How to Remove AirCon from your EK9


EK9turbo

its a rush!
Joined
Jan 17, 2008
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2,174
Hey Guys..

In the middle of building my Ek9 for some mild track use, drag strip etc - also daily drive. Would I see any power benifit from removing air con ??? I live in scotland so its not really needed. Also is there any lighter pullys out there etc without removing power steering etc.

Could some kind person give me a rough guide on how to DIY remove the Air Con pleae..

Many Thanks - Andy

Go to dealership and have it vacuum pumped out for £20 that’s how much it cost at my dealership
GENERAL FUNCTION


COMPONENT LOCATIONS - ALL PICTURES ARE CLICKABLE FOR FULL SIZE
NOTE: The Evaporator is directly behind the battery on the EK9 and the lines to the condensor/Evaporater and the relay wires run along the cambelt side of the engine-bay. other component locations are the same.



*disconnect the pump earth, and the other two connectors that are immediately by the AC pump/ on firewall in front

*undo the two retaining 10mm head bolts holding the pipes onto the AC pump, get an old rag cover it then pull off; don’t be alarmed if it releases some retained pressure as vacuum pumping always seems to leave a little bit of pressure on half of the system. -they have an o-ring that stick it down as a tight fit so you have to give it a little force. Don’t let it spray on your hands or face, the oil that comes out is carcinogenic.


*then remove the two retaining bolts and uncouple the two pipes on the AC condenser radiator using a rag/cloth over the connector as you do it. Then remove the two bolts holding the top aluminium bracket, then simply lift out whilst double-checking you haven’t left any connection connected. BEAR IN MIND that most on Hondas electrical connectors from this era require to the unclipped from the mounting/retaining bracket before you can unclip them, there is a sort of locking mechanism designed into them like this.!! Never pull by the wires. And don’t forget to undo the fan's connector that is mounted to it.


*slacken the two locking bolts (12mm head) on the back of the PAS pump. Then slacken belt-tensioner on the PAS pump by turning the wing-nut anticlockwise to lower the pump. Once tension isn’t on the belt then remove the two Locking nuts while holding the pump and unhook the belt.
At this point you need to grip the PAS reservoir and pull it up vertically off of its bracket. Then place it to the left of the bracket it’ll just hang there on the hydraulic lines. Don’t worry about this just make sure you don’t scratch your bay.. The reservoir can be tilted upside and won’t spill! Just so you know.

-Then remove the AC dryer unit, this is a cylindrical unit under the washer filler that sits through the chassis and hangs behind the washer bottle. Again remove the electrical connector. Two retaining bolts, two lines and 1x? mounting bolt. lift the unit out


NB: don’t worry about bending the lines slightly you won’t split kink or break them easily.

*next will have to remove your battery and maybe tray... if you have a high quality alarm system with lots of functions like Clifford then put it into VALET mode before removing the battery - always disconnect negative first THEN positive, and reconnect negative last!

Heres my catch can just to the left of it...



*then remove the retaining bolt from each line and 'pop' the pipes off of the firewall. One leads to the rad and the other to the dryer.
There may be some brackets that need to be removed in between but otherwise it’s fairly straight forward. To remove the line that goes to the dryer you'll definitely have to remove at least one bracket and also undo the two 10mm head bolts holding the ABS relay box's mounting brackets to the chassis. The pipes just 'clipped into place' via some plastic grips around the side and front of the passenger suspension tower.

*next using a 14mm socket, undo the hex-bolt at the back of the tensioning pulley which is located at the AC pump. mounted onto that bracket. Unbolt this and remove the pulley completely, this will also let you remove the belt. upto the engine mount. You can use a 14mm socket and extension with the splash guard and nearside arch line removed to unbolt the two AC/motor mounts bolts that bolt to the bottom of the frame-rail. then slide the belt over it and re-torque to factor spec. if you don’t want to remove all the bumper and arch liners to do this then you can simply cut the belt and fit a new one IF you re-install.


*now there is FOUR 12mm head mounting bolts that hold the pump to the bracket mounted to the front of the engine, done undo the larger bolts as these holt that mounting plate to the block. You WILL need an extension.
Undo the bottom two first then the top two as common sense would suggest.

Here is the Bracket removed..

Off-topic, I had to modify my bracket (and dipstip tube) to clear the down-pipe. This engine mount doesnt do much now I have uprate the main 3x mounts on my engine...but Im happier keeping it on there.


*then go into the car empty your glove box and remove CORRECTLY so as not to bend or damage the glove box as so...
Using a suitable sized Phillips head screwdriver undo the two black bolt/screws underneath the glove box vertically (these are on the hinges) then pull the handle towards you an inch allowing the glove box to be lowered and removed using no force.
With the gloebox out this is what youll see.. (ignore the extras)


With AC filter door removed (unclips from top after the next couple of points are followed in my text below)

*then unclip the left side trim adjacent the door next that runs alongside the glove box
 
*remove the metal bar that runs from left to right. This is retained by 6mm or 8mm bolts. Remember where they go!
Then slot it down and place onto your carpet

*disconnect the AC thermostat and unclip the wires form the 3x plastic 'clips' that the wires hooked around

*undo the 6x 10mm head bolts/NUTS that retain the black section of the air box. Note the two brass coated ones go into the firewall.

*gip and pull the drain towards the firewall to remove it from the box.

*then making sure you don’t catch any cables slide the box out towards the passenger seat with a little persuasion.

*take the box out of the car being careful to keep the firewall side high/level is the ac evaporator/heat exchanger will have a little oil in it still.
you don’t want to make a mark on your carpet of worse your recaros

*unslot the temp sensor from the condenser’s fins. it just pulls out,


Here is a pic of where the ac evaporator box was. Ignore the additional cabling that wasnt tidied at the time. This is just required extra components and funtionality. From the factory this is a RUBBER grommet, you can drill it and use it as an excellant cable feed point. there is a 0.5" approx gap behind the black evap box.!




*remove the letterbox panel, it unclips from the top.
This pic is looking into where the accessory filter can go.. notice the high/low pressure control parts

Notice in this pic that the foam strips are designed so the box slides out towards the passenger seat



*then .. there is two metal clips and a series of screws that hold the box together and taking a stanley knife/blade carefully trim the foam around the box's seams to allow you to split the box open

Here is a page from the factory manual relating to it.



*separate the box and remove the condenser + sensor and proceed to clean the box out with whatever method, don’t use chemicals that linger as you’ll smell it later. 'BUG CLEAN' or similar squirt on wipe off solutions will do fine. This is a good time to order an "AC/POLLEN FILTER" for your EK9 if not before you start removing AC

*next you need to go to MAPLIN ideally or similar and order a small tub of POLYMORPH so you can make a solid airtight blanking plug for where the box meets the firewall. Polymorph is plastic granules. You can remove at a later date if required quite simply. Its great stuff.
Here are the results with polymorph, itll come out as neat as you make it!

#
This is where the thermostat sensor bung and wire went






*then re-clip and screw the air box back together and remount in car being careful not to catch the cables and tape the thermostat sensor away safely.

*remount glove box and anything else removed. Reconnect battery and Walla.

You don’t have to remove the relays/fuses and it won’t do anything whilst the equipment is not there although it is an ideal to tape up the connectors and put a little electrical grease inside the terminals to protect them from the elements.

Anything I've missed; feel free to comment, any questions simply ask. I’ve written this off of memory so may not be exact.

Stay Cool guys n Gals! Wind down your windows and blast out that VTEC song!:drive::win:
 
Excellent write up! shall I move it to the resource area forum? :D

Thanks for sharing this information :bow:
 
Whoop !!! Going on those instructions alone I quickly and succesfuly removed my air-con !!! Great thread !!!! A Million Thanks to EK9turbo !!!!
 
thread moved! :D thanks EK9Turbo!
 
nice one!!! Would have taken you longer to write up then to do it hey.. lol

Big credits to you! :nice:
 
tempted to do this soon, as i do not use the air con much.
Qusetion i have is, how much difference did it make?
thanks
 
awesome thanks, i removed everything except that damn box behind the glovebox! now i know how :) any reason you put it back in?
 
awesome thanks, i removed everything except that damn box behind the glovebox! now i know how :) any reason you put it back in?

notice I put the black box in but not the evaporator unit... I just sealed the two holes with plastic :nice: ....then later I fitted a cabin air filter which was well worth it. amazing differences since I often travel throug very dusty places:nice:
 
tempted to do this soon, as i do not use the air con much.
Qusetion i have is, how much difference did it make?
thanks

Yes it made a huge difference for me, It let me fit my turbocharger and downpipe :p The car is definitely alot faster now :p:p:p

Theres a fair ammount of weight in the system though. There a few members on here who removed the AC, hopefully some of them will express their opinions:nice:
 
I had mine removed and i noticed an instant response to throttle.... Also with the gapping whole it left in the front end enables air to rush in under hood... Even after an enthusiastic drive its kept very nice.... Only warm where before it was very hot!

Ive still good the evaporater in ive noticed.... The weight of everyting else was 13KG, Not sure how much the evaporater weighs, anyone know?
 
**** i still got loads left to take out.....

I've only removed the stuff in the engine bay. Didn't dawn on me there was stuff in the dash.... Right thats coming out.
 
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