I am so deep in my car now that everything is apart so I am thinking about removing the AC today or tomorrow. looks easy to me I just have to go and buy the RS belt and I should be set. anyways, I know that some people here have don it and I am asking for there opinion. anything I should be looking for?? anything hidden that might cause an issue? what about the fan that is on the the AC now?? should I remove it as well or install it on my radiator?? any sensors that I should be worried about?

 

Why remove it?

If you change the belt with the RS one, you have disabled the AC. Now if you want to save weight which really isn't that much than just take the compressor out.

 

I removed mine in my '03. It is not terribly difficult, but I hope you are serious. I'll write down the basic steps, but I know I won't remember everything perfectly. Take your time and use the factory workshop manual as a guide too.

1. Buy an RS NON-AC belt. All '04 RS's came to the US with A/C, despite what the magazines said. When you go to the dealer and ask for an Evo accessory belt, he should see 3 different belts - 1) Evo 2)RS 3) RS but shorter length. Obviously you want the 3rd one. If I can dig up the p/n, I'll post it here later.

2. Remove the refridgerant (R12). You will need to have a shop do this. Why? You don't want to just vent this into the atmosphere. Also, it is worth a little money.

3. Get access to the condensor. Remove the front undertray, airbox, and any intercooler hoses in your way. You will need to remove the radiator fan and then the radiator itself. Be extra careful removing the radiator fan. Ask me how I know ( https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...07#post1254507 ). In order to remove the radiator, you'll need to remove the hoses on it. This will dump a fair amount of coolant, so be ready with a bucket.

4. Remove the front bumper. Don't forget to unhook the sprayer tube before you pull the bumper off completely. There is a small plastic junction where the tube will easily seperate. On my car the junction was dark blue so just look for that.

5. Once the radiator is out of the way, unhook all the lines going to the condensor (the thin, aluminum-colored radiator forward of the main, black radiator). Carefully remove the condensor and condensor fan.

6. Remove the accessory belt. There are a few tips on my site:

http://www.joe250.com/cars/evo/belttensioner.htm

7. Next, get access to the compressor. You'll remove the 4 bolts holding the compressor to the aluminum mounting bracket. Be ready!!! You don't want that compressor to fall. It weighs a bit. Also, with the lines removed from it, oil can freely drain from the ports. It is clear in color and there is plenty of it. Keep the compressor oriented just like it sits in the car, and you should be fine. Rotate it in the wrong direction and oil will start pouring out.

8. For maximum weight savings, remove the compressor bracket bolted to the block.

9. Install your new shorter belt.

10. You might want to remove some of the aluminum hard lines in the front and front RH side of the engine bay. Just make sure you cap every line. You don't want debris getting in those lines. You should be able to buy a variety of caps from an auto parts store. Ghetto-style would be to just duct tape over the ends, but I wouldn't know anything about that.

10. Carefully reinstall the radiator and then the fan. Refill the radiator from the top. Run the car with the radiator cap off for several minutes, keeping a VERY close and constant eye on the temp gauge. Add more water if necessary and then put the cap back on tight. Continue to keep an eye on the coolant levels in the radiator and of course your temp gauge for the first hour or 2 that you run the car. Better to be safe than sorry and there should be a few bubbles that need to make their way out of the system.

11. Re-install the front bumper and then the undertray.

I'm kicking myself for not writing the parts weights down. I can't remember now how much everything weighed, but I believe the compressor, compressor bracket, condensor, fan, hardlines, and all related bolts weighed about 30lbs. Please do not quote me on that. I'll see if I have a record somewhere.

Good luck. I can't recall enjoying the removal or re-installation for some reason.

Joe
www.joe250.com

 

Wrong. The refrigerant is not R-12 its R-134A. Cars haven't used that refrigerant since 93. 94 on up is when R-134A was mandated to be used in vehicles.

R-134A a is ozone friendly, meaning it won't deplete the ozone like some other refrigerants would. You want a shop to recover the refrigerant because you could get major fines for venting off the refer to the atmosphere.

 

How much weight savings by removing the AC?

 

Thanks for the write-up Joe.

I have been wanting to do this for a while now. I never used m A/C.

 

Even if you live in a cool climate and don't need cold air, the a/c is a great way to quickly clear condensation on the inside of the windows. Just a thought....

Joe

 

Dude, not only that, but you can go to jail for venting refer. Gives people the munchies too!

Joe

 

It's true that R12 depleats ozone but R12 is heavier than air so it goes down, not up. Either way, thanks to the tree huggers we can't use it anymore and we're stuck with R134a.

 

HAHAHA ! !

 

I am moving my AC because my EVO is going through a diet... my plan to drop the Wight down to 2800 LBS. YES 2800 LBS with me in the car, don’t ask me how but I found 300 LBS so far and I have 200 to go, every little thing count including the engine lifters on the valve cover.

 

If you've gone as far as to gut the interior i'd be interest in seeing pics of that. With all this weight cutting you may want to pay attention to how much of it is from where. I read an article where they cut the 350z down frm ~3250 lbs to 2750lbs. This is a 500 lb weight loss like what you are shooting for the only problem was most of it was in the rearend of the Z (somethin to the tune of~150 front ~350 rear). The straight line performance imporved but the the cornering wasn't as good as the stock in some cases because the spring rates and shocks were designed with the stock weight distribution in mind. If you have an adjustable suspension setup this shouldn't be a problem though

 

sorry, forgot to add that evo's are already nose heavy so this could make that even worse

 

yea of course I thought about that... I am thinking about some serious suspension setup

my plan is 430~450 WHP with 2700 ~ 2800 LBS car that I can drive everyday if I want to (which I wont) Now I am at 370WHP and I still have many parts to get, so 450 is not that hard especially with 2.3 engine and my 3071

 

I don't knw how tall you are but if you want to eek a little more handing out of your car you can drop the seats an inch lower.

http://japanparts.com/shop/shop.cgi?...pe_third=Seats

Assuming you weigh 175( a guess but i assume it is standard for a guy) the rails would drop 6.25% of the cars mass on inch which will lower the rolling moment of your car.