Thread: Aftermarket A/C in 300tdi Defender with remote mounted condensor

Hi Matthew,

I'll be following this with interest.

As I am based in Nth Qld and carry small children and the Minister for Funds of all things Landy and fun related it is important they keep their cool and I keep my hearing.

I too like the look of goingbushs setup but a rooftop condenser would be a no go for me as I need to limit the height and retain my current roofrack.

Keep the posts and pics flowing.

I'm following too , I've spent close to $3000 getting the factory set up going ....big mistake I was hoping for miracle from the poor design. I seen a ceiling mounted evaporator r20006p on "indotek " has all the vents,switches etc in one unit looks neat .below is a link if it works .

http://www.indotek-bpn.com/product.p...roduct=R20006P

I am looking into this as a replacement for my below par evaporator and it will free up leg room and hopefully perform ten fold better

image-2871771578.jpg

Thank you everyone for your words of encouragement.

First step is to remove the existing steel roof rack, weld on a couple of additional tabs for antennas and things and then send it off for galvanizing.

I've also got a set of tool mounts to go on the bonnet from a Perentie, so I'm going to 'gal' them too while I have the chance.

While I've got the 'mig' running I will also weld up my rear mounted ladder, which is currently nothing more than a pile of steel bits in the corner of the garage and send it off as well.

Just waiting on quotes and then off we go!

Originally Posted by seqfisho

Hi Matthew,

I'll be following this with interest.

As I am based in Nth Qld and carry small children and the Minister for Funds of all things Landy and fun related it is important they keep their cool and I keep my hearing.

I too like the look of goingbushs setup but a rooftop condenser would be a no go for me as I need to limit the height and retain my current roofrack.

Keep the posts and pics flowing.

Hi Glen,

It sounds like your Minister for Funds might be in some way related to She Who Must Be Obeyed, who now refuses to travel in the D'Fer sans cool air.

This in itself does have its benefits... But that's a tale for another time.

In my research I've discovered a few bits which might help you. While I've gone in for complete overkill, there were a couple of other options I investigated.

On my '94 D'Der the front mount unit is a universal fit "Sanden" unit. There are better high flow front mount options available, but I've been told by multiple a/c specialists that nothing helps more than getting the condensor onto the roof. The air up higher is 'cleaner' (a.k.a. cooler) hence the efficiency is improved.

Because my roof rack is "raked" to match the roof profile, there was the option of putting a matching unit on the roof. I could also have (and in fact did buy) a unit which would mount alongside the vehicle between the roof rack legs (the one with the yellow frame).

I discounted the "raked" option as it just looked 'Fugly' and would have dominated the look of the vehicle. The one mounted in the yellow frame cost me $100 and is designed to go on earth-movers.

Pro: To put it into perspective, both of these have 2+ times the surface area of the front mount Sanden unit, hence their ability to shed heat is better.

Con: You have to sort out the wiring and thermo fan options yourself.

In the end what stopped me was aesthetics. If I'm going to have a box or something on the roof, I want to be able to look at it and not loose my lunch.

Good Luck!

So the quotes for galvanising are back and are between $300 and $400.

However it's been strongly recommended that I don't go down this path as it is likely that the rack will not survive the process. While the legs are solid steel, as is the mesh, the frame for the rack is square hollow section, with the wall thickness being 1.5 - 2mm. Because it is all not uniform in thickness it will expand and contract at different rates with the likely result being that the rack is turned into a banana.

Plan B? Sandblasting and then a good coat of POR-15.

Originally Posted by SavingTheDefender

Having been totally unimpressed with the ongoing issues with the 20+ year old unit fitted to my 1994 D'Fer, and inspired by the likes of goingbush and rainman, I've decided to follow their example of a roof mounted unit.

I'd like to publicly acknowledge both of their builds and thank them for their quality photos and insight. It has certainly helped with me deal with mentally problem solving my way through a few issues that came to mind.

Following goingbush's example, I've secured an identical evaporator and will be rear mounting this unit. But where I'll be diverting from both builds is that I've chosen to remove the front mounted condensor.

I didn't like how on a hot day I could turn on the AC and watch my temperature gauge climb from 92 up to 98 plus degrees. Pre-heating the air before it hits the radiator and inter-cooler makes no sense to me.

It's no secret that the D'Fers struggle with under-bonnet airflow and temps and removing the condensor is just the start of my work there.

Yes, I know that all manufacturers do this but if you look there is massive space between the condensor, intercooler and radiator in most modern vehicles, as opposed to how they are all squished together in the D'Fer.

The roof mounted unit will be placed on top of my steel roof rack, which I know will cause clearance issues and is not for some. I should still be able to fit through the McD's drive through (a must with two kids in the back seat) but as the local shopping center is already a no-go zone I don't see much disadvantage for me.

The unit I've chosen is pretty extreme. It's a Red Dot R4500 which at 45,000BTUs is massive overkill. That's over 12kw which is pretty much enough to cool a 4 bedroom house in the height of summer.

It was a bit of a fluke that I was able to pick one of these up used (but in great condition) for the sum of $500, rather than the $2,500 plus retail new. Mind you I've been scanning eBay and Gumtree for over a year to catch one. Pretty lucky in my mind.

Apart from being used in ambulances, fire trucks and mine vehicles, these units also see service on the back of Hummers in Afghanistan, albeit with a steel rather than plastic casing.

More to follow as the build progresses...

If your running at 98 degrees just by turning A/C on ..... I'd be way more concerned about the cooling system and fan that I am about that A/C

I bet the clutch is dead on the fan if this is happening at idle in traffic.

seeya
Shane L.

Dumb question time ....................... Can you bolt up to the bottom of the dash ? The later Range Rover classic A/C system is very, very effective. It has a huge evaporator and effortlessly cools the range rover ...... If you have a parts car there ... you could ***EASILY*** modify the evaporator unit to fit. All you need is the two lower mounts (easily fabricated) and to chop up the top half/vents/output to match the defender dash.

I like this as it would be free ... it would be cheap .. it would be free and it would be very effective For some reason the range rover classic has a completely separated A/C system (ie: isn't a part of the heater box/etc). So is just like an aftermarket system. ie: you could move it sideways to another vehicle.

seeya,
shane L.