Fitting Air Con to an old Campervan

"Graham" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

That's how it's done on the old-shape Saab 900. All you really need consider is making sure the belt runs are straight.

...which would mean an upgraded alternator to supply the power for it. Mind you, if you're using it as a camper in hot climates, it may be worth looking at, especially if it can be powered from 240v as well as 12v.

You'd need one hell of a size alternator to run half decent air-con - it needs several horsepower. That's why the compressor is driven directly in car installations.

Find a vehicle that uses the same engine and is fitted with AC and get the bits from a breakers yard. The cost of new parts would be high.

Porshe 924 might fit.

I suspect he'd probably have more look trying to find an aftermarket AC kit - I had a Mk2 Golf which had aftermarket AC.

Could be - but I'd guess the difficult part is engineering the compressor fitment and drive. With plenty of space fitting the condenser isn't so much of a problem. The interior installation could be tricky, though, so I suppose that's where an aftermarket one would score. But there's no reason why you can't mix and match.

ISTR VW blocks have stayed very similar for a long time - a lot of bits bolt straight up on the MK2 to MKIV 1.8T conversion for example. I wouldn't be suprised if you could fit MK4 AC to an old 4cyl VW block without great hassle. The other obvious option is second hand kit from South Africa or South America.