Re purpose air con unit

Big Frog

Active member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
439
Location
Somewhere near Mudgee, NSW
I have a Berlingo parts car that has a perfectly good air cond system, and I have an old run about ute that could do with air con.
Is it feasible to swap all the parts from the City to the ute?
Making compressor brackets and mounting all the parts I can do. But I'm guessing that the control of the AC is somehow linked up with the car computer etc.
Is there a simple way to set up a controller for the hardware?
I'd rather reuse this stuff than just have it crushed.

Steve
 
I have a Berlingo parts car that has a perfectly good air cond system, and I have an old run about ute that could do with air con.
Is it feasible to swap all the parts from the City to the ute?
Making compressor brackets and mounting all the parts I can do. But I'm guessing that the control of the AC is somehow linked up with the car computer etc.
Is there a simple way to set up a controller for the hardware?
I'd rather reuse this stuff than just have it crushed.

Steve
Using old style switches I would think would be the easiest way, ie: an adjustable thermostat and a off/on/fan speed switch. Or just a off/on if you don't mind it blowing flat out all the time. The other components would be fine.
I used quite a bit of AC stuff out of my daughter's Mazda 121 in my old '65 F Truck.
She'd cooked it so it was heading to the wreckers. Hardest part would be fabricating a housing for the evaporator or trying to utilise the Berlingo's one in a different car.
 
huge job ... the inside bit is the hardest. evaporators are usually buried inside a heater box ( I wonder how hard that is to get out). You could just find an old thermostat to use to switch the compressor on and off. Its do-able no doubt. Don't understimate the size of the job though. It is HUGE, and once done, and leak free you need to the gear 'vac it down and charge it.

something from the 70's or 80's would be easier, they are "add on" systems that are universal, so can be more readily moved between cars.
 
^ I agree. And Double Chevron has done a lot of hard work on cars.
 
Even if you don't use the evap you can still use the compressor, condenser, condenser fan, receiver dryer, probably a fair bit of the hosework. (I had a look under my Berlingo and it has some quite long AC lines on it). Then just buy an underdash evap off EBay. I had a quick look they're still under $100 delivered. They have a TX valve built in in, so all you have to do get the 2 hoses to it, and hook up 3 wires, (+),( - ) and one to the the compressor and fan via the hi/lo pressure switch, (I used this wire to trigger a relay just to be on the safe side on the F Truck.
Most of the guys round here charge $100 to $125 to recharge the gas.
Just keep in mind the gas still in the system is (by weight) 9000 times worse than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. If you're into that sort of thing.😉

Screenshot_20230313-211510_eBay.jpg
 
Thanks for the input, ALL my projects end up being WAY more work than I expect, but I do like to re use stuff. I like the idea of a purpose made under dash unit which will save having to work with whatever the Berlingo one looks like.
And maybe instead of a thermostat to regulate it, I wonder if there is a simple duty cycle device. So say 3 settings low med high. High is just on, medium is on 50 % of the time, 1 min on , 1 min off., And low would be 1 min on, 2 min off.
 
And maybe instead of a thermostat to regulate it, I wonder if there is a simple duty cycle device. So say 3 settings low med high. High is just on, medium is on 50 % of the time, 1 min on , 1 min off., And low would be 1 min on, 2 min off.
I suppose you could, the compressor clutch would be probably be working overtime though compared to "normal" thermostatic control.
A 12V digital thermostat/ temperature controller can be had for under $10 on EBay, a manual one for $15.
A stepless fan control is like $5. If your recipient car already has a heater in it you could use it's switch and just run it via a on/off/on toggle to select either fan.🤷‍♂️
 
Didn't the blingo come with A/C ?
Why not hit a wrecker up for one that did and get the evap from one of them and use the bits that you have on hand ?
 
Thanks for the input, ALL my projects end up being WAY more work than I expect, but I do like to re use stuff. I like the idea of a purpose made under dash unit which will save having to work with whatever the Berlingo one looks like.
And maybe instead of a thermostat to regulate it, I wonder if there is a simple duty cycle device. So say 3 settings low med high. High is just on, medium is on 50 % of the time, 1 min on , 1 min off., And low would be 1 min on, 2 min off.
it needs to be a thermostat, you cycle the compressor on/off to prevent freezing of the evaporator. The evaporator will turn to a lump of ice almost right away if you don't have thermostat control of some sort fitted.

older cars have literally a thermostat switch that is analogue so easily wired in.

 
Thanks Shane, I see the purpose of the thermostat, I was just thinking of the cabin outcome not the possible effect on the evaporator.
If possible to easily reuse the evaporator from the Berlingo, I will unless it has crazy config that will take lots of messing about to package in to the ute.
will have to have a look first.
Cheers
 
Don't know what year your Berlingo is, but this is the evaporator that mine has. The rectangular block sticks through the firewall on the passenger side and it houses the TX valve. This is where the hi/lo hoses connect from the front of the car.
Wouldn't be hard to make a small housing for it and just use a small thermo fan (motorcycles are a good source for a small, quiet but efficient thermo fan) on the back to push the air through. Just be sure to have a hole or two on the fan side of the housing so the cabin air can freely recirculate.
At the end of the day half the early factory option AC units were a rudimentary box with the evaporator and a fan in it, and just shoved wherever it would fit under the dash.🤷‍♂️

images (32).jpeg
 
Top