TR7V8mike Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Hi, I have a TR7 SD1 3.5 V8. I have two conflicting goals. I am trying to strip as much weight out of the car as possible, but (with a Sydney summer just around the corner) would still like to be able to drive the car on 37 C days without being hospitalised. Can anyone provide advice on installing a modern, light A/C system? I have thrown the radio away so have some spare dash space for controls. On a similar topic, are there any potential mods to the heater to reduce weight? Best regards Michael Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR8IAN Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Hi Michael, just spotted your posting - I think the person who could help you most is a member on here by the name of "Hasbeen" he lives in Oz and has fitted AC to his TR7. Look his name up in the members list and send him a PM. Hope this helps a little. Cheers Ian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR7V8mike Posted December 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Thanks Ian, I'll contact him. I have found Vintage Air, a US company that provides kits for specific classic cars and kits that can be fitted to most cars. It looks promising, but I have to get the old one first. Do you have any experience with removing the heater unit? Bean's blog says you have to pull the entire dash out. Regards Michael Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR8IAN Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi Michael, It is I'm afraid true that you will have to remove the dash to get to the heater unit. however it isn't as bad as it sounds. The removal is fairly straightforward if you follow the book. I have found it easier when removing the centre cubby box and handbrake surround to release one of the cotter pins on the rear axle so that you can get the handbrake to pull up higher. Take off the steering wheel and the black cover then take the indicator / windscreen arms off as one unit so they don't fall to pieces. the three screws on the top of the dash and the two under the "speaker" grille can be undone with a stubby Philips screwdriver The speedo / revcounter binnacle comes out easy enough but take car to note the locations for the wiring and how you handle the printed circuit board (nasty flimsy green plastic thing attached to the back). The main wiring loom connectors can only go back together with their corresponding connectors so you don't have to worry to much - it is worth cleaning the connectors on all the plugs etc. and the switches as well once you've got everything out. Very important when you put the dash back in is to not overtighten the screws as at 30 odd years the plastic material can become fairly brittle and take pictures for reference as you go. Cheers Ian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hasbeen Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi Michael. I fitted air con to the 7 for the 2012 summer. It was expensive & took a couple of months, but was worth it in every way. It makes the car a joy instead of hell in our summers. I acquired most of a genuine unit from a US import bound for the track. Really the only bits that were useful were the under dash unit, & the compressor mount, which was adapted to take a modern compressor. The rest was all fabricated, hence the time required. Oh, & yes the whole dash has to come out. about 8 hours R&R as a guess. If you can find a kit produced for a 7, that would be the best way to go, it takes for ever & costs a bomb to do all the mods required for a one off. We also have a genuine 8, with a now modified original air con system, with a modern compressor. My son has the car at Kiama. It is now a fairly poky 4.6L with a late Haltech injection & ignition system, so an interesting car. Hasbeen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR7V8mike Posted December 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 Thanks Ian and Hasbeen, you've been really helpful. If you feel an overwhelming to remove and replace a dash (always one of my favourite jobs) feel free to give me a call. I have another question that might seen a bit weird, but I would like your responses. It has never made a lot of sense to me to put the radiator at 90 degrees to the air flow. I thought about having a radiator in two, connected halves. Each half would sit vertically, at about 30 degrees to the side of the car, between the engine and the wheel arch, projecting forward to, perhaps just a little forward of the pulley wheels. I think this might get better air flow across the surface of radiator(s) and would allow you to move the weight of the radiator back and down. Would have to move the alternator, but that should be doable. It would also avoid the silly configuration of have the A/C condenser plastered across the front of the radiator. What do you think? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hasbeen Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 (edited) Mike I have the standard Oz kit of a Holden VN radiator, on the 4.6L with a 4 core center, & the standard overheating in slow traffic in summer. The condenser is in the usual place, with 18" fans in front & behind it & the radiator, pushing & pulling as required. I think the front fan gets more air up to the dead area at the top of the radiator. I also have an oil cooler mounted across the car, under the radiator. I spent a lot of money & time trying to cool an engine that got hot in slow traffic. It never had a problem when driven fast & hard. Every thing I did gave just enough response to keep me spending money. Finally my son went mad. He fitted a new heavily worked inlet system, plenum with large throttle body, much bigger injectors, a huge exhaust system, an ignition system strong enough to spark WW111, & the latest Haltech competition computer to drive it all. I expected he had built a much more efficient water heater. We couldn't put it on a dyno as it was Xmas & they were shut, so we went for a couple of drives with the laptop connected to it. Rather than tuning at top revs full throttle, he started at the bottom. We found it was running terribly lean on small throttle openings at low revs. He progressively richened the mixture on low throttle between 1000 & 2200RPM, by up to 140%, particularly at small/medium throttle openings. Not only did the thing now run nicely cool, but it had gained so much low down torque that we had to develop better throttle control, to avoid spinning wheels at every take off. I realised I had been trying to cool a hot running engine, when I should have been tuning the engine to run cool. Tuning for peak power, without looking at the low speed tuning is giving most of our cooling problems. Get that right, & what & how you do the radiator is not so important. Hasbeen Edited December 11, 2013 by Hasbeen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR7V8mike Posted December 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Hi, My A/C research continues. The Vintage Air website strongly recommends Sanden compressors so I gave them a call and asked for their recommendation on a compressor for the TR7. The guy I spoke to said I really need to identify the specs of the original compressor and condenser. Can anyone provide these? If not, if someone has these items kicking around the workshop (someone must have) would you kindly provide the model and series numbers from the compressor and any available info from the condenser? Thanks Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hasbeen Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 From the 1977 manual, York, model 210 10.3 cu in/rev 6" pulley Hasbeen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR7V8mike Posted December 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2013 Fantastic! Thanks. You really don't deserve your nickname. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR7V8mike Posted December 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Hi, Here's a little quiz for you. On the left front of the engine is a dual pulley wheel that doesn't seem to connect to anything. I suspect it might have something to do with the A/C compressor on the original design. I have some more photos, but they are too big to attach. If you don't mind sharing your email address I could email them to you. There is a second little mystery. In photo 233 below is something that looks like some kind of sensor, but I am not sure what it might do. The wheel that takes up the top left corner of the photo is the main pulley wheel. In photo 234 is an electrical plug that is tucked in between the mystery pulley and the main pulley wheel. On top is a 9-point female plug and several wires come off the bottom, but are not connected to anything. All of the stuff looks redundant, but I have made mistakes in the past by pulling off something I thought was redundant only to find out many $$$ later that it wasn't. Look forward to hearing from you. Regards Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
john 215 Posted December 17, 2013 Report Share Posted December 17, 2013 (edited) Hi, I done my apprenticeship in a BL Dealership when the SD1 and TR7 were new ( ended up a Master Tech there ), the picture you show is what we plugged our Crypton engine analyser into. It allow you to read out ignition timing and RPM. We had a small interface box screwed underneath the main analyser, that had at the time a high tech LED display showing the information , I guess the factory used the same set up. On the the SD1 2.6 and 2.3 they had a slot which held a pick up lead, from the analysers, which carried out the same thing. Mystery solved ! ! ! Cheers John Edited December 17, 2013 by john 215 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR7V8mike Posted December 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2013 Hi John, Vintage Air have recommended a Sanden compressor, based on the specs of the original York. Before I install it, I thought I would tidy up the front of the engine. Do you have any experience with lightweight alternators and electric water pumps for a 3.5 SD1? Thanks Michael Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR7V8mike Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Hi John and Ian, I would like to install lightweight crankshaft pulleys. Are the vibration damper and and balancing rim essential to the operation of the engine? Are there lighter alternatives? Can I safely reduce the diameter of the vibration damper? Cheers, Michael Quote Link to post Share on other sites
andy cadle Posted March 4, 2019 Report Share Posted March 4, 2019 hello im trying to fit a heater box with a/c , r/h drive car but the hole for the lower plastic duct does not line up the frame work for the steering wheel is in the way any thoughts car is 78/79 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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