Air Conditioning - Retrofit

Parts List:
Air Con/Alternator Bracket
Air Con Compressor
Evaporator Unit (Including Housing and large banding clip)
Condensor Radiator (With mounting brackets/rubber feet)
Dryer (I was told it's best to replace these if they've been contaminated - there's a bloke on ebay sells them for under £15 posted so it's a no-brainer)
LH Steering Column Blank (They're different on the air con cars as they have a mount for the evaporator and a drain)
Extra Rad Fan (These are the same as normal fans so don't pay a fortune for one from an AC car!
Glove Box! (These are different as the AC one is shallower)

Air Con Pipes:
Compressor to underfloor pipes x2
Underfloor Pipes x2
Underfloor pipes to Condensor Rad
Condensor Rad to Dryer
Dryer to Evaporator
Evaporator to Underfloor Pipe

Wiring - There are two seperate AC only looms:
Dash Switch wiring (Connects to existing heater wiring via a connector which should already be there and evaporator/front bay loom)
Front Bay Wiring (Connects Relay pack, Fans, Trinary Switch on the Dryer, Fusebox and to a connector going to the ECU/Engine Bay)
Relay Pack (attached to the above)
Switches! Rimmer Brothers sell these new for the Mk2/TF - think the wiring (other than where the engine bay is concerned) is interchangeable.

The Engine bay and Main body wiring looms are also different. There are only around 6 extra wires so I decided to add them in myself and extend alternator connections as necessary since there don't seem to be many 160's with Air Con (Lots of Auto's though) This also means I can fit the parts I sourced from a Mk1 into my TF.

Photos will be added to next post

Photos of Parts Layout







Difference between Steering Column Blanks



Smaller Glove Box

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Blank Space (Will come back to coloured circles later)

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Mostly fitted

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Photos of Parts Layout







Difference between Steering Column Blanks



Smaller Glove Box



Blank Space (Will come back to coloured circles later)



Mostly fitted

First Steps: Under the dash.

Remove the glove box (4x screws)
Remove the puddle light panel (2x screws)
Remove the Glove box mount (red circles, 2x 8mm nuts)
Remove the windscreen duct (blue circle)
Remove the old duct non-ac duct which goes from the air intake to the blower fan (1x bolt, top left circled red)


This should give you as much access to the foot well as you're likely to need.

While you've got this access I'm told it's worth doing something to the heater resistors if your heater blower doesn't work on all the settings (top right connector on the below picture) - you can remove it by undoing the two screws and then follow someone elses how-to on repairing it,


While I had everything out I upgraded by air intake with the later 'snorkel' to try and stop the footwell filling with water when it rains (Rover part JKA000120) by undoing the screws circles in blue and another 2 in the front bay behind the brake servo/mc. Incidentaly, the snorkal bolts in from the top.


Swap the steering column blank (3 bolts I think)
Trim the carpet back (it's already perforated where it needs to be cut)
Remove the blank for the AC hoses to pass through the bulkhead

Fit the Evaporator unit - make sure you've removed the connector block from the AC pipes (item 8 on parts diagram)
It slides in relatively easily - it goes on the inside of the lip on the blower fan and doesn't form a great seal (that's what the large band clamp is for)

Fit the clamp and mounting nuts (one existing one in top left, the other on the new column blank)
Connect the drain pipe.

Lay the under dash wiring out - it connects to the evaporator, the switches (these need to go through to the centre console) the front bay loom (which isn't fitted yet) and the existing heater loom. There should be a 3 pin connector somewhere up near the heater blower resistor pack:


Once that's done, you can put it all back together on the inside.

Moving onto the front bay:

Out with the old intake:

In with the new:

The old intake was only held in by 4 bolts (2x inside the car) - the new one has mountings for 6. I used them all as it didn't look like it sealed well with only 4 and I don't want a swimming pool in the passenger footwell.

I didn't remove the brake servo/master cylinder at this point. I really wish I did as it was a bitch to work around. You might also notice I have an LPG tank there too...

Here's the AC pipes poking through:


Attach block 8 (from the parts diag) using 2x allen head bolts. I think it's probably worth renewing the o-rings - I bought a cheap kit from ebay, but on reflection it looks like the sizes aren't quite right so I'll probabaly have to get some metric ones from Landrover or somewhere.

Then you can add your pipes to the front bay - The big one goes to the under floor pipes. I had mine shortened by 1.5" as it would have fouled on the LPG tank - it had to be done by a specialist aluminum welder. The red dye is from the leak/pressure test they did

Since I've not fitted the underfloor pipes yet I've tape up the end and cable-tied it to the subframe.

The other pipe goes to the dryer. This normally bolts to the back of the spare wheel well, but obviously I've had to move mine.

Nice one - people often rubbish the idea of aircon on a convertable but it was sold to me by a BMW M3 owner - the interior of a soft top is inevatably damper than a tintop, the heated air from a/c is drier so clears the screen much quicker.

Look foward to the finished results.

The rest of the front end is pretty straight forward - I've not taken any photos as there wasn't a great deal to see. I might take more when I have the bumper off again.

You need to remove the front bumper bar in order to route the rad AC pipes through.

Bolt the condensor rad in place using the brackets.

If you jack the car up you can fit the second rad fan. Mine might be held on with cable ties at the moment as the threads in my rad were shot. I have a new rad to go in, but that can wait.

Route the AC pipes through - one goes to the dryer, the other to the under floor pipes. Again I taped the end up and tied it to the subframe. It's worth noting that the pipes don't run through the box section bolted to the subframe - they run to the left of this (when viewed from the front of the car) under the battery tray.

Next it's a case of laying out the front bay wiring.
Relay pack sits next to the fusebox.
There's 3x connectors for the fans (one to existing fan connector, and one to each fan)
4 pin connector goes to trinary switch which is located on the dryer
beefy single connector into the fusebox (underneath):

White connector goes through the bulkhead (If you have an air con body loom it'll plug it. If you're planning on adding extra wires yourself, these are the ones you need to connect through to the ECU/Engine bay.
That should leave one more connector which also goes through the bulkhead and connects up to the evaporator sub-loom you put in earlier.

That's all I've done for now - will work on the wiring harness (need to figure out a safe way to extend the main alternator feed by 6") before fitting the compressor and underfloor pipes. This should also give me a chance to source correct side O-rings etc...

Excellent job and first class details of operation.
Could you give us an idea of cost for the whole deal. That is if you are counting the cost?

I've just bought the full kit for 220 delivered

I think I've paid out around £250 so far, although I've had 3 goes at getting all the bits I need!

Hopefully with the list in the first post it'll be easier for someone else who wants to give it a go.