240 Are the 91-92 heater/AC units superior to previous?

[John242Ti]

^Good idea. Especially if the car was formerly a smoker's car.

 

[trapper240]

...

 

[bobxyz]

Mounting a 1993 AC Condenser in a 1985

I've been accumulating the parts to swap a '93 AC system into my '85 for several years and _finally_ have working AC!

I figure I'd update this post with more pics and info since this post seems to have the most details already. A few other good posts are:
- 15A's 92 vs 93 240 AC Brackets: https://turbobricks.com/index.php?threads/92-vs-93-240-ac-brackets.348196/
- Harlard's 204 AC Retrofit: https://turbobricks.com/index.php?threads/air-conditioning-retrofit.345488/
- 240 AC Components with parts catalog diagrams: https://turbobricks.com/index.php?threads/what-a-c-components-to-pull-from-a-93.322912/
- Newer AC thread: https://turbobricks.com/index.php?t...on-dump-how-to-improve-ac-performance.356477/

Here's briefly what I did to mount the '93 condenser into my '85. Click pics for full size.

1) Opening for condenser (oil cooler on right).
2) 93 condenser, with rubber feet and stacked washers to adjust height
3) Home Depot nailing plates used for mounting brackets
4) Trial fitting with top of condenser wedge into desired location and rubber feet on bottom of condenser resting on flange. Temporarily screw on the 2 hard lines and adjust the stack of washers to give some clearance between the frame rail and hard lines. Hold up the brackets and mark the hole locations on condenser.
5) Mount the brackets to the condenser
6) Put the condenser back in place, check the hardline clearance, and when happy, mark the final hole locations on the sheet metal. Remove the condenser, drill the sheet metal, re-assemble.
7) View from underneath showing hardlines cleanly coming through corner of bumper air deflector and going back under the belly pan.
8) Engine compartment view
9) One issue that I ran into that I still need to solve is that the original '85 uses a single big J bracket to hold the hood latch, the top panel, the front panel, and the cross member all together. There isn't enough clearance at the bend in the J to mount the '93 electric pusher fan. I'll need to use a smaller fan, or see if I can find non-J brackets from a newer car.







If you have access to sheet metal and a brake, it would be a cleaner install to use a roughly foot long continuous bracket instead of the nailing plates. This would better seal the air gap and should be a little more efficient.

10) Picture of '93 hoses and hard lines. The compressor to crossmember combined hardline and rubber hose is still available from Volvo. I think the other lines are NLA.
11) Here's a picture of some of the '93 lines compared to '91 lines. The condenser to evaporator lines seem to be inter-changable but the high pressure switch threaded connector, and the switch, are different. The condenser to crossmember line looks the same. Some of the '93 lines are aluminum while the '91 lines are steel.

 

[bobxyz]

O-rings for 1993 240 AC

I ordered a kit of orings that was supposed to be correct for the '93 AC system. Some were correct, others were not included, so I ended up painstakingly figuring out all the needed O-rings for a 1993 240 AC system.

Order these o-rings, and add a few extra just in case
- Volvo part numbers from pages 1014-1019 of: Volvo Parts Catalog 240-260 series 1988-1993 from gcp.se.pdf and from Tasca "replaced by" lookups
- Santech part numbers from web searchs for Volvo numbers
- Dimensions from online Omega Santech Master Technician Catalog http://fs1.omega-usa.com/SantechCatalog/mobile/index.html#p=205
- Pipe dimensions from my measurements

Qty Volvo Santech Description Dimensions Pipe CARiD.com
- 3537797 MT0288 orifice tube oring 0.256" id, 0.061" wall not measured n/a
1 3537499 MT0237 lower condensor 0.301" id, 0.070" wall .335" $0.08
2 3537501 MT0291 pressure switches 0.351" id, 0.072" wall .38" $0.48
1 3545628/988838 MT0243 fill valve oring 0.364" id, 0.095" wall .408" $0.24
5 3537503/988840 MT0293 rest 0.426" id, 0.070" wall .458" $0.28
1 3537507/988843 MT0295 compressor big 0.551" id, 0.070" wall .565" $0.28
3 3537521 MT0297 rcvr/dryer/evap 0.676" id, 0.070" wall .693" $0.24
$3.68 total for 1 set, no spares

Dimensions from online Omega Santech Master Technician Catalog
MT0288 0.256" id, 0.061" wall
MT0237 0.301" id, 0.070" wall - pipe is .335"
MT0291 0.351" id, 0.072" wall - pipe is .38"
MT0243 0.364" id, 0.095" wall - valve is .408"
MT0293 0.426" id, 0.070" wall - pipe is .458"
MT0295 0.551" id, 0.070" wall - pipe is .565"
MT0297 0.676" id, 0.070" wall - pipe is .693"

 

[DET17]

Nicely done Bob! I'll be fitting the 93 system to my 84 242 someday, so thanks for the 411.

BTW, enjoyed Boulder last year, and a morning trip to El Dorado State Park.

 

[Matt86]

Very nice. My 93 A/C swap has been going strong now for 3 hot Georgia summers. Well worth it if you want freezing cold A/C.

 

[bobxyz]

I finally got around to installing a late model 240 efan in front of my AC condenser. The original '85 uses a J shaped support bracket between upper and lower radiator panels that interferes with the late model efan -- see the last picture above.

To install the late model efan, you need the non-J shaped radiator support bracket and all the efan brackets. Here's the catalog drawing of the efan:


After removing the J bracket, the later straight bracket fits the original holes, but is at a slight angle. The horn mounts transfer over, and fan support bracket #12 bolts to the straight bracket.


On my '85, there was already a hole in the upper radiator panel that worked for the upper fan support bracket #19. I did not install the side support bracket #11 since it was too far away from the headlight panels. The efan mounting seems stiff enough without it.


For the 2 bolts holding the #10 lower support bracket to the lower radiator panel I needed to drill 1 new hole at a slight off-vertical angle, and bend the #10 bracket slightly so that it reached further back. Use the #18 lower efan to underbody bracket to figure out where to drill and bend the #10 bracket.


On the next hot day, I'll need to sit in stop&go rush hour traffic to verify that the efan comes on when the overpressure switch triggers.

 

[DET17]

Funny.... I just pulled my 93 AC fan out of the trunk of my 84 242 yesterday.... and here is your update.

So having not yet looked at the control wiring, I'll guess the fan power is directly at the hot bus on the drivers fender, with the high pressure/high side switch the only permissive? Or is the power fed all the way from the AC relay?

BTW, does your 85 240 have a FMIC? I wondered if this fan would fit with an intercooler. I've also got the 93 1 year only condenser.

 

[bobxyz]

I wired it up to mostly match the '93 greenbook. The fan is powered by a cube relay that I mounted in front of the battery, versus by the headlight relay, so that it would be a little closer to the fan. Instead of the weird '93 fuse on the battery + post clamp, I used a rubber water resistant inline ATC blade fuse between the +12v distribution block and the relay (20 amp). The relay is energized when the A/C switch is on (picked up on pin 1 of the accumulator/dryer switch), and the overpressure switch is closed. The wire runs around the outside of the engine compartment - dryer #1, to overpressure switch, other side of overpressure switch around front to relay. This functions the same as the factory 93 wiring, but allows one side of the relay coil to be directly grounded for simpler wiring.

My 85 has the factory intercooler / radiator / 93 condenser / efan.