E36 aircon

Post Fri Jan 02, 2015 8:55 pm

I have a 3/4 restored 328 touring tucked away here on a 'P' plate, which first saw the light of day in 11/96. These seem to be becoming 'cool' now, and I wouldn't mind putting it back on the road as a daily as an alternative to my E39 touring, or tank, as my son calls it.
Spec. is OK, apart from I've become accustomed to air con, and the '36 doesn't have it - just three round knobs for the heater controls, so the question is, how much of a ball ache is it to retrofit aircon from another E36, and what options are there?

Post Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:06 pm

Buy a 6 cyl car with ac as a donor as there is a lot of it. The compressor and AC fan is different on the 4 cyls - these have an electric fan in the engine bay and no viscous fan whilst the sixes have a viscous AND an ac fan. Get a Bentley manual as they have all the wiring diagrams.

Post Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:44 pm

I presume the entire heater box needs changing. Relatively easy in an E36, like the E30?
I was intending to get a complete donor, if Copart or my favourite scrappy can come up with one. Always best to have the two cars side by side.
I have a few M52 aircon compressors and associated drive bits stashed away from M52s that have gone into E30s, and the odd matching fan as well, plus a complete E34 6 pot with aircon, but I suppose things like pipes are likely to be the wrong length from a four pot E36.
There are wiring diagrams on the Russian autolib site, but these all appear to be for the full climate control version. I presume there are simpler versions as well?

Post Fri Jan 02, 2015 10:13 pm

Well, there was an old fashioned system with weird small rotary knobs that went up to mid 1994 before being replaced with auto climate - that's the one fitted to all later E36's except the Compact that has a more old fashioned system. The control panel wouldn't fit though.

Post Fri Jan 02, 2015 10:45 pm

So it's more a case of older and newer versions, than a basic and more sophisticated system being available as options at the same time?
Google has just led me to an old 'for sale' thread on the bmwforums.info site "digital climate control retrofit. This is nearly everything you need to change from twisty knob fan control to digital control, and fit aircon to a 6 pot if you dont have it already." complete with a pic. of all the bits neatly laid out on the steps of his decking.
Doesn't look to difficult to do - not significantly worse than on an E30.
Thanks for the pointers, Andy. I now know it's possible, so can start looking for a suitable donor.
Might be worth asking on the zone, I suppose. There's always someone buying E36 M52 engine donors for their E30, who might be willing to have their left over scrap taken away in exchange for little money.

Post Fri Jan 02, 2015 11:31 pm

Big wiring differences, ive never took much in depth notice as I only pull wires out of E36's

Post Sat Jan 03, 2015 12:04 am

The autolib diagrams definitely confirm that there's quite a bit of wiring involved, but whether this is separate sub looms, a completely different body loom used on air con cars, or all the wiring fitted and unused on non aircon cars, I can't tell. The autolib diagrams show the interfaces to the car's other electrics, which aren't that many, so, as long as I have the wiring in a donor car, it should be possible to separate out and make a sub loom if necessary. Car wiring isn't something I normally have problems with!
No wiring shown in the 'for sale' ad. I've mentioned, and only a comment in the text that he's 'left some of the plugs connected to their sockets with some wire'.

Post Sat Jan 03, 2015 9:23 am

Its built into the main loom, but as per usual all the needed relay/fuse spaces are available

Post Sat Jan 03, 2015 12:25 pm

Brianmoooore wrote:So it's more a case of older and newer versions, than a basic and more sophisticated system being available as options at the same time?

Yes, basically.

You'll get an old 323i with troubles for peanuts now. I'd say that you'll need a new condenser and various O rings etc. The rest can be fragged but the better the spec, the more bits you'll sell. E36's don't break very well though so a 328i with a good engine has at least one redeeming feature.

Post Sat Jan 03, 2015 1:36 pm

Trevor has a 328 coupe thats Barry is driving might be worth a shout? I'd defo try and fit the later digi panel system as it works well when in good order

All the wiring on these cars ends up at junction blocks like these, you probably know this. When i've retro fitted cruise control or PDC all the loom wiring ends up at these blocks either behind the glovebox or drivers side. So its plug and play. I can't imagine the A/C would be much different? I've not done it though.

Pulling the dash out is rather easier than an E30 i'd say. Getting the matrix out is a bit of work though as there are bars in the way that attatch to the steering column, some sort of crash bracing maybe?