Thinking of dropping the A/C

[david-b]

Hey all;
I've been looking at weight reduction and all that fun stuff and I've been thinking about dropping the A/C. There's a lot of hoses and gadgets and everything else. How much weight do you think is in there? How hard? I look in my engine bay now and see no cruise control and there's a huge hole now against the firewall going all the way to the ground. Pretty nice. I want more. Any tips?

[kjewer1]

AC is worth about 25-30 pounds IIRC if you remove the condenser and compressor, and all lines. In all honesty, the biggest gain IMO was not in reduced weight, but in being able to get at those God forsaken rear motor mount bolts. Cut probably a half hour off my tranny removal time. Ratcheting box end 17s help to It is nice to get it all out of there...

I Took mine off and sealed up the ends of the lines where they both meet the firewall. I didn't break any other connections. This way I could go back to AC if I really found it necessary. Just reinstall and have a shop evacuate the lines, purge, and refill. You technically should have a shop evacuate the lines before you remove the system though for environmental and health reasons.

[Blackcrow64]

Ya know... We accidently cut one of my lines once and "evacuated" it ourselves.

Although now I'm wondering what it could have hurt in us because the entire shop filled up with fumes and fog. It was a bad learning experience. lol


BTW, I'm removing mine too now. What did you seal the holes in the firewall with?

[ITSME4G63]

just make sure you keep the ac bracket on the back of the engine, it helps mount your drivers side axle. Well, it does on a awd, so I dont see why it shouldnt on a fwd, unless youre 420ra, then I dont know how it works on there.

[Blackcrow64]

Originally Posted by ITSME4G63

just make sure you keep the ac bracket on the back of the engine, it helps mount your drivers side axle. Well, it does on a awd, so I dont see why it shouldnt on a fwd, unless youre 420ra, then I dont know how it works on there.

The axle runs through the carrier bearing bracket which bolts to the block, not the AC bracket... Are you sure its not the carrier bearing bracket your talking about?

[ITSME4G63]

Originally Posted by Blackcrow64

The axle runs through the carrier bearing bracket which bolts to the block, not the AC bracket... Are you sure its not the carrier bearing bracket your talking about?

Im pretty sure its the ac braket, but I may be wrong, did it some time ago.

[Talon69]

yes the ac bracket uses the same bolt as the carrier bearing bracket. The ac bracket sits in front of the carrier bracket so what i did was just cut the corner of the ac bracket off to use it as one big ass washer

[kjewer1]

I stacked up 3 or so lock washers to make up the gap. Cutting the piece off the AC bracket is the best solution though.

[Blackcrow64]

Ahhh, well thats good to know then.

[nofear39427]

It seems to me that gutting out the a/c would help the cars performance and take away some front weight but what do I know

[david-b]

Damn, this is an old thread of mine. I like having weight in the front. More down force. No more old threads please!

[Blackcrow64]

Originally Posted by nofear39427

It seems to me that gutting out the a/c would help the cars performance and take away some front weight but what do I know

Here's what I know, this is another thread that is almost 3 months old... Read the dates...