Edgy01

As you already know the early 911s had wholly inadequate environmentally-friendly attributes. A major part of the early 911 shortcomings are the small air ducts. The only routing for /ac in that era car are those jokes of a duct on either end of the dash, the central duct, and the two underdash ducts. (Maybe the two in the window along the windshield). Total volume is nothing. There was a manufacturer who produced a couple of bolt on ducts that could be bolted to the bottom of the dashboard. There was also a producer who made a special duct that routed air directly from the squirrel cage in the hash-stash area of the front trunk into the cockpit. It's effect was substantial. If you go to all the trouble to upgrade your system to 134a and augment it with additional condensors you have to talk about delivery systems. Air volume is everything. Good luck. I think this is why so many owners of anything prior to 1985 have virtually given up. (In 1985 they enlarged the ducts a bit but it's still a compromise).

D.C.

I rebuilt the AC on my 86 over the winter using parts from RennAire.

New Sanden compressor
New Barrier hoses
New evaporater
New belt
New bracket
pro cooler
Etc...
The job is a PITA without a lift, but it can be done, if you dont mind getting dirty.

RennAire was a great company to work with. Very helpful, answered all my questions, and they even said thay did not think I needed the desert duty front condenser. You have to respect them for that.

ajmarton

I am not a DIYer when it comes to AC systems but thought the responses were quite good considering my 89 911 cab is in the shop right now (200 North Motorworks, LA) for an AC leak. Thanks for the informative response Barry. I now have a better idea of what my mechanic was talking about. As for Boca Porsche I think your response was quite frankly rude and your attitude a little out of place. This is a national forum covering a broad range of 911s - if you dont like the responses - go get a book or do your own leg work but drop the attitude. You should be happy that people have given you enough information to ask your shop meaningful intelligent questions so YOU can make an informed decision. Now that my rant is finished I can say that my shop said that all Porsche factory AC systems leak over time as that was design feature and you can expect to charge the system every 6 - 8 months. My shop recommended a conversation to R-134a and expected the conversion to run around $1000 with parts. I will have more details when I pick up the 911 tomorrow.

Rad Hatter

I know a place here in HK where the Porsche specialist put a Toyota Crown standard Hong Kong Taxi Air Con set up into a 964. It was ice cold. If you want me to send you the specialist's contacts let me know.

Edgy01

I have to concur that Boca's response was a bit inappropriate when people are offering you assistance. Many on this forum are buying these cars new to them and ARE DIY types and can't merely throw money after them. To be quite candid, if you are going to drive a vintage 911 you had better learn something about DIY or you will not survive long with this car. If you want to have a car that you can throw money at buy something a bit newer. It might become reliable enough for you not to have to learn how to bail yourself out if out in the wilds some night when it decides to quit.

Bob S

Several years ago we changed the compressor and switched to R134. And every year we had to recharge the system. Three years ago went back to R12, since then I have not had to recharge it and the system works pretty well.