thinkiwanta928

In April I purchased a full air conditioning kit from Griffith's, https://griffiths.com.
The kit was about 4,800 and included everything except I'm using the stock deck lid condenser. As I live in Texas, part of my upgrade to the system includes both a forward and rearward mounted fan/condenser units for the left rear wheel well. So, new hoses, condensers, evaporator, evap fan and its variable fan speed controller, temperature tube, compressor, and all the connections and electrical to complete the installation.
As everyone knows, this generation of 911's had two major flaws: First, there isn't enough condenser surface area to properly cool the refrigerant. Second, the evaporator fan doesn't quite move enough air combined with the restrictive outer air vents. This kit solves these issues.
We had very nice tepid weather in May and early June so I only recently finished my installation of the kit and am very pleased with all aspects of the upgrade.
Yesterday, driving in stop-n-go and on the highway in the Dallas area, I was cold inside the car. The sun was on full beat down and the air temperature was in the upper 90Fs.

The kit comes with very extensive instructions for installation. I kept a log of hours worked on the system and was just under 25 hours, not including the time spent running evacuation and charging. The tech support from Charlie Griffith was excellent. The quality of the parts and pieces are top-notch.

As much as I enjoy cruising this car with the windows down so I can hear the engine and enjoy the breeze, there are times where a/c is nice, including taking the car somewhere and taking my wife along.

If you're thinking you'd like to upgrade your a/c system, don't hesitate to go with Griffith's. (obviously I have no connection to Griffith's other than a happy customer)

dr914

we love charlie.

sithot

Griffith's is the go-to AC shop. Years back I drove a '77 Turbo with one of their systems. Like yours, It worked very well. Dead on the money on "surface area".

Unlike the latest craze electric AC you didn't have to install a bigger alternator and deal with all the plumbing changes under the hood.

Pavegeno928

11 years and my Griffith's is going strong in my 88 Cab.

thinkiwanta928

Yes! I think you made some positive comments about Griffith’s on another thread and living in Alabama, gave me confidence it’d function correctly in Texas.

Jonny Retrofit

Craze? BMW, Nissan, Toyota and Tesla all use electric AC compressors. Main reason is they use less HP so increase gas mileage.

Removing and replacing a factory evaporator/blower isn’t a very nice job either. Nor is having to work under the car on the hoses. Install time is less for our system at around 15-20 hours. We also sell a ‘half kit’ if you don’t want to touch the factory AC blower.

Interesting to note that the Griffiths kit purchased at $4800 costs more than our electric kit and that includes the 150A alternator and shipping to the US.

Our kit is one third of the weight too, adding just 17lbs to the weight of a 911.

Just a craze though.

Honkity Hank

After looking at the options I decided to go with Retro Aire for my 87 Carrera. I think the Griffiths is a great product, but for my car I felt the Retro Aire would be a better solution. Since engine is out for rebuild now was the time to do the long overdue A/C overhaul. I can't report on the install yet, Retro is still making the parts but they were great in getting me the 150 amp alternator first. It came in less than a week, so I could get it to my engine builder for installation while the engine was still out of the car. The rest of the parts will come soon enough. I upgraded the alternator since I live in the south, and even though the 90 amp alternator would work, I think having better output at idle will be much better.

I will try to report back on the rest of the install and let the forum know my experience with it.

sithot

I'm waiting to see how Ruf's "electric" setup works. They are doing these on water cooled cars with a faux fan shroud affair for the alternator. Clever and easier to work on. Changing an alternator isn't one of my favorite tasks.

Honkity Hank

The up sized 150 amp alternator is direct drop in but you do have to increase the wire sizes (included in the kit). Very easy to do with the engine out, but the rewire would be a little fiddly with the engine in, but not horrendous.

I like the idea of cleaning up the engine bay, getting rid of the condenser in the tail and belt driven compressor. Overall it saves a little weight, but the tidy install is more of an issue to me. You do loose the smuggler's box as place to hide your contraband, need to relocate the windshield water bottle (on impact bumper cars).

Jonny Retrofit

It’s our kit in the new CTR with some custom additions.

Gene Whitman

I put a standard 1 condenser Griffiths in an ''83 911 convertible followed by a recent instalation of a Classic Retrofit electrical ac sytem in a '79 911 cou0e. The electrical sytem has these obvious advantages- slightly less cost,( although cost of finstallation makes this system more expensive) less weight, insignificant power loss from the engine. Disadvantages- in my experience, the Griffith sytem far outperforms the Classic Retrofit electrical sytem in producing colder and drier air......my experience- for what it'sworth

sithot

Exactly ^^^