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Aircon retrofit on an E30 325i
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:02 pm
by Mahmood
Hi all
I am considering getting aircon retrofitted on my E30 if I can get the kit and all the bits.
Question is how much is this going to cost to fit? I spoke to my garage who are a BMW specialist and they won't touch it

as they are not provided the kit and cannot guarantee that it will work.
I'd like to have it fitted but I can't do it. Who can? How much?
Cheers

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:39 pm
by Stoney_god
speak to TOURINGDADDY he's selling a complete working AIR CON system from a 325..
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:50 pm
by Stevin
Thought all 325i came with aircon... well atleast they did here
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:51 pm
by Davenotouring
Very few did mate, probably 1 in 100!
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:52 pm
by Chaos
Stevin wrote:Thought all 325i came with aircon... well atleast they did here
no m8 its VERY rare here in the uk.
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:55 pm
by Stevin
Damn, I've never ever seen one over here with out an aircon... learn something everyday
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:56 pm
by Chaos
wheres over here?
u cud make a nice few Ԛ£Ã”šÃ‚£Ãƒ”šÃ‚£Ãƒ”šÃ‚£ getting the setups from scrappers and ebaying them on uk ebay or selling here on the zone.
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 2:01 pm
by Stevin
Here is South Africa
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 2:02 pm
by Chaos
Stevin wrote:Here is South Africa
i had a feeling it might be.
rhd cars arent they over there?
so the aircon shud suit our cars here too.
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 2:43 pm
by spoon320
My 320 is a south african built car - with aircon

one of the reasons i bought it - it also has a sump guard fitted - were they standard fit in SA coz of the pothole probs/dirt roads?
beeem318i - I have seen another thread on here which talks about retrofitting air con - i think you need to knock out a couple of holes in the bulkhead to fit the hoses through and i'm pretty sure you'll need a front panel with two air hle/slots in it - i'll try and find it
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:12 pm
by Hyperion
yeah the SA cars got Sump guards for when we had to ramp the cars over killer ant hills to get to work.......

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:21 pm
by spoon320
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:27 pm
by TOURINGDADDY
Hi mate i got the kit 4 sale where r u? as i'm takin it out i would concider a refit but would b very costly as all the dash has to come out and lots of other crap too big headache

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 1:39 pm
by Stevin
Now that is something I never knew...didn't know u guys didn't get sump guards either... saved my ass a couple of times

Re:
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 9:58 pm
by zener
Sorry for getting old thread up. But this subject interests me too... Since I'm changing to E30 325i Touring in near future hopefully, but those are hard to find with air-conditioning (not many in Sweden nor in Germany).
And I've read quite lot about retrofitting A/C to E30. And seems quite "easy", biggest job is to taking out dash. I'm only worried about the wirings, what wirings does needed to be done? Has anyone written a guide for the job?
Sorry again to bring up this old thread, but didn't see reason to make a new one.
Re:
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:27 pm
by Simon13
this is anything but easy, i was going to do this on my alpina resto, as i had a breaker with a factory instal. Taking the dash out is the least of your worries it was the aircon loom going into the fusebox that made me think, bollocks to this!
For the hardcore folks only, who are a dab hand on the electrics with the right tools.
Re:
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:30 pm
by maxfield
Old thread
That man Chaos is in here

Re:
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:36 pm
by beardymat
its a bit fiddly ill grant you that but not that awkward. theres a five pin connector in there which takes care of a lot of it.when i did mine i had the whole fuse box and just picked out and swapped the connectors for the relay/fuses one by one.
the most awkward bit for me was swapping the seals in the expansion valve after fitting the system. wish someone had told me to do it before swapping over the heater box

Re:
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:11 pm
by zener
Simon13 wrote:this is anything but easy, i was going to do this on my alpina resto, as i had a breaker with a factory instal. Taking the dash out is the least of your worries it was the aircon loom going into the fusebox that made me think, bollocks to this!
For the hardcore folks only, who are a dab hand on the electrics with the right tools.
That's what I was afraid of... Electrics isn't my best side. Though I know a guy here in Finland who has retrofitted A/C to E30 Touring.
Re:
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:43 pm
by Simon13
there are 2 types of factory aircon, the supposed better system is the one i had, the other one which is still a good system doesn't go into the fuse box and i imagine this system is the best one for a retro fit
Re:
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:20 pm
by wiledw
My 318is has factory air con
I assume that would have been a very rare option?
Re:
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:24 pm
by DanThe
wiledw wrote:My 318is has factory air con
I assume that would have been a very rare option?
Not a rare option, just rare for its box to be ticked, ive no idea how much the option was when these were new but the air-con option for the new mini is £800
Re:
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:26 pm
by wiledw
DanThe wrote:wiledw wrote:My 318is has factory air con
I assume that would have been a very rare option?
Not a rare option, just rare for its box to be ticked, ive no idea how much the option was when these were new but the air-con option for the new mini is £800
That what i meant a rare opion to choose.
Re:
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:29 pm
by old_skool
Not a rare option, just rare for its box to be ticked

Eh? Dan, you been breathing that tyre smoke again?
A/C is very rare on eighties cars compared to everything from repmobiles to compact cars these days. Retrofit is not that hard to do at all. Get stuck in.
Re:
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:34 pm
by DanThe
Re:
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:45 pm
by old_skool
Back in the day that was a pile of money. You can understand why every E30 doesn't have it. Now you can buy any old motor and get air con for the price of a bag of peanuts.
It is worth paying £200 for a retrofit kit and all the hassle of putting it in though. There is nothing better than chilling out in an ice cold E30.
