that enough air to circulate on a hot day-then compare to the under dash.

my only thougt is extra vent cut into the air distrubution box section[each side of the center].from memory the county blows air into the dash box and then paddles close off the vents.

fresh recirc vent is in the foot well/you just cut a hole.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Thanks Dave

I have a Defender under dash unit, and the loss of anywhere to put your feet on the passenger side is a real frustration. As for the other options overhead clearance is an issue so a rooftop option is out. Will wait until the combined unit is out of the vehicle and decide then. I may still end up with the under seat unit in the rear of the double cab and duct the air forward to the front seats.

Diana

[85 county]

what year defender are you talking about,

i could do a measure up if you want.

the county air didn't get a good rap but with a few mods its not bad if its in good nick.
every thing is vacuum actuated, having siad that on the actual under the bonnet side i think only the recirculate and hot/cold, i think this would be easily sorted.

the box is a bit of a let down because regardless of what setting you are on hot water still flows, its the path of the air that changes ver a big flap, the seal on this flap etc, in short it don't work that well. a hot water bypass like i have seen on D! V8 discos would do the trick

the hole in the fire wall is bigger i believe.

as for the dash stuff just use vacuum hose, in bright orange like i did for a couple of years.

[flagg]

I'm reworking the A/ C in my county at the moment..

You may have clearance issues between the blower motor and the turbo.. if not they will be very close and require good heat sheilding.

Mine has a tap brazzed in to the heater pipe to stop circulation - works really well.

I've removed the recirculation in the footwell... It was just a source of rust and water.

[Davehoos]

the original county had a vac switch to turn of the water suply when in the very cold possition.without that it was useless.like 10 degrees extra.
most of the V8 wouldnt hold vac or the interiour leaked dreadfull.

the original used a thermostat wrapped around the suction pipe---turns off just after it froze up.the tx mostly sut off the gas flow just before it froze up.

with out the recirc air you can forget about efficent runiing.the original condensors just cant cope on a hot day.

[85 county]

Mine has a tap brazzed in to the heater pipe to stop circulation - works really well.

.

be careful of your water pump

[Davehoos]

older V8 the heater and bypass are parralel.
i noticed that there is no bypass on the 3.9 V8.

the 4BD1 should have a primary bypass. and they already have a tap in the system.

if your using an engine without a bypass you use a 4 conevtion change over tap-common on ford/holden V8.