In the “C” and “V8” there is either no space and or too much heat to mount a single condenser in the engine bay. These cars do not need any more heat or obstruction to the radiator air flow. With an MGB- GT a single condenser can be fitted in front of the radiator as there is lots of space and engine conditions will tolerate mounting in the engine bay.

For the “C” and “V8” two condensers are used, these mount in the wings below the headlight bowl, there is space with either the standard valence or the later air dam so the external appearance is not affected. Slots are cut in the valence to give plenty of air to the fans and unload the fan motors at cruise. In our car we discovered that they also give brake cooling which is a great benefit.

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Inside the cabin the Map Pocket has to be removed to allow the Evaporator to mount as it is a very nice fit between the centre trim and outside trim. In our car we have mounted the Map Pocket on the vertical panel under the “Kiddy” seat, central behind the passenger seat. This allows the driver to actually get things out of the pocket while in a seat belt. The “dopey” bloody poms never thought of this.  In the case of the “C” they seemed to NOT consider lots of things. To operate the fresh air door [behind the centre metalwork] I added a push-pull rod and a bracket next to the console so the driver can operate the fresh air door while driving the car. You have to do this otherwise you cannot operate the fresh air door as the feed tubes to the centre and right hand side block access to the operating lever.

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In the “C” the windscreen washer container moved up next to the heater between the heater and brake booster, the windscreen washer motor [Part # GWW125] mounts inside an opening in the inner wing, along with the solenoid/vacuum switch. A 2 litre food container becomes the new washer bottle [original one is 1.75 litres].

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The radiator overflow tank moves to where the windscreen washer container was. The relays and additional fuse box mount over near where the fuse box is fitted.

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In our “C” the compressor mounts onto the timing cover and block and takes the space where the overflow tank was, the threaded mounting holes are already in the block as are the holes in the timing cover. A Japanese pulley is mounted onto the harmonic balancer, to suit the compressor pulley, on our car the drive pulley to compressor pulley is 1.23:1 step up as the “C” idles @ about 800 RPM.

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For the MGB-GT and MGB-GT V8 you will have to sort these mountings out yourself as well as how to mount the compressor and it’s driving pulley. The compressor has a double pulley so it could be used as an idler/transfer pulley to drive the alternator from the compressor. I would look to see how to drive the compressor from the crankshaft rather than use the transfer idea. The commercially air-conditioned MGB-GT’s mounted the compressor where the alternator was and then drove the alternator, mounted above the compressor, with a separate belt from the compressor pulley.

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I started with a 43 Amp alternator which worked fine but was limited in traffic with A/C, Lights [100/55 Watt Halogen], and Radio. The “C” and “V8” run at such low revs in traffic that 43 Amps was on the low side. The 65Amp unit will handle everything from idle. I changed the alternator pulley ratio from 1.875:1 to 2.1:1 at the same time, as our car will run happily @ 1,000 RPM in top and 1,100 RPM in O/D, the “V8” will be similar.   

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Mounting of the Receiver/Dryer can be almost anywhere in the line from the condensers to the Evaporator, in our car it goes behind the radiator mounting panel on the left side, just in front of the compressor drive pulley. There is not much spare space in the engine bay now. I can, and have, removed the engine and transmission with the A/C system intact by tying the compressor over to the inner wing. I was very pleased that this was possible. Murphy’s Law almost guaranteed that I would have to do this and indeed the rear crankshaft seal failed not long after the A/C system was finished.

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While I had the engine and transmission out I insulated the firewall on the engine side as well as the inside of the tunnel [this is where most of the heat in the cabin comes from]. Cars with a sun roof seem to be a lot cooler as they can let this built up heat out. Our car is now  cool  everywhere even the chrome ring around the gearlever stays only warm and not very hot as from the factory, the tunnel ,foot-wells and floor are all comfortable even after a 300 mile day run in summer. In winter we leave the A/C on the least cool setting and add fresh air via the heater [off side] door in the left foot well. The fresh air door can be opened to the 1’st and 2’nd positions as required. Position 3, is not possible as the A/C feed tubes will not allow this, and if the air door is opened to the 3rd position it will direct air & dust directly into the top of the radio. Stick to position 1 & 2 only.

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I am happy and willing to talk to club members and to show what is required on an individual basis, car by car, as this detailed knowledge cannot be successfully documented. 1 picture is worth a 1,000 words and there are lots of photos in my A/C files. Members who would like to see the photos, to get a feel for the work required, are most welcome to contact me re a suitable time and date. If you intend to keep your car for some years this is a most worthwhile thing to do, the difference is amazing, cool and quiet. I think, but don’t know, that we have added about 30 to 35 Kilos to the car, all down low and in the centre which in the “C’s” case is more of a benefit than a disadvantage. A/C reduces consumption by only 1 or 2 MPG overall.

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