A/C Removal

[jasonk]

I want to yank out all of the A/C components on my soon to be track car. It's an 87 325iS. It doesn't blow cold air and I have no interest in converting it.

What's involved in removing it. I did a search and came up with some random bits about smth having to do with fuel lines, someone else had mentioned needing some special brackets to use after the condenser has been removed.

Has anyone actually done this who can chime in and tell me what the exact procedure is.

Thanks!

[Skafrog]

alright, starting from the firewall forward.
On the pass. side of the car you will see two A/C lines running underneath the hood bracket. Remove those. As you move down the passenger side side of the engine bay, follow the lines and remove the brackets that hold them to the frame.
Once you get the two main lines removed (I think one goes to the compressor and the reciever), you can now unbolt the compressor from the engine. There are two bolts. Cut the A/C belt, and remove the bolts, and unhook the two lines on the compressor.
Now, remove all the assorted lines coming from/to the reciever (its the black canister on the passenger side engine bay near the back of the headlights). There should only be two lines left, both will be running to the condensor sitting in front of your radiator.
Unbolt the three (?) bolts holding the reciever in, and pull that POS out. Unhook all assorted wires if there is any, etc.
Now, go to the front of the car. You can pull the consendor out two ways. One involves removinf the front of the car, andthe other involves removing the radiator. I removed the radiator for simplicity (it also lets you flush your coolant). Un hook the three lines on the radiator, remove the two bolts, and pull the radiator out. Now you can unbolt the condensor.
Remove the front grills and remove the two A/C lines left that attach to the condensor. After the lines are removed, pull the condensor out with the fan still attached.

Now, you can mount (zip-tie) the A/C fan to your radiator to act as a cooling device instead of your stock fan and clutch assembly on the motor.
Just hook the fan back into its original wiring plug, and use the A/C button to turn the fan on/off.

If you need to see some pics, let me know.

[jasonk]

Thank you! Yes, I would like pics, if possible. Also, why do u say instead of the main cooling fan? Don't I keep that one? I was thinking of getting an electric fan once the fan clutch is gone, or I am thinking about it wrong. My understanding that for a track car both fans would be beneficial.

jkuper at rcn dot com

[Skafrog]

for a track car, all you will need a fan for is when you're gridding.
A single electric fan will be sufificient.
Remove the stock mechanical fan. Save yourself some money and reuse your A/C fan instead of buying an electric fan.
Also, remove the A/C pulley if you feel up to it. Jyst make sure you put washers on the bolts as to compensate for the lost "thickness" of the A/C pulley.

As far as the pics, go try and remove the A/C first. If you get horribly stuck, let me know. My A/C has been gone for a while now, so I cant really go take pics of what to remove. I can show you some things though if you need.
Its really pretty easy.

[jasonk]

Cool. So one fan in front of the radiator is basically what you have?

The only thing is, the car will still be driven to and from the track, so I don't wanna without enough cooling stuck in traffic or whatever.

[Skafrog]

eh, it will still be fine. I run just the A/C fan on my radiator.

[MR 325]

So wait a minute, I can wire my A/C fan as it was stock and the A/C button will turn it on?

That's sweet.

PS- I remvoed my A/C when I pulled the motor but was planning on putting that fan back in there on a switch. But this would be so much better.

[Skafrog]

well yea, why wouldnt it work?

[MR 325]

Don't know, just never thought of it I guess

[kowalski]

how big is the ac fan? and if you really wanted to you could get a bigger fan and use the ac switch and put a relay in so you would only have to run 2 new wires one from the power supply to the relay and one form the relay to the fan and then you'd be done and you could use your ac switch if you dont feel comfortable using your ac fan

[hypnotoad]

i removed all the a/c components and now im running only the a/c fan. but, whenever the a/c button is on there is an intermittent clicking sound from the dash area. did you guys encounter this?

[ptownTSI]

what tool do you need to disconnect the a/c lines from the firewall? i'm pulling an engine soon.

any other bmw specific tools i may want?

[SpecM]

-Big wrench

[Dinnertime]

This might have been already answered, but I searched and didnt find anything. The two hardlines that run from under the pass side hood latch to the driver side, do those get removed? When I look at the rubber hose going from one of the hardlines it looks like it goes to the FPR that is in front of the intake manifold that has the vacume line that goes into it. Also some fluid leaked out of the pass side when I disconnected said hardline and it smelled like fuel.

[Dinnertime]

Ok, definalty fuel line. Can I just connect the 2 hoses together on the driver side?