Years ago, when I was running a couple of 220Ds, I pulled two A/C systems for spares so I'd have the parts if I ever needed them. Still have most of the stuff in the trunk of one of the 250C parts cars....

The evaporator isn't impossible, just requires the requisite dash removal, which is a lot of time.

Rest of the system is pretty basic, and easily swapped over.

I believe I'd make sure that the defroster fan is rebuilt before I reinstalled anything, though. A/C blower is a separate unit.

One other quirk: The early A/C systems had a manual switchover lever, whilst the later systems used a vacuum switch.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles