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Installation of
Vintage Air's After market A/C Unit Into an FJ55
By,
Lance Williams
The first step for
me was to remove the old A/C system. That thing had been in there for
20 years so I used a couple of big wrenches and a bunch of foul
language to get it out. No surprises here, I did save the mounting
hardware and found a use for some of it when I installed the new
system.
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The next step
was to install the condenser in the grill. The mounts provided for
installation in an FJ40 did not fit so I made my own out of 20AWG
sheet metal. I cut four "L" shaped brackets that were 2"
wide and 4" on each side. In order to position the condenser
properly I bent a ½" step into each bracket to recess
the condenser mounts into the grille area. There are existing
mounting points inside the grille to bolt the brackets to. (figure
1) |
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I used the existing
hole at the top of the left grille support beam for the upper
condenser line but had to cut a new hole for the lower line. I used a
cut-off wheel to make the hole. Actually, I tried a hole saw first but
the blade caught and sent the body of the drill into the radiator
giving me a bath of anti-freeze. TIP #1 - don't poke holes in your
radiator.
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The lines
provided for the FJ40 installation were formed to an angle that
did not match the mounting position of the condenser in the FJ55.
I had to bend open the 90 degree angle on the upper line to about
160 degrees and the lower to about 120 degrees. Vintage Air offers
a wide variety of hoses and fittings, including custom built
hoses. I called them after installing my kit to see if alternate
hoses could be provided with the kit to better fit the FJ55 and
that was no problem for them. (TIP # 2 Don't over tighten the
metal clamps that connect the hard lines to the condenser, they
will break.)
Mounting the
dryer and compressor went almost without a hitch. The instructions
provided advised me to tap the block to 10mm x 1.25 pitch. That's
the size they were to begin with. Don't buy a tap until you are
sure you need it. The belt size specified did not fit. I used a
Gates # 9585 and it fits well. Although not as wide as the factory
alternator belt it does not slip. (figure 2) |
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