Hi,

I recently bought a Mini Cooper D 2008 without A/C. I am a little embarassed to admit that I just didn't notice that it didn't have A/C and took it for granted. Now, I live in Sweden so in our colder climate it is not as big of an issue, yet I am thinking of retrofitting A/C.

What I understand is that I will need:
Compressor,
Condenser,
Pipes and hoses,
Wiring/cables,
Belt,
A/C button in the dash,
Change to the ECU with NCSExpert.

I am unsure if I will need a change to my current Heater/blower part.
Anyone know?

Anything else I have missed?

I have good understanding of how to do electrical wiring and working with an engine et cetera, but don't know all that much about the MINI's AC-system.

I have found a guide of how to do this on an R53 Mini Cooper, though the guy writing the guide installed AAC which seems a lot more troublesome.

I love the car except for the lack of A/C and it is in very good condition. I have no intention in selling the car and getting one with A/C, in that case I would rather live with it without A/C.

I found a fwe companies in the UK stripping wrecked cars for parts and from what I can see I would be able to get the expensive parts:
Compressor, Condenser and piping for less than 400 $ shipped to Sweden.

Any help, link to other guides, pictures of your engine compartment with all the air/con-parts fitted et cetera is very much appreciated!

Thank you,
Mike

 

All I can say is if you do it go all the way and get auto a/c. I know the interior parts are going to be super expensive. As far as everything else I wish I could help but, I have no idea.

 

Expect a trip to the dealer on a gen2 mini to get tbe computer programmed...just one more thing to add to the list...ncs expert might fo the trick as you stated.
be sure to use a new dryer (onetime use item, once opened, and i might suggest using a new expansion valve/orifice. Also, if using a used compressor drain it, add the correct oil (rebuilt come prefilled usually).

 

Hi,

Thanks for the responses! Good point with the dryer.

I will however stick with manual A/C. From how I see it a manual A/C is a pretty straight forward thing (correct me if I'am wrong).

You use engine power via BELT to run the COMPRESSOR which compresses and thus cools the air. The air gets pushed into the blower box and goes through a heatsink making the heatsink cold. Then the air travels further into the DRYER and CONDENSER and gets decompressed and thus releases heat that is moved away by the radiator fan.

Then all you need is a swtich/button to activate the A/C and the all ready built in system with the wheel turning to choose which mix of cold / hot air to use.

The auto air con would need sensors and something controlling the airflow and air mix. I am guessing there are quite a lot of other components involved in this as well as a completly different heater/cooler-box.

I am hoping I can just add the air-con-heatsink to my heater-box to make it a manual heater/cooler-box. Maybe not.

If am misstaken and it is in fact allmost just as easy and not a lot more expensive to get auto air-con I would certainly go that route.

Thanks again!

Mike

 

There are people on this forum with good technical knowledge, but A/C is standard on all MINI sold in North America, so it's unlikely that anybody here has experience retrofitting it. You should also check on the more Euro centric forums like MINI2 and TotalMINI.

 

All auto a/c is a temp set control from the inside. It just needs different programming but you will be able to put what temp yuo want and not have to deal with fiddeling with the controls to make it warmer or cooler.