[GTiJohn]

With help from Paul Vincent, I now have a set of air con hardware which I would like to fit to my vi.

There are several complications as the parts come from a 1.4 25 and mine is a P-reg 1.8vi and I've yet to check that they'll actually fit.

Also I have most of the main harness and the full engine bay harness which I plan to remove the necessary cables from and run overlay harnesses. The fun part is seeing that there are 4 wires going into the engine ECU which I'm pretty sure will be empty on mine. Can additional pins be inserted into this connector?

Has anyone any experience of doing this before and does anybody have a wiring diag please? The Haynes manual is a bit light on detail for the AC system.

I've got my fingers crossed and staying positive following the replies on retrofitting central locking

[Roverlike]

The quickiest way to insert pins into possible missing places is to hack same connector from scrapyard and use pins from there with pigtail of wire still attached.

Regarding wiring I would help but I cannot upload pictures on this site, and after Photobucket ransome I am not using any other third party picture hosting site. So basicaly you could send me your e-mail address and I can send you AC diagram.

I retrofitted AC to my R3 1.4 with 8 valves which never had AC from factory nor was it even an option to add it. What was installed is Diavia AC for Rover 1.4 8v cars.

Retrofit in your case should be more simpler then in mine case. However I did that some 15 years ago, and needed to refill AC with gas only twice in all that time. And I am using AC a lot.

What I would suggest is to re-check compressor since it does not like when left dry (what is often case when picked from scrapyard or secondhand). Seals get hard and gas goes out very easily, so no cooling. I bought completely new compressor and its happily working 15 years now.

[GTiJohn]

I knew somebody would have some useful knowledge.

The system had no gas pressure but does seem to have a reasonable quantity of residual oil present.

I'm going to inspect the parts over the next few days to see if there any obvious damage but I suspect it's just loss over time that was not fixed, judging by the condition of the rest of the car. I will replace the seals obviously.

PM sent with email

[Roverlike]

Email replied with info requested. Hope that is what you need.

[rjessett]

HI - I retro fitted Aircon to my VVC coupe, the donor was another VVC coupe, although any R3 system would have done.

However, one thing I did find is the later 25/Zr system is differnet, mainly how the pipes run, and how the compressor in joined to the engine block, tensioners, etc. The compressor is different as well, and indeed the engine bay wiring. ideally, you would have an R3 vvc aircon loom, and it would just be plug and play.

You are welcome to take a look at my vvc coupe and see how it all fits together. Its identical setup to the 200Vi.

[GTiJohn]

You are welcome to take a look at my vvc coupe and see how it all fits together. Its identical setup to the 200Vi.

That might be necessary!

Roverlike has sent me 3 wiring diags so I've got to work out the differences

Luckily there's no rush

[henryiett]

I plan to retrofit Aircon to my r8 so good luck as ik it will be straight forward but harder

[rjessett]

Roverlike has sent me 3 wiring diags so I've got to work out the differences

Your best bet is to start with the MEMS2J VVC engine bay loom, and create an overlay harness, I dont think there is much to it really. The wiring behind the bulkhead is present in the standard loom (basically for the temperature switch on the condensor, and dash switch)

Im trying to think if I have a spare aircon vvc loom you could use as a template.

[GTiJohn]

The layout of parts has started and I think I've remembered which bits are which from the 25...



Unfortunately the wiring colours don't seem to match those in the wiring diagram



Can anyone who has an early K-series 200 post a photo similar to the one below so I can see if the additional relays go where I think they do please?

[rjessett]

Ill be at Gaydon in my VVC Coupe with Aircon, you can have a look at it there.


In the mean time, here is a picture of the same area on my coupe before I stripped it for a rebuild