I have a couple questions about this.

First off, will i need a shorter belt once i take the compressor out? If so what size?

What else will i need to put on the car once i take out the whole system? Or is it pretty much just remove and your done? Will an no-ac console pretty much cover everything as for inside the car?

the A/C compressor belt is on a different pulley, just remove the belt. Yes, the A/C console is independent from everything else, so removing it and replacing it with a non-a/c console will cover that. Also, when you remove the A/C bracket you will need to take two bolts out of the water pump. Make sure on reassembly you space the bolts with washers, otherwise they will bottom out and your water pump will not be tight and leak.

I have a couple questions about this.

First off, will i need a shorter belt once i take the compressor out? If so what size?

What else will i need to put on the car once i take out the whole system? Or is it pretty much just remove and your done? Will an no-ac console pretty much cover everything as for inside the car?

the a/c belt only drives the a/c, nothing else. so no you wont need another belt.

all you remove is the compressor, condenser, and the blower fan inside, and piping.

and yes the non a/c console will fit after you take out the blower and neaten up the wiring mess.

Also, when you remove the A/C bracket you will need to take two bolts out of the water pump. Make sure on reassembly you space the bolts with washers, otherwise they will bottom out and your water pump will not be tight and leak.

Anybody know what size bolts to use for this so I wouldn't need washers?

If you take out the blower in the console there is a very large hole in the duct up there you would need to plug. I'm not sure how that affects the heat in the car if you leave the hole in the duct.

I would imagine if you didn't want to use washers you could go to the dealer and order the 2 bolts for the water pump for the non ac application.

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I would imagine if you didn't want to use washers you could go to the dealer and order the 2 bolts for the water pump for the non ac application.

I have a wurth hardware kit, I'm sure it has the right diameter and thread pitch, I was just wondering how much shorter the new bolt would be so I could make sure I have it. The dealer round here sucks. Wouldn't even get me the bushings to rebuild my shifter.

I have just done the same thing. the compressor was already off when i got the car, but i had to remove the parts under the dash. I did remove the pipes that run under the right hand side front wing. I don't know if you have to remove the wing but had it off any way.

The compressor has a fare bit of weight to it so it should make the car a little faster too!

cheers

The attached image was taken from RealOEM.com (http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=1733&mospid=47175&btnr=11_0565&hg=11&fg=35)

I didn't see an option to select AC or non-AC, but as I understand, all US cars that had AC were "dealer-installed" so the bolt sizes listed should be for non-AC applications. note items 10, 11 & 12, it may just be the longest of the three, been too long ago since I did this...

You could also just thread on a nut on to the bolt after you remove it, cut off the thickness of the AC bracket and then back the nut back off to restore the threads due to the burs from cutting.

FWIW.

Oh cool, thanks.

RealOEM is a great site!

Thanks Jester323.

Reviving this thread...

I just took out the A/C compressor on my car today. What else should I take out and how much work am I looking at? Obviously I need to take off the dashboard and remove the AC-related stuff under it... Is it pretty obvious once I get in there what's related to the AC and what's not?

I also removed a cylindrical thing in the engine compartment that had AC hoses attached to it and also had a pressure release valve. Is that the "condenser"? Or is there another major component somewhere that I missed?

Btw, some of those bolts on the AC compressor bracket were pretty hard to find. You really have to look at it from all directions under the car. And of course, the Haynes manual doesn't say anything about the AC system because "it should always be serviced by professional refrigeration engineers"... or some shit like that. For those attempting to remove the compressor, you have to remove it along with the big bracket that holds it. You can't detach the compressor from the bracket until the whole assembly is out of the car.

the cylinder is a drier.

Under the dash you will find the evaporator unit along with the blower motor. You cant miss the AC lines under the dash, they are always alloy and usually wrapped in foam. Just a suggestion, if you have ever wanted to replace your carpet, now is your best chance.

I actually cut out the pipes that went through the firewall too. I wanted NOTHING left of the AC system in my car. Cutting the pipes actually helped in removing them, lets you twist them this way and that, basically making it easier to get them through the hole in the firewall.

There is also the portion on the front of the radiator to remove. That is the condenser I believe. On my '81 I was able to remove the aux fan from this and reinstall it onto the front of the radiator. My '83 was not the same and I was NOT able to reinstall the fan (mounted to the condenser, not around the condenser). The fan is more for piece of mind if ou are still running the motor driven fan. Once you have removed the condenser and cleaned the front of the radiator, there is a LOT more airflow through the radiator, so the aux fan may never come on anymore. :D

for that matter, that engine driven fan has a pretty fair amount of drag. I was really impressed with my old M10 after I removed the engine driven fan and went to an after market electric fan. IIRC, I was using a flex-a-lite.

I set mine up as a pusher fan in front of the radiator after I had removed my condenser. Mine was also an '83 and I can also confirm that my aux fan would't go back on after the condenser was removed. FWIW, an aftermarket electric can push a lot more than the aux fan.

Weird...I didn't have to touch my aux fan to get the condenser out. The fan is still where it always was. (also an 83)

hello i see that youre going to take out your ac system

i need the piece of plastic between the ac unit and the heater

can i buy that of you

thanks maarten

you don't actually have to pull the dash itself to get the blower out, just the center console

Steve (sbcrockett) and I removed the under-dash AC stuff on my car yesterday (thanks for the help Steve!). The trick to taking that big blower motor out was to lift it up a bit after the screws had been removed.

It seems that all vents on the dashboard except the windshield defogger and the footwell vents are used only for the AC - is that correct? If that's true, it means that the normal heater is an entirely separate system, which means that I don't need to plug any holes on the AC ducts because even if they're open, they won't affect anything. Or did I miss something?