My 90 rex never had factory air. I've found a lot of write ups for AC delete, but I'm wondering how much work I'd be getting myself into by retrofitting air into a rex that never had it.

Or... does anyone know of a place that sells universal AC kits, or if that would even be the way to go?

 

You can obviously turn a wrench so the most difficult parts to install are the condenser and the evaporator. Everything else just requires you to have a pulse to install.

 

I've never added air, but I can't imagine it being too much different from removing it. The write ups should give you a good idea of what you will have to do to get AC back into the car. As long as the firewall has holes, I don't see anything that would be difficult. You do excellent work, so I doubt this is beyond your skill set.

 

I am on the other side of the fence, considering removing mine.

Don't you have a parts CRX? Does that one have AC? For the right price I'll rip out the AC from my parts CRX for you.

 

Yes, my parts car does have a complete system, I was just curious how much work I'd be getting myself into if I tried swapping it over. (Such as, if non-ac models would need any harness work done, or if there would be any other hidden stumbling blocks?) Air is nice, but I don't need it to survive or anything, so was just trying to gauge how big a project it would be first.

 

It's not difficult at all. The AC wiring harness will plug right into your cars wiring harness. They is a plug under where the evaporator goes. My buddy and I installed a complete AC system from a 90 crx is into an 89 crx DX model and the harness already had the plug. Yours should as well. Everything else is pretty straightforward.

 

The a/c harness is separate, but you can add it to your car if you can find one. The evaporator is the hardest part, the rest of the kit just bolts right on.

 

Oh yeah. The evaporator is under the dash. That may be a pain in the butt. Well, I know it will be a pain in the butt because anything under the dash is a pain in these cars. (Short of fuses and such)

 

The evap is actually incredibly easy. you remove the glovebox, glovebox support bar then there is two straps with 10mm bolts , and a bolt on top of evap, and a bolt on bottom of evap. Too me less than 30 minutes to get mine out.

Just finished my R134a retrofit with new o-rings, new drier, parallel flow condensor, new expansion valve, new 134a fittings. I vacumed it down and charged her up and am getting 40 degree vent temps AT IDLE. dont believe anyone who tells you the R134A conversion does not work well.

 

I went R134A and only got 44 degree vent temps at best, during the Texas summer. With R12, I get 33 degrees. The evap simply isn't sized correctly for R134A to be effective in real heat. Austin had 110 days over 100 degrees last year.