To A/C or not A/C

I have ordered an IM and have a few months to pick out exactly what I want. But I have a question. How many of you purchased A/C with your IM? Do you use it? Does it work, break down? Would you buy it again? (It is a $1,800 extra) Do you think it takes away from the replica look?

I don't own one, but for looks I really like the way IM does the AC....as for the question of how much you will use it that seems to vary a lot, but the people who don't like the air option are usually more vocal about their opinion then the people who like the AC

If it were my car there wouldn't be any doubt...buy it

Just in case it matters to you I was recently looking at a used 1990 IM and it didn't have air and I lost interest the second I heard this.

I've always thought that putting AC on my VS would be like air conditioning a screen porch. When its warm I put the top down. When it gets hot I try to drive faster. AC puts a load on a small engine, makes it run hotter and unless you have a $$ engine will hurt performance.
JMO
ed

My VS (used) came with it and I took it out. Warm weather, top down, very cold weather, top up. The removal shaved weight off and made servicing the engine much easier, especially anything realted to cyls. #3, #4 and the distributor. Maybe IM does a better job of mounting the compressor than VS does, but for my part, I would take a pass.
JMHO
John H.

I think that your area of the country is a big factor in making the decision. I live on the coast in South Carolina and it is a no brainer for me! Get the A/C if you live in a hot/humid part of the country. You might want to ask Henry what he thinks about getting A/C. He recommended it to me... that carried alot of weight it my decision.

Although my IM is new, I have had other Porsches with and without A/C, so I can speak from experience. My top stays down in the summer, but you would be surprised at the cooling effect the A/C can have. It is a godsend when you are sitting in traffic. I have not yet had the chance to test my IM unit in actual summer conditions, but others report it is a is very effective unit.

I don't believe that routine maintenance access is a problem, depending upon what you define as routine. Henry and I changed the oil, oil filter, adjusted the carbs, timed the engine, etc. without even getting near the compressor. It does not appear to get in the way of changing spark plugs, either.

I will have to defer to the experts on this site as far as heat load on the cooling system is concerned. I plan to watch the temp gauge, and if it creates a problem under worst case conditions, I will switch it off temporarily. I have the 2160 engine, and performance seems pretty spritely with the A/C switched on. Long-term reliabilty is not a factor for me.. it will probably take me 5 years to put 6,000 miles on the car (not many places to go on an island that is 12 miles long) and by then I will probably want to try something new under the hood.

This is just my humble opinion based on very little experience on the IM, but over 25 years of driving air conditoned Porsche Cabriolets in the deep south.

Paul,

I've owned a '97 IM equipped with A/C for 11 months now.
I use the A/C all the time it works great - ice cold.
Driving around town in 90' heat with the top down is no fun.
If your top is a dark color, and you drive with it up on hot days, it absorbs and radiates heat into the cockpit.
As far as taking away from the original look; the way IM integrates the console below the dash looks good to me, plus you have a space for your stereo.
If you ever decide to sell your car, I think the resale value would be higher with a factory installed A/C system.
If I were buying a new IM, I would definitely order it. Installing it after the car is built will be an expensive PITA.
I owned a '62 Porsche Roadster, and had A/C installed - it cost ~$2,500.

Dave

Amen to David. I have '03 IM w/ A/C and have been driving it 5 months as a daily driver. I got it because someday I may have to go back to Japan where A/C is a must in Summer.
Although I could live without A/C here in Seattle, it's handy when you drive in city area. The A/C on IM looks to me as if it's factory option. It does suck some power from my tiny 1600 "super 90", but it's fine with me as I'm not performance oriented. Overall I'm pretty happy with it.

Thank you for your imput. If anyone else has an opinion, I would like to hear it. It seems that most people think that A.C. is a good idea. Where is the compressor located? I recall Henry saying it is in the front.

Compressor is attached to the engine, the primary condenser and receiver drier are located in the front of the car.
You should specify that you want a sub cool condenser installed - it makes the system work much better.
Also request your system use R12 instead of R134a referigerant.

Does it suck power when the a/c is off (I know this is a dumb question)

Yes, but it's probably immeasurable - the amount of energy to turn a pulley/fanbelt with no load on it.

What about John's concern for servicing difficulties?

Paul,
It was a bitch to get at spark plugs #3 and #4 with the way my compressor was mounted. Also, it was very difficult to get the distributor cap off and out due to the way the braces were placed to hold the compressor in place. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven the first time I performed the 3,000 mile service after the A/C stuff was out.

Living in the sticks, I don't spend too much time sitting in traffic although I did hear from a member in SoCal about the benefits of running A/C on and top down. I live in the South, so when it's too hot to go out top down, I don't, but that's not very many days. I don't really know what effect the compressor unit has on power as I never ran it while driving. It's a personal choice, but I know I'm not the only one who has removed an A/C unit after paying for it. By all means, if you think you want it, go for it; I agree that it must be frightfully expensive to install after the build.
just my 2 kroner
John H.
ps. note before and after digi-pix

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are three pictures that show the access to plugs #3 and #4, and the distributor on new IM. When I was with Henry, we did not remove the spark plugs, but we did remove the distributor cap in about 10 seconds.

I hope this helps.

Sorry, guys but I am having trouble displaying pictures of spark plugs # 3 and # 4. I even tried deleting them from my files and starting over, but they won't delete. I'll work on this later.

Brian, thank you. I would like to see those pictures. Is this another example of the difference btwn a VS and an IM?

Paul,
It appears to be the same basic bracket and positioning of A/C. Re: your Q about VS and IM A/C.

To each their own... just like the wide body vs. classic style. Nobody is right or wrong.

Personally I felt the a/c was a big mistake in retrospect. I ripped it out after 4 months. Yes, that distributor to comp pic looks right.... but I work on my own car and found the a/c to be an sob for any access to 3 and 4 and drivers side carb. You cannot pull the distributor with pulling the a/c and if you use points it makes a simple task one POS. I went to Compufire and fried one system... normally one could just slap in the points on a roadside repair. A/C made this a half impossible task under ideal conditions. I would pity the soul who needs to do an ER repair on ignition in rain, dark, or and other condition. I now carry an extra 009 with comp-u-fire on long trips and necer worry about ignition problems. With a/c this would be impossible.

BTW I live in good old hot ass OKC for perspective. The a/c worked GREAT! I bought it under an impression of wearing nice clothes and not showing up as a sweat ball somewhere. I have news for anyone under that impression with anything BUT an IM with roll-ups... The news? You WILL show up windblown, sunburned, sweaty even with the a/c blowing.

Something not discussed here? It may not pull down hard on the engine (my impression was there was a noticable diff....) but waht about the heat and wear and tear effect on you engine in the long term? We have long threads here on just how to keep theese babies running cool WITHOUT even discussing A/C. I have no doubt that there are many VS, JPS, IM owners who run them with sucess and no cooling problems.... but the may not be running 75-80 down a feeway for 50-100 mile runs on a 110' day in Oklahoma. Just something to think about.

IM is an incredible car I want one! I love my VS though. Please do not take this as a critque of IM. Incredible cars.

One asshole opinion...
Jim

I don't have any problems accessing the # 3 & 4 plugs.
Removing the distributor cap is a little more difficult with the A/C, but it's no big deal - you don't need to remove the compressor to access the distributor the way it's set up in an IM. I'll try and take some pictures an post them.

PS - George Brown wrote a good piece on the cons on installing A/C which can be viewed in the knowledge section of this site.

Here are the pictures of plug 3 and 4. The carb and air cleaner seem to be the obstructions to #3, which you will have with or without AC, at least on this setup.

I hope the upload works this time!

I have an IM with A/C as well, and found no trouble working on the car. The first thing I did was make sure the compressor belt was tight, and found after that I had plenty of room between the compressor and the distributor. I can't picture how the A/C could interfere with the spark plugs. It's no where near them.

However, I have decided I don't need A/C and am taking it off. Anyone want to buy an A/C package?