Putting aircon into an 325TDS E36?

Okay, this might sound like a crazy plan, but it's my last resort...

Up until the beginning of this month I had a nice reliable 325TD auto saloon with most of the extras, specifically aircon. That was until Mr white van man decided to park into the back of it from 40mph when I was stationary at a junction. (Even worse I'd just spent £140 on replacing the master injector only the weekend before). Grrrrr!

I'm now looking for a replacement, and I can't find a good 325TD or TDS auto with aircon anywhere south of Scotland (I'm just outside London).

However I have found a nice 325TDS with most of the trimmings, low mileage, sunroof, 4 electric windows etc, only a lack of aircon for a good price...

Given that the insurance will let me have my old car for £450, how complicated is it to extract the air conditioning system (not climate control, just the simple 2 temperature knobs, air con button, and fan speed/direction dials) and fit this into a car with the basic 3 knob cooling/heating? Will the plumbing from a TD fit onto a TDS or does the intercooler piping change the route of the aircon pipes?

How much of the dashboard needs to come out? Are there any pictures anywhere? Is it worth bothering with the Haynes manual (it doesn't cover the diesel engines anyway).

Is the wiring all there, or am I going to have to swap bits about?

Does anyone have any views, or should I just find a vacant padded sell.

Dodgy.

Reply to
Dodgy
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The most difficult part of the AC is the evaporator coil. It has to be installed under the dash. The entire dash has to be removed. It's really not worth the expense especially if there's a different dash for AC cars. I'd keep looking...

Reply to
John

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