The Team CJ air conditioning project 1966 E Type FHC

May 6, 2005

We just about have the installation wrapped up now. The dash unit was returned from Cooler Air somewhat straighter, although I am still not very impressed with the product. As well as some of the vents being mis-aligned, the overall 'shiny plastic' is disappointing.

Anyway, I think painting over the bright sliver grille surrounds helped a little, as did removing the cheesy "XKE" control knob back ground. The engine bay installation is complete and looks pretty good. I would be repoting on the operation of the system today but Ray broke his crimping tool so we couldn't complete fabricating all the lines. Hopefully we will take care of that next week so we can start road testing the installation! We also need to work out a radio console solution.....

We have now made the brackets and worked out all the pulleys, although I am very disappointed with the quality of the Cooler Air under dash unit. I hadn't noticed when I unpacked it originally, but the main problem is that it is not straight. If you look at the photograph below, you can actually see that it takes a turn South at the silver panel that houses the control knob!

I am also a little unhappy at the huge gap the unit leaves beneath the centre gauge panel and the tiny space it leaves for the radio console. Anyway, we have shipped the unit back to Jerry West at Cooler Air  who will hopefully deal with our issues and provide us with a unit that is worthy of your car!

Compressor bracket	Sits atop the picture frame

This is the compressor we will be using - it is a modern, high output Sanden unit.

The purpose of this project is to develop an efficient, properly engineered air conditioning system for the 6 cylinder E Type Jaguar. A good friend of ours has loaned us his 66 FHC to use as the test vehicle - so watch this space over the coming weeks to see how we get on!

Under dash unit is fairly slimline and resembles those used in S2 cars with factory AC	We may have to use a S2 radiator and move the expansion tank to the firewall
Low profile blower will not intrude into passenger footwell	The 70's style chrome paint has to go! Vents will be redyed black