RA23 Fully Automated Climate Controll

[LT1986]

God bless lazy engineers....

Ill do a quick poll first, has anyone tried to upgrade the heating/cooling in their *A2*?

Put bluntly, im going to need a custom dash to finish my GA23 project, and my heater/air con is fudged....not to mention trying to turn the demister on requires a breaker bar!

...and I have a fully automated climate controll system that while being slightly larger than my RA23's is in the same order of appliance (Fan, Aircon, HEater/duct controll) and even uses a couple of the same ducting placements/bolt holes


Benefits are pretty obvious, being able to connect the unit to my dash by wires being a biggie, as well as better heating and cooling, no pushrods, and plug and play into the loom Ive already transplanted...

Is anyone interested in me doing a writeup on this?

[MWP]

Yup, do it

[Lambolica]

I had MX83 or MA70 Climate control in my RA40 for a bit. Also there is a guy on the net who did a TA22 or RA23 with one of those aftermarket A/C setups and the associated control unit that was fitted into the origonal dash, Had a quick search, but no love finding it again.

Cheers
Simon

[The Witzl]

i'd certainly be one to give this a try!
Someone donate me a climate control unit pls

[LT1986]

lol...ill do a write up then...could be useful when the rest of your heaters etc start packing up!

[cambelt]

This can be done using a digital house central heating thermostat that has outputs for heat and a/c , Ie 1 controlling the heater tap and the other controlling the A/C clutch .
There is some very nice backlit small units around .
Most just use the 2 wire setup witch wont work . we need 6 or so wires .
Dave

[oldcorollas]

writeups = good!
i was thinking of transplanting the whole box and kaboodle from something like late 90's/early00's corolla or similar.... but some of those under-dash units are huge!

[bigmat]

subscribe looks promissing.

cheers mat

[ddeane]

me too (and a few more characters)

[cambelt]

Ive looked into doing this with many times with factory toyota setups but there far too complcated for the effort also most toyota setups just add more heat rather than control the air con clutch .
The way the servo motors control the flaps doesnt suit the simple older
stuff as some of the servos have 5 positions .
EA fairmont or VN toilet may be candicates as i think there vacuume opperated servo motors move only on or off .
If i had the time id adopt the dual zone climate out of someting new
Dave

[wa5]

EA and VN are probably a bit bulky, they are not as user friendly as jap setups, whole unit has to be removed to get at the A/C evaperator.... EA units are known to have troubles with the heater Blendor motor (opens flap for hot air)...

I would be speaking to AC guys and finding out which late model units give no trouble and get one of those..... I wouldnt use one out of a front cut.... where would you get parts if needed?

[Chrisso]

Subscribed. Modern in old skool!

[WDE_BDY]

... where would you get parts if needed?

Someone elses front cut when they aren't looking.

[CrUZida]

I'd personally be hesitant to use a Toyota climate control system, purely because there are so many sensors that need to be working correctly for the system to work.

Out of the last 4 cars I've had only 1 has had a flawless system. The rest rarely do what you ask of them.

Give me a slide control that directly actuates the heater tap any day of the week.

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Pfft, I love my climate control That said, they're quite complicated systems with a lot to go wrong.

[LT1986]

...Okay all, I invaded my spare room last week with all the wiring...A few pointers

PARTS - I killed a GA70 to do this conversion, but dont worry, the engine came with it and the rest will go to good homes

WIRING - Im using THE ENTIRE wiring from the supra setup, After going through the 50+ pages of wiring diagrams from the book of supra, it was either deciepher the hilarious junction boxes or just leave everything in.

So first things first, change over whatever extra plugs you need to splice into the celica setup (indicators, headlights, brake switch, etc)....if you have the steering wheel stalks from the supra wiring use them! theres a bracket of 'ears' coming off the steering column in the supra holding these on (post pic!)...basically its bigger than the celicas and so can be used to bolt this controll panel to your steering wheel...among other things giving you an intermittant wipe and saving an F-Load of time! (post pic)

Im also using the analogue dash from the donor car, dont worry, I'm going to be making a custom surround etc. This is good for a couple of reasons

1. my dash is fudged!

2.diagnostics warnings are transmitted here for your engine!

3.its pretty much the same bloody size!

4. while you could weed out the 4 or so plugs of wires feeding the supra dash, its easier for me to keep everything as is to ensure it will work when it all goes back together!


SWITCHES - pretty much you guys are right...i looked at replacing the controll unit with multi-point toggles, but deceiphering what each one does will take me so much time Im gunna have to pass!...theres about 30 pins in the back of those units, and theyre all there for a reason!

....stay tuned, im getting my hands on a heater controll sincemine is absent, ill let ya know how its goin!

-Luke