Air con

General General Lotus Talk
1

I current looking to buy an exige, and wondering if air con is an option worth looking for. Does the air con work ok or is it just a waste of time?

2

IMHO its a waste of time, space and weight [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]

3

I find the Air Con works fine in the Wintertotaly naf the rest of the timeJohnC

4

Disagree with Phil & OrangeX. If your’re going to use your car everyday, & that entails slow driving in traffic, then aircon is a distinct advantage - in theory! [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]Problem with the Exige aircon is that it’s more con than air! It does however blow cool (rather than cold air) into the cabin, which is most useful on sunny days. Aircon cars also have dash vents - good for hot air in winter & cool air when needed.As for the weight-if you are like me, losing some of your body weight would be far more advantageous - plus I don’t have an audio unit in my car [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif[/image] It is important to make sure that the aircon pipes/valves don’t leak so that it does in fact blow cool air [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]

5

Whatever next !?! Cupholders ! (Actually, the VX220 has a cupholder… )If you’re too warm, open a window !

6

Sod the aircon what we need is to find a way to take of the roofJohnC

7

Going back a year or two, tinting the side windows keeps the heat down in the cabin more than air-con !!

8

Opening the windows - actually, wind tunnel tests have proved that hot air from the radiator is sucked around the windscreen into the cabin. Therefore, opening the window to cool the cabin is a waste of time [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif[/image] However, it will ruffle the hair on your head, if you’ve got any left - unlike moi! [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]My windows are tinted, & this does help - but nowhere near as much as the aircon.Anyway, we’re going over old ground here - it’s down to personal preference, but I’m glad I’ve got the conair - poor as it is [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]

9

got to agree with pesky the “conair” is pretty good, when I bought mine the system was Sha**ed but after a mere 14,000 miles I suppose that’s pretty normal. Actually the pipes look a bid weird now so maybe I’m in for a hot summer (as the bananas would say!)Still think it’s worth it from a weight point of view…

10

Aircon cars also have dash vents - good for hot air in winter & cool air when needed.I went to look at a car yesterday which had air vents in the dash but no air con. Did some non air con cars have this or do you think the air con might have been removed?Where is the air con button located?Can air con be refitted once removed?

11

When my car had aircon it had vents in the dash. If you do take it out, generally the major mod to do this is to relocate the alternator - I would have thought this could be put back. Also the exhaust manifold is different with aircon cars…I took mine out because 1. It was rubbish and 2. I only ever drive it for 20 minutes at any one time…Cheers

12

The vent controls are located on a plastic fixing in front of the footwell light rather than in the ‘dash’ the air con and recirculation button are either side of it.To replace missing air-con would probably cost �1000+ if you don’t have the parts but basically it depends on what has been removed, all thats left on mine are the pipes that run through the sills and the switches.

13

Some guys in Hong Kong have had very good results with their A/C by shutting off the hot water supply to the heater ‘radiator’ in the ventilation unit.Even on the ‘cold’ setting does the additional heat given off by this unit warm up the air considerably.Closing the heater connection seems to give them very good results. Aka: cold air!They can do away with the heater anyway and simply install a direct bypass in the engine bay from the connections to the heater pipes in the sill and drain/plug the connection to the heater itself.Here it may be useful to install some sort of selector valve so you can choose either the heater circuit or the bypass operation.Bye, Arno.

14

Thanks for the info Arno - I will follow it up in a week or so, after I return from Le Mans [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]