Defender 200 Tdi Air Con (Condenser)

[manic]

Hi there,

Im a new poster to these boards -> see Introduction (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/introductions/99217-new-rover-melbourne.html#post1188570)

My Defender is currently in the UK (Reg 1989 D90). It had a very crappy 2.5 TD when I bought it but not long ago I put in a good 200tdi from a rotten discovery. Big improvement.

Amongst a ton of other things that I will be doing to the rover before I ship it to Auz, I will be setting up some air-con. And I need to do it for as cheap as is sensible.

I figure you Aussies would have more experience with AC then the guys on the UK forums.

I figure I will need the following:

- AC Compressor from Disco 200tdi (got one off ebay uk)
- AC Condenser (from disco/defender ?)
- Drier/Receiver (?)
- Evaporator/Fan Assembly (will go for Red Dot Headliner).

I can get hold of a Condenser and Drier Bottle combo from a 300tdi Disco but I dont know if this will fit in the defender. Also having looked on EBAY I can see that there are tons of cheap condensers from all kinds of broken cars. Is it possible to use any condenser that measures a fit and just fasion up a bracket to place it in front of the radiator.

Can you hook up the condenser to any old receiver/drier?

Has any one had any luck fitting a condenser and drier that isnt original landrover (under the bonnet)?

My ideal solution if possible would be to have a condenser that is the same size or smaller than the radiator so that it does not cover the intercooler.
Does the factory one cover the intercooler?

Any advice here appreciated as I've never seen under the bonnet of a 200/300 tdi defender with aircon installed and generally Im pretty clueless on air con set ups.

[Blknight.aus]

your probabley better off with one of the td5 units for ease of install or one of the units out of a county.

I'd personally opt for the engine bay side out of the Td5 and then have it mated up to the roof mount aircon unit from one of the people carryin vans that has a split system for the front and rear.

[manic]

So you suggest a Defender TD5 condenser and drier?

I havent found any second hand defender condensers online -perhaps Im not looking in the right places. New ac parts for defender are expensive.

I've thought about roof mount from van/coach but like the look of red-dot liner and I can get it in the UK for 300 quid which is much cheaper then what I was qouted here. (over $1000!)

I got the compressor for 25 quid, and was hoping it would be possible to get a cheap drier and condensor salavaged out of a dying motor.

[goldrover]

I have a complete a/c defender set up I bought from a rolled 300 tdi. I was going to fit this to my cab chassis but plans have changed. pm me if you are interested.

Philip

[manic]

Hi Philip,

May well be. What parts does a full 300tdi defender AC set up consist of exactly?

And does the condenser take up the whole front of the rad and intercooler?

[waxer]

Gday I am a refrigeration mechanic but with very little experience on car air or land rover set ups.Usually the system components compressor ,receiver drier, condenser , evaporarator ,are all matched.Undersizing the condenser will likely result in poor performance under very hot conditions because it will not be able to dissipate the heat quickly enough,receiver drier,the drier is purely that ,a filter that is able to extract moisture( read water )as the refrigerant passes through it.The receiver part of it needs to be big enough to be able to supply additional refrigerant under varying loads.The compressor is normally matched to evaporator size (the cooling coil)and also may contain different types of oil if it is not designed for R134a,the old refrigerant was R12 and is phased out.My suggestion is go for a complete system or at least all components from one model that way it is all designed to work together,getting a professional to sort out a mix and match system is likely to suck up any cost savings you make ................Cheers John

[manic]

Hi John,

Thanks for the input. That’s what I feared!

I suppose if I knew the capacity of the defender condenser it would be possible to source one from the scrap yard that has a similar capacity?

Ok so it looks like I will need to get the drier/receiver from a disco or defender 200tdi to be sure it matches the compressor. Im still pondering the condenser. It would be nice to know the size used in the defender.

As for the evaporator (Red Dot R-2000 Headliner), Im pretty sure I read that a defender owner on here used one with the standard defender compressor? So im hoping that will work well for me. Im not too keen on the under dash option, and heard its not very good - let down by the evaporator and poor positioning?


Matt.

[Blknight.aus]

yep.....

but.....

so long as you use a TX valve setup with the appropriate over under pressure protection in the system its not quite as tight a configuration as the pitot tube setup thats in most fridges.

so long as you get pretty close, if the sight glass in the reciever drier shows you have a fully flooded condenser then you're laughing.

IMHO the condenser in the td5 is oversize for the stock evaporator as going to the + side of the given charge leads to evaporator freezing.

[manic]

TX valve setup with the appropriate over under pressure protection in the system

Hopefully the AC guy that connects it all up for me will know what thats about :)

[manic]

So is it fair to say that getting the condenser size wrong will only effect the temperature of the coolant and not adversly effect any other components in the AC chain?

[Blknight.aus]

with in reason....

its not like you can take an evaporator thats rated for 30000000KW of heat transfer and connect it up to a 1KW condenser or vice versa. So long as the compressor, TX valve or the lines themselves dont provide a limitation then you can get away with back of the napkin-ing the math.

Personally....

Id let a fridge mechanic design auto air long before I let an auto aircon guy design a fridge.

[manic]

ok It may be a bit of a gamble but Im gonna go for it:

- try and source a cheap 200/300tdi defender or disco receiver/drier.

- source a condenser that is roughly the same size as the 200tdi radiator. (so it does not block flow to the intercooler)

- Hook it all up to the 200tdi disco compressor and Red Dot Evaporator.

Will put a post up when its all done.

If any one can give info on the size of the stock condensor in the defender and whether it covers the intercooler - that would be useful to know.

Thanks.

[slug_burner]

I have a 94 300 Tdi Defender with ac.

The car is not here at the moment so can't go out and measure or photograph for you. The evaporator is housed in the passenger footwell (I think they could have done a better job of it) I am told that it was a locally developed solution as it was one of the first 300 Tdi into the country.

I would say that the chances of you going too big on the condensor are remote. My Defender was not able to cool the cab when the temp got to 39 C up in the Kimberley and I think that was mostly due to an undersized condensor. The huge cabin could have something to do with it but from what I recall the air was just not coming out cold from the vents. My passenger decided to open the window as it was 39 C both inside and outside the car.

[goldrover]

What parts does a full 300tdi defender AC set up consist of exactly?


This is the complete a/c set up as fitted to aussie delivered defenders
compressor ,receiver drier, condenser , evaporarator and including all the dash components and wiring.

cheers
Philip

[manic]

Found an image of the TD5 air con set up.

Looks like condenser is full width and has its own fan - tdi's probably the same then.


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/02/330.jpg

[fraser130]

ok It may be a bit of a gamble but Im gonna go for it:

- try and source a cheap 200/300tdi defender or disco receiver/drier.

- source a condenser that is roughly the same size as the 200tdi radiator. (so it does not block flow to the intercooler)

- Hook it all up to the 200tdi disco compressor and Red Dot Evaporator.

Will put a post up when its all done.

If any one can give info on the size of the stock condensor in the defender and whether it covers the intercooler - that would be useful to know.

Thanks.

What's the chance of you getting the Red dot one that has the condensor in it too?
Just a thought
Fraser