Technical Air conditioning on Punto

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Technical Air conditioning on Punto

kuzbx

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Hi. My lovely grandpa has passed away two months and I have inherited his Fiat Punto. The model is the 1.2 8v petrol, but it has one clue: no air conditioning system. I know that someone will say "the cost is above the overall car value", and someone will recommend me to sell it and buy for another car, but let me explain that the car has just 50k kilometres, and by now I don't have so much money to spend. And, above all, I have an affective bond with this car, so to me it seems quite like a sin to give it away. Since I want to keep it, is there someone around Europe which does this kind of operation for a honest price? I live in Italy but I can move around Europe easily, specially in the eastern countries, but i have no problems with uk, spain, france and germany. So i
 
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Let's put it like this, I can and have done this sort of work and would not do it again, it is phenomenally expensive and takes a huge amount of time.

This is not something that any general garage would offer, these days the electronics also needs to be factored in and appropriately programmed.

You might find a company that would fit an after market set up but this sort of system would be likely, underpowered and be a Heath Robinson setup.

The other arguments are everything you've already mentioned.

The car is likely only worth a few hundred euros, by the time you've bought a compressor, all the pipework, evaporator, condenser, new radiator fan, receiver unit, new dash controls you will have likely spent a couple of thousand euros, and that's without someone fitting it all to the car, which usually requires the dash out and a large amount of work under the bonnet. Taking a few days to get it all installed, then you need to have it all wired and set up, before getting the system gassed and leak tested, if you find a problem at this point you may well be back to square one.

Feel free to trawl the internet to try and find someone who would do it, but good luck, you might find some car restoration companies can offer something, but expect to remortgage the house, sell off the family silver and sacrifice your first born, to be able to afford it.
 
Let's put it like this, I can and have done this sort of work and would not do it again, it is phenomenally expensive and takes a huge amount of time.

This is not something that any general garage would offer, these days the electronics also needs to be factored in and appropriately programmed.

You might find a company that would fit an after market set up but this sort of system would be likely, underpowered and be a Heath Robinson setup.

The other arguments are everything you've already mentioned.

The car is likely only worth a few hundred euros, by the time you've bought a compressor, all the pipework, evaporator, condenser, new radiator fan, receiver unit, new dash controls you will have likely spent a couple of thousand euros, and that's without someone fitting it all to the car, which usually requires the dash out and a large amount of work under the bonnet. Taking a few days to get it all installed, then you need to have it all wired and set up, before getting the system gassed and leak tested, if you find a problem at this point you may well be back to square one.

Feel free to trawl the internet to try and find someone who would do it, but good luck, you might find some car restoration companies can offer something, but expect to remortgage the house, sell off the family silver and sacrifice your first born, to be able to afford it.


guys it doesn't matter how much work there's to do: i'm not a car specialist and that's i'm searching for someone which will do this job for me. In Italy several specialists asked me amounts like 1800 euros. The car value is quite above the 2k because is just 10 years old and it has not so much kilometres. But i just want to know if is there out someone which is willing to do that cheaper.

or for the cheap option...just wind down the windows when it's hot

you didn't even traveled to italy in summer afternoons when it's 40 °c
 
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Not many 1.2 8v got aircon in the first place....
Why?
The engine is a little underpowered
Its a 4cyl 60bhp setup

Yet 1litre toyot lump is 68bhp on 3 cylinders
Fords 1litre is about 100bhp (turbo tho)

Aircon running is a big ppwer drain and petrol drain

So here in the uk when summer is at best 30 - 33 degrees we survive without

-----

My advice is of the vareity u dont wanna hear
Dont bother....
Not worth it, its a specialist gas that needs a proper qualified guy
Ykur grandad survived without, be strong like he was, and survive without it

Ziggy
 
Echoing the sentiments of what's been said, and playing to the fact that it is your late grandfather's car, why not keep it as it is and only use it on days when the weather is suitable to the lack of Aircon? If it's low mileage it'd be a shame to (effectively) ruin its originality by shoehorning AC in there and turning it into a daily driver.
For the amount of money it'd cost, get a 2nd car to use as a daily driver and keep this for when the weather is just right (y)
 
guys it doesn't matter how much work there's to do: i'm not a car specialist and that's i'm searching for someone which will do this job for me. In Italy several specialists asked me amounts like 1800 euros. The car value is quite above the 2k because is just 10 years old and it has not so much kilometres. But i just want to know if is there out someone which is willing to do that cheaper.

You basically have your answer then, that seems pretty reasonable given the costs of parts and the amount of work involved

Anyone offering anything cheaper is likely to be doing a bodge job that could leave you with an expensive repair bill when it goes wrong.

The question is, would it be a OEM system or an after market system, the standard mk2 aircon is a bit weak as the car windows are large and the car heats up very quickly in the sun. And aftermarket set up is likely to have a lower BTU rating than an OEM set up
 
You basically have your answer then, that seems pretty reasonable given the costs of parts and the amount of work involved

Anyone offering anything cheaper is likely to be doing a bodge job that could leave you with an expensive repair bill when it goes wrong.

The question is, would it be a OEM system or an after market system, the standard mk2 aircon is a bit weak as the car windows are large and the car heats up very quickly in the sun. And aftermarket set up is likely to have a lower BTU rating than an OEM set up

And what if i buy all the oem pieces needed (compressor, evaporator...) and i put it into my xar. Would you do that for me? I have no problem driving for miles
 
And what if i buy all the oem pieces needed (compressor, evaporator...) and i put it into my xar. Would you do that for me? I have no problem driving for miles

As explained above, absolutely not, it is an utter pig of a job, takes several days and therefore huge amounts of time.

10 years ago maybe, these days i would ever have the time to do something like that, even if I did have the inclination. Plus you'd have to drive from Italy to the UK pay for fuel, insurance, uk channel crossing, hotels for days, even if I gave my time for free (which I wouldn't) you would still not save anything by traveling.

It's one thing to do it for your own cars when you can take your time at your own pace, I'd not do anyone else's, and it would have to be for a very special reason before I even did my own now.
 
guys it doesn't matter how much work there's to do: i'm not a car specialist and that's i'm searching for someone which will do this job for me. In Italy several specialists asked me amounts like 1800 euros. The car value is quite above the 2k because is just 10 years old and it has not so much kilometres. But i just want to know if is there out someone which is willing to do that cheaper.



you didn't even traveled to italy in summer afternoons when it's 40 °c

mk2 punto in italy doesnt cost 2k, more like 500 eur in good condition
 
mk2 punto in italy doesnt cost 2k, more like 500 eur in good condition

I'm sorry to contradict you, but mk2 punto's for 500 bucks in Italy are older than 15 years. Mine is a mk3.
 
And what if i buy all the oem pieces needed (compressor, evaporator...) and i put it into my xar. Would you do that for me? I have no problem driving for miles

The problem you are faced with is the very large number of parts you require and the difficulty involved in fitting some of these parts. Think about it. The entire front part of the inside of the car has to come off. The old heater unit has to be removed and then the air con unit fitted. Plus you need the air con switches for the control panel plus these switches have to be wired correctly to the cars electronics.

I think also you need to remove the front bumper to get access to the location of the air con radiator which fits in front of the existing radiator - you might need different cross members there to support the air con radiator and might not be able to get these very easily because they are so easily crash damaged in minor accidents.

If you organised this job yourself it will take weeks of organisation.

If you got a rear damaged punto with A/C and you have a place for both cars then it gets easier if you are prepared for all of the work. If you dont know what you are doing you will be messing around for a week or more and you will still have to get the system tested professionally and sealed up where necessary with the risk the impossible to get at (now) already installed units are leaking.

I can relate to the idea of wanting your grandfathers spirit to live on but it comes at a cost to you if you chose to do that.

You are talking about a labour of love. Are you going to do the work? It seems not. You want somebody else to do the work and do it cheaply.

Seems you are starting the project with the wrong spirit.

If you do the work yourself people here will help you get it finished one way or another. Heck a few days in Italy to get it working for you sounds good to me!
 
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