air conditioning codenser location in 1931 coupe

[yellowbeard]

Hey guys, I need some idea's where to locate it? Or would it be best to get another Rad. with it built in. thanks Joe

[62131]

yellowbeard I would mount it as low as possible between the grill and radiator. I used a Walker radiator in my 38 with no over heating problems at all I'm really glad I purchased it.

[ghost28]

No matter what you do your radiator will have to be moved back a few inches for the condensor to fit. I hope you have enough room. I have never heard of mounting it in another place?

[yellowbeard]

can't mount it in front of the rad. no grille on a 31. rad. is the outside.

[madmike3434]

GHOST is right, your radiator needs to move rearward the thickness of the condenser, in order for the condenser to have a place to be mounted.

Also the condenser needs to be centered on the fan, so that the maximum draw of air goes thru the rad and the condenser .

Thrown into all this , is that you will now need a stainless steel expanded mesh to fit into the radiator opening of your rad shell to HIDE the look of the condenser.

Not sure if I have ever seen the condenser mounted on the inside towards the motor.  You may want to consider that if you have enough room between a mechanical fan and the radiator.

mike lynch............

[yellowbeard]

have searched the net and seen it mounted under the car with a electric fan placed on it.

[vette59jdwl]

 There is no reason you could not put the condenser under the car in a parallel position and run an electric fan out of a pony car over the top of it blowing down towards the road  Go to www.vintage air scroll down to the small video on trinary switch very informative  vette59jdwl

[yellowbeard]

well, got the compressor mounted today, still a ways to go.

[ghost28]

Looks good. I will have to keep that in mind about mounting it under the car. It apears that you don't have much room to move your radiator back. When I built my 27 I had to use a 29 grille shell and I made it deeper by about 2 1/2 inches. It made it look like a truck grille shell though and would not be for everyones car.

[vette59jdwl]

After much consideration and thoughts ,There is no room under my car to put the  condensor so it would need to be tie wrapped to the back of the radiator. I would use some sort of a spacer say teflon  pipe ,or just cut some half inch ABS pipe 3/4 of an inch long and run the tie wrapped through this and through the radiator and tie off.Having said that I am sure you are going to have to use a rad shroud and block off any escaping air spaces so that the air will have no where to go ,but through the rad and through the condenser.I would use an electric fan preferably a two or three speed fan on the engine side of this. vette59jdwl----https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w17DpGCcRj8

[vette59jdwl]

 One other thing that you can do to improve the flow of water antifreeze mix through your rad is to have your radiator biscutted, by doing this you make your radiator  three times as long a route as a standard radiator.With a normal cross flow rad you have the water come into the top of the radiator and from there,it falls into a reservoir on one side of the rad and flows across the face of the rad through the fins to get to the opposite side of the rad where it falls to the outlet and is sucked out by the water pump. In a Biscutted radiator it does a similar thing only when it crosses it can not fall all the way to the bottom it falls to a biscutt where it is diverted back across the rad to the primary side where it then falls to another biscut then it is diverted back across the radiator one mor time where it then falls to the outlet

[yellowbeard]

I have plenty of room under my car. As far as I know you do not run condenser behind rad. Hot air from rad. will not let it cool, even with an electric fan. 

[vette59jdwl]

 I am not sure if i totally agree with that one  Placing the condenser in front of the rad on a 30/31/32 would be a nono for sure. I would however talk to the experts in the air conditioning field as to the placement of the condenser. I know that the old r12 removed more heat from the component than the new fluids do and the old r12 make it a lot colder .  vette59jdwl

[vette59jdwl]

 This reminds me of the time we changed the fan clutch on my 89 caprice ss .If you walked out in front of the car it nearly blew you over ,?sure put a wrinkle in your pants.The fan we used was off of a 87 caprice what we didn't realize at the time was that the 89 motor ran backwards and we had a normal rotating fan hooked up to the clutch.Instead of sucking air through the rad it was blowing air through the rad from the engine side and out the front.I wonder how fast you would have to be going down the road before you got to equal forces.  vette59jdwl

[madmike3434]

I went to all the trouble of installing a vintage air system in my 35 coupe. Putting down a thick layer of insulation on the floor followed by a thin layer of the nascar aluminum both sides, that sealed out all the heat from the exhaust. 

I covered the firewall on the inside with the thinner aluminum both sides insulation and sprayed an adhesive on it, that sealed any leaks coming thru the firewall.

I also installed a roll down rear back window.  That did the trick, cooled the car right off inside with the cowl vent open I had air flow front to and out the back window.!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even with the unbearable some days humid summer we have here, its not hot  *** in the car*** .    I took out the compressor, evaporator and everything else and have never put it back in, as its not a problem anymore. The big problem was firewall and floor leakage  and those are sealed .

mike lynch..........