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  • a/c removal procedure, removing a/c, air conditioning

    i just posted this in the PNW forum, and i thought i'd put a copy of it here too in case anyone finds it useful or wants to search for this, hence the ridiculous keywords in the subject.

    Removing a/c is so elite. Those of us unfortunate enough to have a/c installed from the factory should do our cars the favor of removing that unfortunate accessory as quickly as possible.

    Assuming you dont have an underdrive pulley on your crank.. just go to any auto parts store and ask for an accessory belt for your alternator/crank on a 93 probe GT with no air conditioning, they can look that up. If you do have a UDP (which I dont think you do, but you should damnit! That's at least 5whp with that boost.. i bet MANNY has a UDP! ;D ) then the Dayco part # is 315K5, 31.5" 5 ribbed belt. The belt for the stock crank pulley is a 34" 5 ribbed belt, part # should be 340K5.

    Takin out da ay see....

    Tools I remember using:
    10mm,12mm, & 14mm sockets, 3" & 6" socket extensions, socket wrench, 17mm wrench, peach snapple.

    Jack up the car and peel back the splashguard on the underside of the engine bay underneath the passenger's side of the car so you have some room to work with. A creeper helps alot on this one btw! The first thing you have to do is take the belt off the a/c compressor. Get a 17mm wrench and loosen the tensioner pulley bolt. Turn it counterclockwise until its all the way loose.. I found this to be easier to do from underneath the car. It's annoying, but you have to loosen it in order to turn the tensioner. Once its loose, put the 10mm socket w/ extension on the tensioner and loosen it all the way. Now you should be able to slip the belt off the crank pulley (that big, heavy, stock pulley... ). Put the new belt on now, make sure its snug/secure and all that. it should just barely slide on if you have the tensioner backed off all the way. Tighten the tensioner once its on, then make sure the belt isn't too tight or loose. Now tighten the 17mm bolt on the tensioner pulley again, and you're done with the belt. Step back to admire your work. Start the car up if you want to make sure it doesnt squeal.

    Now onto the fun stuff... you'll have to discharge the a/c system. Now, of course its incredibly illegal to do this yourself, so I'll just describe the way *not* to do it, for reference. Do NOT put a 12mm socket & wrench over the a/c lines where they come in and connect to the compressor, and do NOT slowly turn the bolt counterclockwise until you hear a hissing... then a little more turning until the freon is coming out at a steady pace. There's gonna be some liquid crap coming out too, so once the line is sufficiently loose put a bucket under there to catch anything that comes out. You dont want this yellow ickypoo stuff all over your driveway/garage. The system takes awhile to discharge, so try to take a big breath of fresh air from somewhere and charge back under the car with your 12mm socket/wrench and loosen the bolt some more. To make this part go much faster... once the bolt is loosened, give the line a slight tug away from the compressor. The r12/freon is going to come bustin out at that point, and its a loud & scary experience if you're not expecting it.. so make sure your face isnt right next to the thing if you decide to do that. You'll be able to hear it draining out, just tell everyone to stay out of that area for a few minutes while it empties out. Try not to breathe around the car at this point, heh.

    Done? Good. take your bucket of goop and hold it underneath the lines, because some more is going to come falling out. Pull each of the two now disconnected lines away from the compressor, making sure you catch anything that falls out of them. Push the lines off to the side, cause you're going to have to get some sockets and wrenches up in that area now.

    Bust out your 14mm socket, preferably with a 3" extension on it to make things easier. There's four 14mm bolts that connect the compressor to the bracket behind it. The first two are down on the bottom of the compressor, staring you in the face. Take those suckers out, they're huge bolts. Huge bolts = heavy = dead weight = muhahahha. Got em? Good. Now there's two more on the top that are a little harder to see. Get your socket up there and you'll find them. Take those two out and now the compressor should hang freely. When you pull the last bolt out be sure to have the compressor supported somehow so its huge 20 lb bulk doesnt come crashing down to the ground. The reason you dont want that is cause there's an electrical connector still attached to it. Unhook that connector, there's a clip about 2/3 of the way up the wiring, you can reach it from under the hood.

    The compressor should be sitting freely now, you can take it out. Put it down somewhere and watch the yellow goo drip out, and admire your work. Continue admiring your work as you sip on your peach snapple, and maybe go check the 2.5L performance forum really quickly. The bracket that held the compressor is right behind where it used to sit. There's six (heavy!) 14mm bolts holding it on, so take them off and it comes right out. There's another 3-4 lbs of dead weight! Make sure you dont bust your knuckles on things when the bolts break loose, cause it hurts. Dont worry about the fact that the a/c lines are still dangling there. You can take them out later if you really want to (I did).

    Now the new belt is on and the a/c compressor is completely removed. There's other components left, but none of them are as significant as what is done so far. The a/c condenser, hm. I'm not even going to describe how to do that one because darin has a huge intercooler sitting right there and it would be next to impossible to get to without taking the intercooler out. I had to take the front bumper off and mess around with taking little brackets and such off for about 3 hours before I finally got it loose, then I hacksawed the lines going into it because it really didnt want to come out otherwise. Taking the condensor out does free up a significant amount of airflow to the radiator though, so go for it if you feel up to the task. I'm not going to describe 5 hours of annoyance, bolts, bleeding, and frustration here though!

    The accumulator. That should come out for sure, I just took mine out the other day. It's that black cylinder lookin thing by the firewall on the passenger side of the motor. Disconnect the lines going into it. You'll need a 7/8" wrench and also a large adjustable wrench to fit on the huge fitting required (bigger than 15/16", which is as high as my wrenches go ) Take the lines off with a wrench. There's two like that, and one electrical connector.. disconnect that as well. Now there's just two 10mm bolts holding the accumulator on, so take them off and you're home free. Stuff some paper towels in the holes of the accumulator so no moisture gets in there, just in case you decide to sell it or use it again.

    There's more you can do, like removing all the lines or getting stuff out from under the dash. For me, eliminating a pulley, taking out ~30 lbs of crap I dont use, and freeing up more airflow to the radiator was good enough. I'm fuggin starving, time for some wendy's.
    Last edited by HowLeTT; February 12, 2002, 01:46 AM.
    1993 Ford Probe GT - KLDE + N2O
    228 whp 241 wtq - 2340 lb race weight
    ATX - 13.44@105.1 MTX - 13.35@106.1

  • #2
    Wait a sec, where did we use the Peach Snapple? :grin:
    '97 PGT-ZE with nearly every mod.(Temporarily off of the bottle.) - Gone to a new home!

    '01 BMW-M3 - Gone
    '03 BMW-M3 - Gone
    '06 Honda Pilot - Sold everything else, bought a restaurant, stuck with this. lol

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    • #3
      hell yes! i guess that PM i sent you promoted you to do this huh? maybe...but thanks a lot mike, now i can finally do this. hopefully at the upcoming WisPOC garage meet at my house i'll get this done, my tranny cooler in, TPS adjustment, my new audio shit in, since it was stolen and i just got the new shit, and many other misc. things. but this is one of my top things to do that day. thanks a lot!!
      '93 Electric Red PGT SOLD
      Sponsored By: Dunlop Tires, Acci-Dent, Extreme Parts, Street Graphix, S3 Magazine, Great Lakes Dragaway
      2006 Infiniti G35 Sedan

      Comment


      • #4
        no problem darren. If you take the condensor out there's also alot more room to put a tranny cooler in... ;D
        1993 Ford Probe GT - KLDE + N2O
        228 whp 241 wtq - 2340 lb race weight
        ATX - 13.44@105.1 MTX - 13.35@106.1

        Comment


        • #5
          On Monday October 8, 2001 12:28 PM, Jamie wrote:
          Wait a sec, where did we use the Peach Snapple? :grin:
          about halfway down... :smile:

          On Monday October 8, 2001 HowLeTT wrote:
          The compressor should be sitting freely now, you can take it out. Put it down somewhere and watch the yellow goo drip out, and admire your work. Continue admiring your work as you sip on your peach snapple
          1993 Ford Probe GT - KLDE + N2O
          228 whp 241 wtq - 2340 lb race weight
          ATX - 13.44@105.1 MTX - 13.35@106.1

          Comment


          • #6
            Ya know, I might have done this, but I just moved to Virginia and I have a feeling I'm going to be needing this when the warm weather comes back... oh well.
            1993 PGT KLZE Turbo - Sold (12.9 @ 118mph)
            1995 240SX RB20DET swap - Sold (330whp)
            2000 Audi S4 TT - Sold (too heavy)
            1995 BMW M3 - Custom made turbo kit (420whp/398wtq) Sold to pay for school
            2003 VW GTI 20th Anniversary Edition - Chipped, exhaust, etc...

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            • #7
              man, If I did not live in Florida I woudl do this..!

              Did you have to adjust your idle after?

              my email address is NOT working!

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              • #8
                nice work...mike......
                and quit ye bitching about not having ac.... just a performance Drain if you ask me .. :smile:
                Life isn't like a bowl of cherries or peaches, it's more like a jar of Jalapenos ....
                What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.

                Pearl '92 Audi //S4 GT3071R, running 27 psi
                Lava gray '14 Audi //SQ5, Chipwerke, 034 Intake Pipe
                For PSP Awareness click here

                Comment


                • #9
                  On Monday October 8, 2001 1:01 PM, SpeedProbe wrote:
                  man, If I did not live in Florida I woudl do this..!

                  Did you have to adjust your idle after?
                  nope, idle was fine, still sitting at 650.
                  1993 Ford Probe GT - KLDE + N2O
                  228 whp 241 wtq - 2340 lb race weight
                  ATX - 13.44@105.1 MTX - 13.35@106.1

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Unfortunately I'm moving to Florida on Friday and I've already done that.
                    -Tim 93 PGT

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                    • #11
                      Holy shit! I just opened my hood after a moderate drive, and it's hot under there. My fan was blowing mad hot temps from my radiator, so I look down in there, that whole ac condenser is blocking the whole radiator, I don't even know how it works...This is NOT good. I am more than before wanting to remove my A/C, my g/f would kill me, considering I'm her only ride back and forth from home, etc. and it's very warm here in VA!! But the weight loss, etc. Ok, here's a decision. When I finally can afford a UDP, then maybe my A/C will be dead, and I'll be guilt free taking it out(since it's like $1200 to have it installed!) That way I'll be able to change all my belts just once..hehe
                      1993 PGT KLZE Turbo - Sold (12.9 @ 118mph)
                      1995 240SX RB20DET swap - Sold (330whp)
                      2000 Audi S4 TT - Sold (too heavy)
                      1995 BMW M3 - Custom made turbo kit (420whp/398wtq) Sold to pay for school
                      2003 VW GTI 20th Anniversary Edition - Chipped, exhaust, etc...

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        TTT, hopefully the cold weather will convince people to do this now.
                        1993 Ford Probe GT - KLDE + N2O
                        228 whp 241 wtq - 2340 lb race weight
                        ATX - 13.44@105.1 MTX - 13.35@106.1

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          As always, Gatorade or Dr. Pepper will make a fine substitute for Snapple.
                          Since this is such a neato topic, I'll make it sticky for a bit
                          '14 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
                          '16 Chrysler 300S

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            notice any power diff without the pulley? or any power from weight? butt dyno i guess?
                            Couple of probes, couple of projects

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by dav
                              notice any power diff without the pulley? or any power from weight? butt dyno i guess?
                              every bit of lost weight helps, you don't need a dyno to prove that
                              '93 Electric Red PGT SOLD
                              Sponsored By: Dunlop Tires, Acci-Dent, Extreme Parts, Street Graphix, S3 Magazine, Great Lakes Dragaway
                              2006 Infiniti G35 Sedan

                              Comment

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