The big experiment - amateur 3B shenanigans

[Nuvo]

A dash related issue - when I was fitting the dash in, to get the centre part to move in at the right height and line up completely I had to remove the driver's side bracket that should hold the back of the glovebox. This fitted perfectly in the old car with the smaller heater/blower unit but the new car has A/C and therefore is a bit bulkier.

The bracket on the other side still fits but is right up against the blower casing


Any thoughts on this anyone? I assume i'll not be able to get the glovebox on now.

Hi Noel, A good day on Saturday lots done and lots still to do. It was good to meet up with everyone, have a few laughs and learn something too. Thanks to your wife for rustling up some grub to keep us going, that was appreciated. I really shoul avoid that lemonade BBBRRAAAAAAPPP!!!

There are two types of dash one for aircon and one without. I don't know what the exact difference are other than what you describe. Maybe it would be best to remove the air con and replace it with the blower heat exchanger.

You're missing a few components from the aircon sytem at present anyway aren't you?
Cheers,
Rob.

[S2central.net]

I'd never noticed that before - but looks like Nuvo is right here. The family album shows lots of dashboard variants on LHD with and without aircon (and airbags). Only one dash for RHD is actively listed and the other is NLA - so I presume that was an aircon related thing. What a PITA - you'll need to get an aircon friendly dash, or fabricate some way to work round the problem.

[Nj]

Aww sweet mother of jebus. Well the dash is in tight just now with that metal bracket taken off. I think i'll investigate the glovebox and see if I can fabricate some way of making it work without changing the whole thing or sacrificing the aircon. I was really hoping to get a condensor and hoses to get it running again. Although if it looks like too much I may just have to lose the air con.


aaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

[Knight Rider S4]

You will need AC compressor for the engine as well Noel ...lots more work involved there

[Nj]

I thought that was housed in the wing but never got round to looking as it wasn't a priority. right - sod the a/c. it's not often tropical in scotland anyway.

problem is I pulled the heater control wires off the old blower unit when I was taking it out. And the blower only worked on full, which I think is a knackered resistor pack somewhere?

f*k f*k f*k !!!!!

[urquattro-island]

wow

you got your hands full i see, but nice going and let the good times roll. Just think off your happy place and your finished product, that will keep you going. After all it is a red s2

[Nj]

haha. you're right. keep saying my mantra
red s2, cup 1s, red s2, cup 1s......

on the plus side it seems that I can keep my blower with a/c, try to sort the a/c itself later, keep my dash and try to find a replacement glovebox because the glovebox is smaller with a different hinge mechanism for cars with a/c.

Paul has sorted me out with the factory manual for seatbelts so I now know there is a coupling on the procon ten cable that I can undo to replace that seatbelt with another one.

once again the forum members save my ***.

[Acidburn]

Offer andy_casey a bribe and your glovebox as iirc he's removed the aircon from his "in the name of speed" so he might be interested in a swap.

If not sure there are others on here that have removed the aircon.

[Nj]

aha! much horse grass *** amigo. I'll send him a PM and see if he changed the blower unit too.

[Acidburn]

Ok other person who's recently done it (I was fitting his old aircon unit to s2driveruk's car on sun) was james aka terrybullwon.

I'm sure one of them might be able to help you out.

[Nj]

good stuff. i'll pm him too

where does the temp sensor in the air intake fix to by the way? mine seems to be sprouting flower like up the chute. And where is the water drainage channel/tube/thing that i've heard mentioned? Something worth checking before I rewire the dash perhaps? I had a good look about but couldn't see anything
cheers

[Nj]

is there any reason the A/C blower unit won't work in the same way that a non A/C blower works if I don't have the compressor, condensor etc fitted? What I mean is will the heater and fan still work without the A/C connected?

[urquattro-island]

i

think it should.

[Nj]

that's what I was hoping. If it works like a non A/C unit then I can just add the A/C bits later (if scotland suddenly develops a climate like spain)

[Nj]

good news - engine's in
bad news - there was no memory card in the camera
embarrassing news - there was a friggin dowel on the gearbox and a matching one on the engine. This was what was causing the hassle getting the 2 together. I didn't realise they were removable. Just assumed they'd be attached to one or the other.

Massive thanks to Steve and Craig for coming down yesterday and helping me. Looks a bit more car like now. pics to follow (if I remember the memory card)