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On 27 Feb 2006 at 22:40, Jao squareback wrote: > Has anybody have an experience installing an aircon system for the type 3? AC for these cars was available as a dealer installed option, but probably not as early as '67. It was US designed and made, and I'm not sure when it was introduced. This topic comes up here often, so others on this list already know that I'm not a fan of type 3 AC at all. There are several reasons for this: 1) In order to install it you have to cut a number of holes in the body, and these are all places where water can get in and rust can start. 2) You have to cut holes in the pulley shroud, so the engine will pull in some hot air with its cooling air. Type 3s with AC have a higher rate of engine failure than stock. 3) The air cleaner generally has to be repositioned, and this usually ends up with feeding hot air to the engine for combustion. 4) You need a special bolt for the pulley, in order to add the AC compressor pulley. This special bolt had a high failure rate in the early years, but I think they solved that with a better bolt. 5) Running the AC in hot weather puts extra strain on the engine during those times when the cooling is least likely to be able to handle it. This contributes to the higher engine failure rate. Others here will report that modern compressors put much less load on the engine, but there's a limit to how well you can do and still get the cooling you want. 6) Once the under-dash unit is installed, you won't be able to access any of the things under there, like the fuse box, water drain hoses, wiper motor and linkages, turn signal flasher, and you won't be able to get to the back of the instruments to release them. 7) The condensor either sits in the front wheel wells, where it fills up with mud, or in front of the front axle, making service to anything there impossible. Frankly, my feeling when I see one of these is of intense sadness. It's just such a shame to do this to such a nice car. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~