air conditioner

pinztx · Post by **pinztx** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:47 pm

Thanks for all the help with the heater question!! Now how do I put an air conditioner on this thing!! I am putting a 12v system on it. What has been used?

mjnims · Post by **mjnims** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:18 pm

Living here in the flat lands and low elevation give us a better advantage to the loss of power with the added accessories. Having said that, Mark has been running AC on his 712 for a while now, along with a bunch of other great improvements, I hope he speaks up and post the components he used.
My wife bought one of the Smart cars and with the three cylinder 71hp motor the air conditioning unit on it does not even draw the engine down. I wonder what compressor and other components they are using on it.

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:26 pm

Mike I bet it has a pretty small evaporator you could probly build the coil into the factory blower. I saw on tv the other day were they were putting 12v electric compressors on some ofthe future smart cars. They never mentioned the amp draw.

mjnims · Post by **mjnims** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:44 am

Erik
There are very few things on the Smart that are large. The insulation on the car is crude at best. There is no insulation on the panoramic roof, so I think someone with a little imagination could easily use a similar unit on their pinz. The problem is so many have listened to the closed minded pinz owners of old for so long that imagination for new items has been lost except for the few who choose to ignore the old school way of thinking. Mark for example has had AC on two of his three pinzies. If you have ever spent time around the early '30s car buffs you would see that they put AC on some of them while maintaining the outward appearance. These cars also had no insulation and very little excess HP to work with. They also wanted to keep the appearance the same so some extremely small and efficient units were used. AC is a possibility in the pinz if one is willing to bear the cost.

I have seen and done several other mods which I was told by the older owners could not be done or would cause certain destruction of the pinzgauer and yet they still go strong. Just ask the guys working the EFI systems what they heard when they first started talking about doing it, "can't be done", "too expensive", "will never work on the Puch engine". All because the elders could not find a way to do it and make money.

If there is a mod you want for your pinz just look around. I am sure that in some car/truck somewhere it has been done before. With a little imagination it could be fitted to the pinz.

pinztx · Post by **pinztx** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:21 am

I am having the whole thingsprayed with bed linner. Inside and out to help with insulation. The out side will be green and inside is black. I live in south Texas ac is a must. I try not to be miserable while I am having fun!

mjnims · Post by **mjnims** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:32 am

pinztx
I know that in Mark's 710K he used a honda 3500 generator mounted between the seats in the rear to power his AC unit. He built a custom cover that was sound insulated so you could not hear the gen running while in the truck. I can remember being out with Mark on a hot day and placing my hand on his windshield, it was cold! Here is a pic of it, don't think he would mind

texas pinzgauer · Post by **texas pinzgauer** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:56 am

That (710K with a roof mounted matching green a/c unit is so damn cool, I just about can't stand it! Had I seen or known such a think could be done, I would have gone K and not M.

As all of the posts indicate, if you have an idea for your Pinz, go for it. Break out the tape measure and the tourch and do it. Every possible application wasn't considered by S-D-P when they were cranking these things out for the Swiss military back in the 1970s.

" Hans, perhaps we should add in air conditioning to the Pinzgauer design because some civilians in Texas don't want to get all sweaty driving around in the summer time?" Did that conversation ever happen? Yeah, right!

Anyway, the idea is to simply remind everyone that if you can think it up, it can probably be done.

pinztx · Post by **pinztx** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:10 pm

I had the I idea of doing it that way, but I don't like the idea of depending on the gen. I have about 30 of them and do not like the little gas powered ones they are just about disposable. I use kabota diesel on my jobs and that is too big for this.

I am looking into going with the type that they put in old cars and trucks researching price on this route.

Jim LaGuardia · Post by **Jim LaGuardia** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:00 pm

A/C? You do have doors with removable tops!! If you are in a low humidity area it would be much more cost effective to use an RV swamp cooler. They are around $200-$300, some even cheaper.
The reason most mods don't get done is the cost, It will run you around $1200-$2800 to put in A/C using new parts, more than most owners will part with. The factory used a Sanden compressor, but it sucked a lot of power and was a costly set up. The compressor was mounted off the front spine support below the engine and a special pulley was installed.
I was going to design a side mounted system for the Pinz, but decided it was a waste of my time and precious resources($$$$). There is no market for it as most units here have soft tops. It all boils down to how much you are willing to spend

And for using a small unit like in the previously mentioned Smart Car, will not work(do the math) the Pinz has way more cubic feet that need cooling , which exceeds the capacity of a smaller system. Not knocking the idea, just experience speaking

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:36 pm

Jim, Thanks for running are fun

But if we were just tring to cool teh front cab it would be close to the same. I stopped buy my old boss shop today with the pinz we plugged in a old under the counter freezer to my inverter just to see if it would run and it did. we got to talking and we think we could take it apart put the compressor in the tool box and the evaporator in the middle of the cage change the settings on the defrost timer and shorten the capulary tube increase the condenser coil size and see what happens. I finish my building this weekend so i will have some free time to play around i will see how it work it wouldn't cost any thing the freezer is free i allready have a bottle of R408A. I don't have a need for A/C I like the heat. But it might be fun to play around with if i have nothing else to do.

mjnims · Post by **mjnims** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:35 pm

Jim
You are correct. None of the AC installs I have seen in the M's are addressing the rear area, only the cab. Mark's unit is run off the engine with a standard compressor on his current 712. The AC unit is mounted on the hard cab roof he has fabricated. I don't see enough power loss on the engine to be a negative thing, but then again we are not at any serious elevation. Having taken my pinz to several of the CO. treffens at altitudes exceeding the 12K level mark I can see where they would not want to loose even a minute bit of power. You also have to consider that they are not looking at temps nearing the 120 mark either so AC is not as big a factor, nice yes. Again don't want to squash any ideas. They can all be done just depends on how deep down in your pocket you are willing to go. I have found, at least here in AZ most of us are not afraid to spend money on making our trucks what we want them to be. I know this goes against the old school pinz crowds thinking that all pinz owners are cheap, I for one am offended by that statement, considering the amount of time and modifications done to my pinzies.

andy · Post by **andy** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:45 pm

I prefer the word frugal, but not when it comes to my Pinz.

Andy

Jim LaGuardia · Post by **Jim LaGuardia** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:14 pm

I never said cheap, some are just unwilling. It would be safe to say that the majority do not feel a need to do expensive mods as the trucks are well equipped bone stock

I added EFI to get rid of the Gas smell in the cab and run without flooding when rock crawling

I am however somewhat surprised that after I had requests and got the components made, they are still sitting on the shelf unsold. I guess I'll have to put them on E-bay

Been running EFI for 2+ years and still waiting to see the other system on the road..............................................

pinztx · Post by **pinztx** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:08 pm

I will be using my 710k mostly in South Texas and West Texas it can get a little warm here with some humidity. Plus I try real hard not to be miserable while having fun. That is kind of the theory I live by.

mjnims · Post by **mjnims** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:48 pm

Jim
I have read on this and the other boards post that refer to pinz owners as cheap. Those who think so and have said same know who they are. I am sure there are a few who could be considered cheap and others thrifty or whatever term they choose to use. I just don't like the reference to the crowd in general. I have seen more spend thrifts in the mog crowd than the pinz crowd and yet you don't see the same cheap comments about them.

I am sorry to hear that you still have components on the shelf. I would think that with all the reported problems people have with their carbs that they have not chosen EFI as an option. For me personally no carb issues so no need to mess with them at this time. As long as the carbs continue to provide the performance I am getting now I will continue with them. If the time comes to do a major carb overhaul, EFI would certainly be my preferred option.