Dalmore

Hi all,

This is my first post to the forum. I have been without a Porsche for about a year now and I want one again. I have had a 911SC and a Porsche Boxster. I have grown up with Porsches; my father has had well over 20 Porsches.

I loved my 911SC but since I now live in Arizona for 6 months a year I really need something with a air-conditioning system. What model would be the cheapest to purchase with proper A/C? My experience with Porsche goes from 356s to the 911SC and then a big jump to the 993 through 997. I know the 993s blow strong and cold I know that the 911SCs had worthless A/C. So between the years '84-'93. I will buy a 993 if that is my only option but I rather spend less money if I can.

ivangene

cheapest working A/c is a 996

but thats not a proper Porsche now is it

Dalmore

I do not want a Porsche with a Fisher Price interior.

jackb911

964 and 993 have good A/C. 996/997 is even better.

race911

Amazingly, the factory a/c systems even back to the 2.4L days worked pretty well when I had my shop in Phoenix. Just had to make sure they were factory systems, with the front and deck lid condensers. Beyond that, and into the days of the SCs and Carreras, there was the left rear wheelwell mount condenser + full under chassis condenser behind the front wheels that made many customers happy. (Then you could remove the decklid unit, and have a happier, cooler running engine.)

But time does march on, and the 964/993 units work really well. I left Phoenix right about the time the 964C4 was introduced, so I never had to deal with a customer base bitching about them in that climate.

Further question is, with 964s and 993s priced only slightly above (if that) what a really good torsion bar chassis car costs, why penny pinch?

ked

Dal,
the 993 is generally considered the first 911 that came w/ "decent fact AC" that might still work well years later. The late Carrera 3.2s had "almost ok" AC when they were new, or even fine AC - depending on your climate & whether your reference is GM ACs of the '60s. But the Carreras were marginal in hot & humid climes & the toll of years further degrade them - I've been lucky w/ my '87 I guess & with a little tweaking it still works well enough on most days in 'bama's summers - but definitely not current state-of-the-industry.

the important news is that there have been great strides in aftermarket AC systems for old 911s. Excellence has done articles about upgrading / refurbing old 911 ACs. Griffiths & RennAire are 2 specialists in Porsche AC. given enough $, any 911 can be cool - how cool ya wanna be? good luck!

rusnak

Dalmore, welcome.

The problem(s) with the sub-89 AC were due to the fact that they were not originally designed with factory AC in mind. The placement of the condensor in the engine compartment was a very poor choice.

The condensors are supposed to "remove heat" by tranfering it from the interior to the airstream. Unfortunately this pre-heats the engine intake and cooling air, making the car run hotter, and diminishing the effectiveness of the condenser.

The 964 and 993 AC condensers are far better by being both larger and the fact that they extract air to the ambient air stream, not to the engine compartment.

I would say that the 964 and 993s are the first to offer real ac, but as already pointed out, the older 911s had pretty decent AC if you're running R-12, or have a belly pan condensor. The aftermarket condensors that run in the fender well look interesting. I am hesitant to try the one that puts a condensor and an electric fan next to the cat. That thing easily gets north of 500F.

My '84 has a condensor in the tail and a Pro-Cooler reciever dryer. The Pro Cooler is a heat exchanger that cools the 134a with gas returning from the evaporator back to the compressor. A lot of this system's efficiency rides on having the right amount of refrigerant, and having liquid flow up to the expansion valve. One good thing about this system is that it's very simple, and easy to work on.

UberXY

You might want to budget for an update. I had a 76 930 with air so cool it would turn your kneecaps blue, but only because I installed a triple condenser Griffiths system. My current '84 has a Kuehl front condensor and R12 gas, and it works ok.

I agree with earlier post - 996 was the first Porsche I drove that had a good system, and 996's are cheap at the moment.

Norske

My 993 blows ice. I drive in NC & SC in high humidity and have no problems. My earlier 80's cars were marginal unless I had them upgraded.

whalebird

A 964 is a big improvement. The earlier cars need help...I've know a few early cars that have a 964 condenser/fan grafted into the front fender and they work well. to echo what Race911 and rusnak posted, an early car can have nice A/C - The old cars with a york compressor and R12 will make surprisingly cold air, but not a system thats easy to drive...its a major drag on the motor.
A 964 is the way to go.

ivangene

you said "cheapest to purchase with proper A/C"

(so to be more clear - Boxster )

wwest

I am of the quite firm belief that the major shortcoming, perhaps the ONLY shortcoming, of the early Porsche A/Cs is the lack of sufficient airflow, heat transfer of/from the rear condensor.

To that end I added 12 volt computer "boxer" intake fans inside the engine lid to my '88 Carerra that operate at 6 volts with the A/C enabled and the full 12 volts when the compressor clutch is engaged.

I live in the Seattle area so I can't really testify that this would help in places like, say, Memphis.

My next mod in that area will be a high/low pressure limit switch for "default", over-ride, control of the compressor clutch.

Henry964

I would say the A/C of my 964 is adequate in all but the hottest of days, and it gets very hot in summer here in Buenos Aires

iJeremy

Please don't buy a Porsche based on it's air-cooling abilities!... Buy your favorite of the breed and if the air isn't cold enough for you point your browser here : http://www.griffiths.com/porsche/ac/ They can sort your system to your liking and you'll end up with the exact car you want.

Jay Gratton

Nothing to much to add here, but the 964's do a nice job, but the 993's are down right COLD.

It might help if you told us your price range. The AC in my 3.2 is just plain bad.