Removing rear aircon - blank off or reconnect the pipe work?

[Simon Jones]

I've removed the rear heater unit and will be putting a bypass pipe in for the coolant. The next decision is what to do with the pipes for the A/C refrigerant. My preference is to blank off the pipes shown below, but then I was wondering if I should try to reconnect them back together to complete the circuit. What have other folk done?



The main reason to remove the whole lot is to fit an Eberspacher heater in it's place. You can see here how much space is available once original unit has been removed.

[Coradia63]

Hi Simon,

Dont connect the pipes together because the evaporator and expansion valve have been removed if you connect them together you will put liquid refridgerant back into the compressor and destroy it! I'm not familar how the front and rear units are piped I'm guessing they are in parallel so blanking off would be the only option but with out seeing the pipework schematic dont take my word for it! but definitely dont connect together

Cheers
Stuart

[Northern Bongolow]

kirsty just blanked her's mate.

[Simon Jones]

Thanks for the replies. That makes is much easier as I have a spare pair of pipes that I can cut off and seal the ends. Didn't fancy the idea of making a loop out of two different size tubes

[rita]

Hi Simon,

I have a friend with a V6,she was intending fitting an Eberspacher heater and was wondering about the Insurance/certificated etc etc side of things.She was told that it is a no no in the engine compartment,also there were something about intake vapour barrier regulations,can you shed any light on these points.

Thanks.

[Simon Jones]

As will all mods, it is wise to let the insurance company know to be on the safe side. I've got a spare diesel unit which I plan to install as a completely self-contained unit with its own fuel tank. I did consider selling it and put the money towards getting the petrol version, but I am wary of messing with the main fuel system especially as there always seems to a positive pressure in the tank when I remove the filler cap.

Installation is pretty straight forward and I will look into get it professionally checked over once it's complete.

http://www.espar.com/documents/D1LCc.pdf

[Simon Jones]

Interestingly, for boats at least, Eberspacher advise that petrol heaters should not be used with petrol powered engines.

http://www.eberspacher.com/downloads/te ... _boats.pdf

[helen&tony]

Hi
Simon...
If you can flog the eberspacher , what about gas...would a Propex heater fit?...advantage being that if you just want the heat for camping, you can fit an external gas intake, and just clip an external gas bottle on as necessary....no diesel tank, and no extra weight...OR extra space to find for a tank.
Cheers
Helen

[Simon Jones]

Phase 1 is complete.



I've bypassed the rear heater and reconnected the coolant using a spare hose from my previous Bongo. It's the wiggly one that goes over the top of the starter motor. I'm using 2 jubilee clips per joint really as a belt and braces approach. The springy constant pressure clamps are fine on new hoses that are very flexible, but once the joint has been disturbed or the pipe is a bit less pliable, I prefer clamps that I can tighten a bit more.

The A/C pipes have been cut down and I've been practicing brazing aluminium so hope to get these sealed off tomorrow

[stuc]

I cut my rear A/C pipes and blanked off as I thought the rear was bust, but now just think it was a seal. If anyone is doing a conversion and wants rid of the rear pipes I know I could find a home for them.

[Simon Jones]

As far as I can tell, there are 2 or even 3 types of rear A/C pipes. The difference is the size of the fittings at either end. So double check the size of the pipes on each end. I did have a spare set that will probably fit yours, but they've since been cut & messed around with them while practicing for do the real ones. I got mine from Southern Bongos and paid less that £30 including the metal coolant pipe.

[stuc]

Cheers, will measure next time i'm under there.

[Simon Jones]

Phase 2 complete. I cut the pipes at about 20cm from the threaded joint under the passenger seat and crimped the sides flat in a vice. The purpose of this was to make a rough seal such that I could heat it up with a blow lamp and fill the end of the pipe using a aluminium brazing rod:





Both pipes are now totally sealed up:



Just to demonstrate the difference between the sizes of fittings between different years, the one at the top is form 2002 model, while the bottom is from 1996. There is probably only a millimetre or two between them, but they are not interchangeable:

[Ahead]

I'm thinking of doing something similar, so I could do with a bit of advice...

I fitted an Eberspacher D2 last year, in the engine bay under the passenger seat and routed the hot air supply into the cab via a swivel outlet in the sliding door step as others have done. It works, but I'd prefer the air to be more direct into the cabin rather than heating up the slidingdoor

So, I was thinking of removing the heater matrix in the rear and routing a 2nd flexible duct to the existing rear heater outlet. Doyou think this would work? Even better would be to use the existing controil to direct the heat to the upper outlets. I wouldn't need the fan and assume this gets removed when the matrix goes?
What I don't know is whether I could somehow connect into the existing rear heater ducting and if I could what size dia pipe I'd need.

Thoughts on this idea?

[Northern Bongolow]

i would be a little worried about how hot the plastic ducting would get and if it could stand it, maybe get some temps from the d2 output side.
as you will know the proper pipe is metal/foil lined.
ive seen the outlets fitted between the flip seats facing into the rear cab.