Overheating FMIC and A/C revisited

ricardoa1

Registered User
I am deleting some tubes from the A/C condenser to help the 90* plus issues that the FMIC has when the A/C is on.

How many tubes should I eliminate. So it helps the with temps, but maintains the A/C functional.

I am deleting form the middle of the condenser. How much area did the AIRcon short ac condenser remove from the stock one. Thats the total area I would like to delete from the stock condenser. But from the middle. Can anyone help me figure out how many tubes that is>
 
I have a 94 its harder to do what you did with the bumper.

I believe removing a few tubes will get the job done. But i dont know how many of them, to maintain the ac cool and engine cool at the same time.
 
As I recall someone has tired a AIRcon w/ FMIC and 95+ F with not much success.
Perhaps, someone can correct my memory?

Putting a condenser in front of a FMIC kind of defeats the purpose.

It took me a long time to figure out where to relocate it,
but it helped that a PF condenser is smaller and thinner than OEM.

Some Porsche owners put additional condensers with fans in the front & rear fenders for additional cooling. (I did a google search.)

I was thinking of puting a condenser with fans where the OEM muffler pocket is, pulling cold air off the top of the rear wheel well.
 
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Putting a condenser in front of a FMIC kind of defeats the purpose.

It works fine with the AC off, so I dont care about the performance of the IC with the ac on. What worries me is the water temps with the ac on at cruising speeds. The ac condenser is cool to the touch when not on. I dont plan on beating on the car with the ac on at 90* plus temps.

I also dont want a short condenser since the area where its missing compared to the stock one lands on the end tanks of the IC so air is not going to pass tru it anyways. I want to remove the middle section. I would like to try that first with the tube condenser. If that doesnt work I will get a smaller pf condenser "universal", one that is half the size of the stock one so air will be moved with no heat from the Ac condenser for at least half the opening of the rad support.
 
sail7seas:

I just wanted to tell you that I read your original thread about the condenser relocation awhile back, and it was one of the most impressive ideas I've seen on here. If I decide to put AC back into my go-fast car, I'll be using your idea. :D

Thanks for sharing your experience.
 
Ricardo,

My car has the same problem. I don't think the problem is with the airflow being blocked, it's with all the extra heat the AC condensor puts into the air that's going into the radiator.

I think it's very likely that removing enough area from the condensor coil to improve engine cooling will result in an equal or greater reduction in the performance of your AC system. The coil has to remove a certian amount of heat or it won't work...that heat has to go somewhere other than into the air that is going into the radiator.

Given the lack of space to go with a larger capacity radiator, moving the condensor to a location that doesn't put all that heat into the radiator (like sail7seas did) is probably a much better solution.

David
 
I know heat is the main issue. If you remove tubes from ac condenser there will be an area where ambient temperatures will be present. The Ac condenser will become less efficient "Yes" But the remaining tubes will put out the same amount of heat that they did before, they will not get hotter to compensate for the other missing tubes.
Now this reduced heat blended with the fresh air from the missing tube area will net out lower temps to cool the radiator. So goes the heat transfer theory.
How ineficient the condenser will be? thats what I want to find out..this thing is artic cold when on and I have to turn the thing off after a few minutes. Ill compromise in between. :D



Ricardo,

My car has the same problem. I don't think the problem is with the airflow being blocked, it's with all the extra heat the AC condensor puts into the air that's going into the radiator.

I think it's very likely that removing enough area from the condensor coil to improve engine cooling will result in an equal or greater reduction in the performance of your AC system. The coil has to remove a certian amount of heat or it won't work...that heat has to go somewhere other than into the air that is going into the radiator.

Given the lack of space to go with a larger capacity radiator, moving the condensor to a location that doesn't put all that heat into the radiator (like sail7seas did) is probably a much better solution.

David
 
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