Toyota On Board Air and Factory AC

[TheBandit]

Many moons ago I bought a used on board air setup used from someone on Pirate4x4. He made bracketry to piggy-back the factory AC compressor onto a rotary York. This was pretty ingenious, especially for a daily driver like mine where cold AC is important. I was glad to buy the system because someone had already done the guesswork and fitting. Here's what it looked like:



Unfortunately, despite it being a great idea, the design was lacking. First, the factory AC mounted to the York, which then mounted to the engine. This meant the brackets supporting the York also had to support the outwardly hung factory AC, putting them under tremendous stress. To further complicate matters, the York was mounted in two places at the bottom, but only one place at the top.

Although the previous owner ran this setup without incident before I got it, the use of thin materials and problems with the design eventually lead to several failures that I had to repair multiple times. Recently I popped the hood to find this: the York-to-engine brackets in pieces and the whole setup dangling from my AC lines.



It was the last straw for me. I decided it was time to do my own thing. So here's where I am starting. This time I want to use a one piece bracket to mount the York compressor. I cut it out of 1/4" plate using a chopsaw and a cutoff wheel. I marked/drilled the four mounting holes to mount it to the original AC bracket/tensioner. For the lower mounting, I used dimensions pulled from the previous OBA setup, then made my own tabs for the top.



Here's what it looks like welded up with FOUR mounting points. (The welds have water around them because after air cooling for a while, I put it in water to make sure it wouldn't burn my hands.)



Here it is mounted to the engine. Unfortunately I had to remove my original AC compressor temporarily for access, losing the freon in the process.







My next step is going to be mounting the factory compressor, which I will do a bit differently than the previous version. This time, I want to connect it to the engine directly, also tying it into the York. I am going to try incorporating a tensioner for the belt between the York and the factory compressor. The previous setup had a belt running directly between the two, which required shimming to adjust tension. That was a PITA that I'd like to avoid with this version.

I'll keep this thread updated I progress.

[TheBandit]

Here is what the new bracket is starting to look like.



Working on the tensioner next.

[TheBandit]

After welding the Frankenbracket up (I stole Erik B's name ha!), I shot a few coats of f*rd engine paint on it.



Below: Here's the stock A/C mounting bracket/tensioner.



Below: The first step is bolting on the Frankenbracket in four locations.





Below: Then the York rotary air compressor can be mounted securely with four bolts. At this point I could run a belt to it and it would be a stand alone system.



Below: Next comes the factory Toyota A/C compressor, which gets this bracket tightened on completely.



Below: I losely mount it to the York compressor so that it can pivot

.

Below: Rotate it up, tighten down a few bolts and Viola! On Board Air and Air Conditioning. One issue I may have is that one of the A/C compressor lines is very close to the throttle body, so I'm not sure if I nutted line is going to fit too well. We'll see.



Below: I didn't get to it today, but this is where I want to put the tensioner for the new system. This is a stock Toyota compressor-bracket/tensioner just like the one I showed a few pictures back on my engine. Rick gave me this as part of the OBA system and I'm glad to have a use for it now. I took a cutoff wheel to it and I will be modifying it a little to fit.





I am going to make the tensioner part a bolt-on piece that will attach to the Frankenbracket. It's already tight getting wrenches in there for putting this big bracket on, so being able to take the tensioner off will be to my advantage.

It may be a while before I finish this. For now I just need to be able to drive the truck without a bunch of heavy crap bouncing around in my engine compartment. The Tube Bender project needs me!

[GravelMaker]

Advertising but those truly are brackets from Hell! Like your work. A lot of people just can't think 3 dimensionally, alot of what we do is thinking backwards and reverse engineering and for some its just not possilble. Good job so far, now that we are watching be careful!