AirCon questions

[Dave D]

Guy's,


I was at home this morning & as it's a nice 33deg C day here in Melbourne I washed the XB & then took her for a spin to air dry. Now my XB is a deep red color with tinted windows & black interior, well to say it was hot inside is a bit of an understatement, So I was using the 4/80 aircon.


Now the dash in mine is a GT item & it has controls for AC on there, however I don't know what is behind the dash the heater core is disconnected from the engine so I'm guessing it leaks. So question one is WITHOUT removing the dash how do I find out if I have integrated AC unit in my car??. There is no AC pump on the engine but that doesn't mean I don't have one.


Question 2, a mate of mine has a ZD Fairlane & his has the integrated AC/heater & his heater core leaks also. He has just fitted an underdash system that he got for free & he has offered me his AC/Heater unit. Will it fit??


Question 3, I plan on installing the complete Landau interior that I got in my 2nd XB into this one, will the ZD unit fit behind that dash?? or will I need to source a Landau/LTD one??


Also if anyone has any other ideas on how to fit or which AC unit I should look to fit into an XB with a Landau interior


Dave.

[XAMan]

Hi Dave


I'm no air con expert ... but why let that get in the way of answering ... hopefully you'll get some other input as well!


1. the heater / blower units are really quite different ... the air con unit is larger and has numerous vacuum pots which open/close the vents. If it is just the heater core leaking you can disassemble the plastic case ... having removed it from the car ... and have the heater unit recorred. This is also a great chance to replace the various rubber/sponge rubber seals and pads which will almost certainly have disintergrated by now. Even if the compressor has been removed there should be some plumbing from the firewall to the condensor (a second radiator mounted in front of the radiator) including an accumulator ... a bottle like tank ... I would imagine that the presence of dash mountedd air con controls indicates the fitting of factory air.


2. If Ford didn't move the goal posts ... the air con from a ZH Failane is interchangeable with an XC Falcon firewall/dash/switchgear.


3. The Landau ... Like the LTD ... has its air cond controls mounted on the centre console. This includes fan switch / temp control and function. If you use the Landau console you get the bonus of two eyeball vents pointing into the back seat area. You would then need to blank off the dash aircon controls. My strong advice ... following a hair tearing couple of months trying to get the air in my 77 LTD operating ... is to replace the vacuum lines from the getgo. They perish and leak resulting in nothing much happening when the controls are operated.