Hi guys! I'm trying to put together an AC system in my daily. I live in Texas and it's pretty hot most of the year so of course I'd like to stop soaking T-shirts on my drive to work but the biggest reason I want AC is that my windows fog up incredibly badly whenever it rains. I've tried Fog-X and some other anti-fog product that I forgot and neither really helped. I'm sure it doesn't help that I smoke cigs and so the windows are always cracked or wide open and there is often moisture inside the car. If it rains on a work day, I end up doing my commute almost blindfolded, the fogged windows are that bad. I'm pretty sure AC will fix this major safety issue, and yes, I'd also like to stop showing up at work completely soaked in sweat. I have been reading up alot on the AC systems you guys have built and I have put together most of the parts I think I will need. My car came with the dealer installed Sanden system and I still have all the parts, but something was broken, it has never worked for me, and it had no vacuum when I first cracked the system. I haven't done any real troubleshooting of the system, but it looks to me that the hardlines are all good, and I plan to replace pretty much everything else. I dropped in a parallel flow condenser when I did the B20B swap a few months ago, it still has the plastic caps on the inlet/outlet so I shouldn't get any moisture inside. I also have some UAC components yet to be installed under the dash: evaporator core, expansion valve, and AC thermostat. I don't have any AC gauges or a vacuum pump, so I plan on dropping in all those UAC parts and a full set of o-rings just a day or two before going to the AC shop and letting them install the UAC drier right before pulling vac on the system. None of these parts are OEM goodies, but they are all made for my chassis and look like they will drop right in. The real questions are which mount, compressor and hoses will work in my application.

For the mount, I picked up a P7J from the junkyard off a '98 CRV. The CRV had a torque mount or something right next to the compressor and the mount was not going to fit in my bay like that, so I just chopped off the part that looked in the way:




For the compressor, I snagged a reman Sanden TRF090 really cheap off ebay. I had planned on using the TRS090 that many people have had success with, but I always thought the earlier "F" version looked like a closer match to my EF lines and when it popped up at 1/3 the price I was planning on paying for the "S", I went ahead and ordered it. The ports are the same as my TR70, but TRF090 has them angled just a bit on the radiator side where they are flat across the top on the TR70.





I figured with some minor bending, I would have a chance at using the original lines with this TRF090 and worst case scenario, I'd order a set that was just abit longer from @James89DX and be done with it. But now that everything is here, I don't think it's going to be that easy. I have a 1320 RFV1 header that gives me tons of room on the compressor side, but in the center of the car things get pretty cramped:




The low side hose should work fine, but I don't think my high side hose can do that big ol' loop around the compressor fan because the header is already in that gap between the fans melting stuff.




Don't worry, the blades still spin fine, they just don't have as much plastic covering them up on the cooling fan right below the radiator cap. I had to trim alot off just to get the fans and shroud installed, and then the heat from the header did a lil more trimming lol. So I pulled it all out, did some more trimming of melted plastic, and shimmed the fan blades a lil closer to the rad and everything works great now, the melting has stopped and the blades inside clear the header. Doesn't leave much room for an AC line though. I think the reduced barrier hoses would fit down that hole without touching the header but the fittings won't. So I'm gonna need to route my lines differently. I'd like to know the reason Honda uses that big loopdeeloop around the driver side fan. Like, why did they use a 40 inch hose on that section of the high side when the compressor sits like 6 inches from the condenser? I noticed that the DA doesn't do that full loop around the condenser fan with the high side hose, but it does go like 18 inches out from the compressor and then turns a sharp 180 and comes right back:



^^ OG TR70 system on the left, on the right is what came with my swap. I pulled a B20B from a 91 teg at the junkyard. I'm not positive that this is the DA system, but it is what I found in a b20 swapped DA. Regardless of what it came from, it takes a very long route from the compressor to the condenser. What is the purpose of all this extra hose? What happens if I just go straight from compressor to condenser?

 

Send me a PM with your mailing address and I'll send you about 2 ft of the rubber/cork tape you'll need to cover the expansion valve's bulb when you snap it onto the evaporator's tube. I bought a roll of the stuff a few years ago when I replaced my evaporator and only needed about a foot of the tape. It'll save you some cash from having to buy a roll, and it will let you do the install correctly.

That's a good question about why the high pressure line is so long when the actual distance between the compressor and condenser is so short. The fact that they did it on both the EF system and what you think is the DA system makes you wonder if the extra line length gives the gas time to cool before hitting the condenser or something like that. I'm not sure.

You're right - you don't have much room at all. My EG is turbocharged and I still have AC, so it's busy in that area also. I highly recommend you put some kind of heat protection on your hoses. I used DEI Heat Sheath - it's an aluminized tube of heat resistant fabric. I had to slide it on before I put the lines on, and it was a bitch. DEI makes another product called Heat Shroud and it's the same thing but split and it velcro's back to itself over the lines. It would be easier to install, but may come loose eventually. Either way, do something to protect those lines once you run them.

 

Im also in TX and just spent about $450 on new parts for the A/C system. I’m gonna put it all together in the next couple weeks or so. But I’ve got a pretty stock setup unlike you=\

Where does this tape go, and why? Thanks for the info on the heat shroud stuff btw.

 

You're welcome. Here's a thread on the tape: https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...ement-3309024/

 

Thank you so much for the cork tape offer @DaX , PM sent. I will be sure to insulate the hoses as well, that seems like a wise move.

As for the high side hose routing... I've been talking to an engineer friend that basically said that I can route that hose however I like, but I should try to keep the length the same. He said something about how I need to have proper cooling of the gasses in that section or I will end up with moisture in the compressor, shortening it's lifespan. And while my header cramps things in the center of the car, it actually leaves alot of room right above the compressor, (much more than the stock integra mani anyway) so I'm planning to do a smaller spiral straight up from the compressor, kinda like a horizontal coil instead of the vertical loop that Honda designed. I'll post my success or my failure when I get there, shouldn't be too long. Not this weekend though, caught one of my exhaust flanges on a speed bump or something and spung an exhaust leak. #lowlife. Gonna have to get my pipes tucked up a lil better in the short term, then back to AC project.

 

My compressor arrived! At first I was a lil disappointed cuz it didn't come with that shiny billet pulley from the ebay ad. But I'm over it now because it fits perfectly with all 4 bolts:



The pulley and tensioner line up perfectly with the crank, and I have a good 1/8" clearance all around.


As expected, the stock EF low side could work with no modifications.




All I would need to do is find a new mounting place for the relay, but that wasn't stock anyway.

EDIT: Thats right viewers! If you have a Sanden equipped EF with a B-swap, all you need to do is throw away your driver-side fan, scavenge a P7J mount, buy a TRF090, and find a place to mount your relay. The lines will bolt right up without mods. Everything I do from here out is because I like my peice of ish fan shroud and love my 1320 header. TY, enjoy the rest of the show and don't be shy with any advice that pops into your head. It will probably help this noob.

If I clock the left side fitting up and away from the header like this:




I will gain alot more clearance from cylinders #2 and #3 and I will only need to add a couple inches to the flexible hose. Should keep things much cooler, and I can route the low side where the high side used to be, all snug up against the rad and cleaner looking. I don't think it is necessary to modify the low side, but I will be adding some length here just because the other side needs mods and I might as well do things right.

On to the problem hose, my "spiral up" plan was trashed, I have a new plan. First, I'm going to cut at least a foot of hardline out of the equation:



Notice I COULD cut alot more out (maybe 18") but I'll start just shy of those bends and I can always trim more out if needed. The plan is to braze the condenser side hardlines back together and use a much longer length of flexible hose. This will keep the first couple bends that tuck themselves neatly around the radiator and then go straight into the hose fitting with a small 15ish degree bend I can clock to my advantage somehow or just eliminate. This join will orient the condenser side of the high side hose pretty much straight upward, toward the hood; more on this later.

The other end comes off the compressor pointing down. I plan to buy a few clamps like this one:




And make a small loop to fill this space between the compressor and header:



It may look a lil tight in this photo, but it's actually pretty spacious here compared to everywhere else. I bet I could fit a stock battery up in this hole.

I'll make a bracket that mounts to those 3 holes just above the oilpan, then mount one of those clamps over by the header so I can do a gentle "U" below it. This will be as close as we come to the header the whole route. I'm not sure yet exactly how close I wanna go but the DEI heat shield that Dax recommended says it can have direct contact with a 500 degree surface. Buuuuuut just because the shield can take the heat I'm unsure of its actual insulation properties and how hot it will be on the inside. So I'll probably leave a quarter inch or so clearance BESIDE the pipe because I've seen Honda setups with unshielded lines that come that close ABOVE the stock header where its gotta be hotter. From there, we just basically follow that cylinder #1 pipe back up top. I'll mount the other clamp where the B20 power steering used to be and that should provide a safe exit. I figure I can stash away 25-30 inches of hose in this small loop, with the total goal for the whole line being around 40". We are almost there now... the high side is now back on top of the pump, pointing up.

The last peice in this puzzle will be an inverted "U" right above the compressor. I'm not sure how quickly I can turn a 180 with the barrier hose without kinking it and this could be the weakness in this plan. But there is a backup plan: the DA hoses posted upthread include a pretty tight 180. If I need to I can incorporate that bend, but then my braze points will jump from 1 to 3 and I also go from 2 custom length hoses to 3. I don't really want to do all that extra stuff, but if plan B is necessary, it will not only prevent kinks but I will also gain a mounting point at the very top which might be kinda nice. I've never brazed anything together but it doesn't look too tough on Youtube. Yesterday I was googling "Aluminum welding in Austin" but I think I will try to do it myself whether it requires one joint or three. If I screw up my original high side line I know a junkyard with a Sanden equipped wagon.

 

Idk how I didn't see this yesterday (maybe cuz I had been awake like 30 hours?) but I can handle this whole top side inverted "U" thingy with a single braze point. I got to playing around with the EF and DA high side hoses today and I think I see how this thing will come together:




^^ right around here would be max height. Almost certainly would have clearance issues with the hood but this shows I have a decent length to start off with.




^^ Somewhere around here would be minimum height. If you can find a Honda fitting pointing straight up from the compressor, you could have a very short, tucked little system with these bends. That was my first thought on this project, go short. But I think I will take my friend's advice and try to use up the space I can and come close to stock length.




^^ I think something like this will be Goldilocks for me. ^^ From the condenser I keep the first 3 EF bends that tuck around the rad and point up, braze on the DA line that takes us up a couple more inches to the hood and quickly orients the hose fitting back downward, where the flexible barrier hose heads to a clamp mounted where the power steering goes. This may end up a lil shorter than stock, it may exceed stock by a lil bit; either way I think I'll be happy with it. I will have given this hose all the space I can give it.

I'm itching to start cuttin things up for a more accurate mockup but also hesitant cuz I'm very noob to aluminum braze and maybe the cuts themselves will turn out to be important? Is it better to use a pipe cutter or a hacksaw? I imagine either way, the soft Al will cut like butta but the pipe cutter would leave a nice little groove for the braze to fill up, while a more square cut across with a saw would keep more of the original material in contact. Idk which is better. Anybody have experience in this?