tanger911

Hello, a few months ago I purchased a 1979 930 (originally German car imported to the US in 1988 I believe).

This is my first 930 and have been getting to know the car and enjoying it a lot.

One of the things I noted before buying it is that it had a later type intercooler and no air filter box (probably because it wouldn't fit with the new intercooler), but one thing I noticed recently is that the A/C setup was also all wrong, maybe moved because of the intercooler change as well, but not quite sure.

First of all it has a different compressor than the regular York I've always seen. Additionally it has had the radiator removed from the tail and relocated to the left rear wheel well, with an electric fan added (presumably to improve cooling), and finally it seems to have a large radiator on the floor under the seats, the likes of which I have never seen. I might be wrong, but due to my lack of experience with these "later" Porsches, I'd rather ask.

Below are a few pictures, first of my car and then of the A/C issues I mention. My goal is to have my car as original as possible, so any ideas and answers will be appreciated.

I just realised the photo of the compressor is not there, nor the photo of the back of the tail, but there is nothing on the tail. I will take the pictures and post in a few days

Thanks

tanger911

Found the other 2 pictures

Can't seem to get the pictures to show right side up

Thanks

jwl

Henry,
That looks like a Saden compressor and I'm thinking the rear condenser/fan was move from the deck lid to accommodate the big after market I/C, as was the intake box. Never seen anything like the front condenser...looks like a good skid pan

Beautiful car...love the color!

tanger911

It also acts like a skid pan (it is the first and only thing that bumps).

Thanks, I also think the color is great, not what I would have chosen when new, but now it's definitely cool.

griffiths

Air conditioning is a personal choice. Depending upon your needs (metabolism,, number of days you drive above a certain temperature, climate, humidity, number of occupants, budget, car color, etc), what you need for AC can range from little to something like a meat freezer.

If one of your personal needs is “stock looking” then ‘stock’ may not fit the bill; for example, if this was the year 1979 and you just drove a stock turbo with stock AC off the show room floor in Houston, TX..... you would be very disappointed in the AC performance, you’d probably drive the car back to the dealer and ask them what was the matter with the AC.

Compressor
The normal ‘stock’ compressor found on the 79 turbo was an upright York. However there instances where you will find a unique turbo 'stock' Denso as well. What you have now is what most turbo owners, whom need AC and are not ‘stock’ orientated, put on their car to replace the old York. The old York was large (takes up space), weighs more than your present unit, required more HP to pump, and today its getting difficult to find ‘stock’ replacement parts for it.
So, if looks are only important when you open the hood at a Concours d'Elegance show, then get yourself a York so you don’t loose judges points. Otherwise, let it be.

Condensers
Since you have an oversized non-stock intercooler the deck lid condenser was removed. A condenser with a blower fan was placed in the LH rear fender it looks like to help make up for the lost condenser capacity of the old deck lid unit. By the way, can’t quite tell clearly from the picture of the fender condenser, but if the refrigerant tubes are running vertically rather than horizontally then you are not getting the best performance you could. And, a ‘belly pan’ condenser (aka Armadillo Killer) was placed under body pan, this again to make up for the loss of the deck lid condenser and also to provide additional cooling capacity. The belly pan condensers have their own character: although they do remove the heat from the refrigerant the also can absorb road radiated heat energy on a hot day when sitting still, they can radiate heat through the floor pan, and they can harm helpless armadillos and other slow moving wildlife; they don’t do well with railroad crossings and other elevated road objects. If the car originally came with ‘factory air’ there should be a smaller condenser under the front of the tub along with a blower fan assembly near the battery; unless someone placed a large oil cooler there.

In answer to your comment: "My goal is to have my car as original as possible, so any ideas and answers will be appreciated."

If the car came with factory AC and you want to enter the car in shows and compete in the Concours d'Elegance class for originality... you will have to remove any of the non stock AC parts and replace them, and any non AC parts as well.

If the car did not have AC originally, you will have to tear it all out.

I don't sense you want to go down that road. Try out the AC on the hottest day of the year you plan to drive and report back your level of comfort. In the mean time start going over all the external engine components (rubber especially) and check their integrity, check the AFR's (air fuel ratio) as you don't want to fry a piston or burn things up, and go over the rest of the car (brakes, brake lines or whatever).

tanger911

Thanks, I am concerned with originality, but more as a means to preserve value. So I tend to make sure I have all the original parts my car needs to be returned to stock, just in case I ever want to do that (in case of a sale for example). That is why I have bought the stock intercooler and air filter canister and hoses, pumps, etc., to return the car to original configuration in that department, and why I'm searching for the correct radio...you get the picture.

With that point of view, the BEST option for me is to find out the car didn't come with a factory A/C, then in case I want to return it to stock, then I just remove it...

Otherwise I might be searching for a York compressor...we'll see

Thanks, very thorough reply.

UDPride

Originality is one thing, but if you were asking me if I was in the market for a 930 and two cars were otherwise equal in every way and one 930 had the stock A/C (which is just like not having A/C) and the other car had a Griffiths or other significant aftermarket A/C upgrade that made the car feel like meat freezer as someone else said, Id rather have the car with the Griffith. Every day and twice on Sunday. In fact, Id pay a premium for it.

When it comes to A/C on these cars, I dont think originality means all that much. We're talking about a completely defective/under-designed part of the car to begin with. Compared to many other upgrades, I would put A/C improvements at the bottom of the list in terms of taking away from the car's originality.

Properly done aftermarket A/C takes little to nothing away from the car aesthetically. Its an under-the-covers fix that in my opinion deserves to be fixed if you have the time and money. Id like to do it to my own car, but moneys tight right now.

My 2 cents. If you live in Anchorage, disregard everything I just said.

tanger911

Ok, from this picture it seems that my car did come with factory air conditioning.

So the plan is to (after returning the car to the stock intercooler and air filter box), remove the belly pan and the fender condensers and refitting the deck lid condenser (I believe it is the one located in the LH rear fender with the blower), but leave the current compressor there.

I will probably posta again when the time to do the above comes when I will most certainly run into questions.

Thanks