Yes, that's an oil cooler. I expect that it was available on Euro cars although it is standard equip on US cars.

The front bumper looks like a Euro bumper.

I understand where leathermang is coming from about the hassle of putting the evap in the dash, but his experience is with US cars. On a Euro car, it's actually pretty easily accessible. I have had the aftermarket a/c evaporator out of my Euro 240D before.

If you could FIND an aftermarket a/c kit, it would probably be relatively easy to install. You might try www.ackits.com. If that doesn't work, I still have a sticker inside the trunk of my '84 that was put there by the Grey Market importer in Houston. I understand the phone number is still good. He is the one that put the a/c in my Euro car. He may have a source for this kit.

Actually, if you had the evaporator and ducting, you could use a compressor, mount and other components from a wrecking yard car. If you were to go to this trouble, you might could get a parallel flow condensor from Carlisle or AC Kits and get enough capacity to build it as an r134 system.

Is this car a stick shift?

Hope this helps,

Larry, I was assuming it was the same situation as a manual transmission and clutch...they made the car with the option... and either installed it with one set of equipment or the other...
That is good news if it is more easily accessible... but leaves the problem of finding the proper one to put in it...
So this is not like the " I would only do it if I had both the donor and recepiant car sitting next to each other " as you have said about the auto to manual swaps ? LOL

Yes, the car is a stick shift.

__________________
'78 240D

I believe that's a US bumper. See the rubber strip and the license plate frame.

__________________
Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
HILLARY .........JAILHOUSE
BERNIE .......... NUTHOUSE
0BAMA .......... OUTHOUSE

Yes, it is a US bumper. The strips would be on each side. I was only looking for the length of the bumper. Maybe the car was originally purchased in Canada. They don't have much use for a/c up there.

Yes, Greg, the problem does indeed involve finding the aftermarket a/c. I have two of them, one in ol' Silver and one in my Euro parts car. I have to keep them both so that I have spares for ol' Silver if I ever put her back on the road.

To me this wouldn't be a "do it only if the donor car is setting there" job. The only part that would be critical would be the in dash components. If you could find the evaporator and box along with the temp adjustment wheel, the rest of the underdash components are just the regular heater cables reconnected to the aftermarket box.

The condensor, compressor, filter drier and lines would be pretty easy to piece together from wrecking yard stuff. Since you're doing a condensor anyway, it would make all the sense to use the biggest parallel flow that you could fit in place and have a shot at building a usable 134 system.

The car is very interesting, and you know me, any manual trans Benz is worth the effort to make it roadworthy IMHO.

Have a great day,

Lets not forget " the biggest flowing aux fan" one can afford... that combo... the PF condensor and 134a should make a fine system...

"Is it feasible for a DIY'er to install air conditioning in a 78 240D? I would love to have AC for obvious reasons "

When I replaced the engine on my 77 240D I told the shop to leave the AC out, I have this car now for about 22 years, the original AC that came with this car is a York. it is the the most inefficient AC that has been placed on any car that I am aware of, I kept it fully charged and going for the first 18 years primarily as an emergency brake, if I ever wanted to slow the car all I had to do was to turn the damn thing on and boom it would bring the car to a stop faster than the brakes.
Although my car is a manual 4 speed, I firmly beleive that the 240's were not intended for the additional load of an AC particularly a York monster, this thing takes 15 horspowers out of the engines total output of 62 horses, what is left is just not enough to move the car.

240D 1977 350K miles

I drove my first 240D, a '77 well over 200,000 miles. It, of course, had a York compressor and I live in Texas. It worked fine.

You have to know, going in, that these cars are not big on acceleration.

My second 240D was a Euro with an aftermarket a/c and a Sanded compressor. This is indeed more efficient. Additionally the later 616 engines made four more horsepower, about a 6% increase.

With the more efficient compressor offering less drag AND the extra 6% of power, I could never tell the difference. They were both manual trans. cars.

On the good side for the York compressor, they are very durable and very cheap to replace if they do give trouble. The most common problem with them is a leaking front seal which is easily replaced without removing the compressor from the vehicle.

All that said, if you were adding an a/c to one of these cars today, there would be no real reason to use a York compressor. You CERTAINLY wouldn't use one if you were planning on building a 134 system, they simply won't hold up to the added pressures. For R12 they will hold up fine, but not for 134.

I tried converting my old pickup with a York to 134 years ago and knocked out the York in short order. When I replaced the compressor I flushed, replaced the f/d and reverse converted to R12.

The aftermarket units on my two Euro cars have a sanden compressor mounted on the lower left side of the engine where the later US 123's had an R4.

Good luck,