AC condensor position

[Anthony]

i know the majority get mounted in front of radiator, but is there any reason why it can't or shouldn't be mounted in the engine bay and use one of the side air scoops.

size is about the only draw back i think....thought it save on pipe lengths

 

[Brian Magee]

GTD originally fitted them there but people found they were not effective because of the heat from the engine. The front is the best place.

Brian.

 

[Randy V]

I think that the only way to get enough airflow is to have a fan on it.

Depending on what transmission solution you use, I suppose you might be able to mount it on the undertray and have a thin fan on top blowing downwards. You'd have to use louvers or some such to protect the condenser from road debris. This should be able to make some use of the low pressure from the rear of the car..

Overall - simplicity means putting it at the front where most of us have it already.

 

[Anthony]

Thanks for responses, taking your answers seems not a lot of point re-inventing the wheel. building a 40 isn't happening fast enough as it is, so down the front it is then.

 

[Garry]

:stunnedoen't CAV have the Aircon Condenser in the rear on one of the pontoons or am I just blind?
Garry

 

[Dalton Veitch]

It's possible to make a whole range of configurations work. The Lamborghini Countach has engine radiators and air conditioning condensers on both sides behind the cockpit, but testing proved the need for both projecting air scoops and electric fans. Lamborghini Espadas have a deep(several rows) small condenser sitting at the front beside the central radiator, with air entering around the headlights (doesn't work well). The Pantera's I've been in have a condenser with fan behind the mid-engine, on the car's rear transom, blowing air out the rear. Various Porsche 911 models have condensers in the rear engine lid (engine fan), horizontal at the nose undertray (electric fan in front boot blowing down), wheel wells, etc., often a combination.
However, a condenser mounted near vertically at the front of a car is the simplest and best configuration. Properly ducted from the air intake, this condenser and radiator position receives good air flow even if the car is just moving forward slowly.

 

[Mike Drew]

The Pantera's I've been in have a condenser with fan behind the mid-engine, on the car's rear transom, blowing air out the rear.

(snip)

However, a condenser mounted near vertically at the front of a car is the simplest and best configuration. Properly ducted from the air intake, this condenser and radiator position receives good air flow even if the car is just moving forward slowly.

Actually, the Pantera setup draws air from the outside via a sucker fan, into the engine bay through the rear-mounted condenser. It works marginally well in the best of circumstances, and at high speed, airflow stagnates, temperatures (and thus pressures) soar, and then the A/C hose bursts. :furious:

Aftermarket kits do away with this setup and use a new, larger-size, thinner A/C condenser that gets mounted in front of the radiator. It works MUCH better. In a GT40, I'm sure that's the hot (HAH) setup too. :thumbsup:

 

[David Briggs]

CAV puts the condensor (w/electric fan) in the engine compartment and the set up in my old CAV worked great.
But why not put the condensor in the front?
It is done that way for a reason, simplicity and effectiveness (ok 2 reasons).
Dave

 

[Dalton Veitch]

I'm still surprised by Mike's information that the Pantera condenser draws air in from the rear and supplies the engine compartment. Mike, your avatar shows a Pantera, so you presumably know this first hand. Doesn't matter when the car is standing still, but wouldn't work well when motoring along. Anyway, the condenser would at least get cooler air than if it was coming off the engine.
Getting back to the thrust of the thread, has anyone checked (measured) the air flow through the side scoops on a GT40? I'd have thought it was quite good at cruising speed, and an electric fan could be added for the oil coolers (engine, transmission), condenser, or whatever was installed in the air flow for slow conditions. Certainly not as good a position as the nose, but would save on a long run of piping up and back.