Questions about A/C on 280z

[alissa280z]

My silver Z and my red Z (parts car) are almost identical except the red has A/C and a 4 spd tranny. I am not going to transfer the A/C into the silver car because I rarely use A/C as it is and it would be too much of a hassle to install.

How rare was the A/C option on '78 280z's?

What do I need to be aware of when uninstalling it from the car?

Is the wiring harness only compatible with A/C cars?

I'll probably end up selling it as a complete unit once I figure out which parts belong to it. Is this worth anything? You can have it cheap if you come take it out of the car yourself! ~Thanks

[280~Master]

From what I can tell the AC was put in most if not all Z cars built after 76. I know in 76 it was an option (dealer installed) and I think in 77 and 78 it was still an option but you got AC from the factory. Don't take this as law but from what I have seen in cars and from the ones I have owned all of them have had AC in them (it has never worked). It may have been an option still in 78 but I have seen nothing but factory AC systems in 78's. I think they just lasted longer. There is a theory behind this but that's to long to get into. Keep the AC in the car it will make it more valuable but if a stripped engine bay is what your after then leave it out. If you are after better HP then just pull the belt off when you don't need to use it. That's my 2 cents and thats about whats its worth.

[sblake01]

Is it factory or 'dealer installed' a/c? It wasn't really rare. Some came from the factory with a/c installed and some had it installed later. You can genrally tell by the type of hoses although there are other differences. Factory air will have hoses with crimped end fittings and the non factory will have the hoses with barbs and clamps. Also the factory air will have a fast idle control device. I'm actually more partial to the non factory system that is in my 78. Easier to work on, no vaccum controls etc. As far as worth, well it's nothing special either way and I don't have any trouble finding the parts for either system but then, I'm a liscensed tech. The non factory system in my 78 280Z and the factory system in my 79 810 both work fine. So I guess, like anything Z, it all depends on who you talk to.

[alissa280z]

I guess A/C wasn't as rare as an option as I expected. I am fairly sure my parts car had factory installed A/C. The car will be worth more if I kept the air in it, but the car is a parts car because it has no title, no key and lots of rust... it is going to be chopped up.

I've got the service manual, I am sure it will tell me the best way to disassemble the A/C.

[mdbrandy]

I had a '78 280Z federal car that had factory air in it that I parted out. My current '78 280Z (california car) has an aftermarket AC. The VIN numbers were about 4000 different. The aftermarket version still works .

[sblake01]

4000 higher or lower? My 78 is about 4200 lower than yours and it has aftermarket air. And it works fine. Someone wronlgy contended that factory air lasts longer than non factory air eariler in this thread. Maintainence is the key for any type of ac system. And as far as what was standard or dealer installed in 78, these scans are from the 78 sales brochure. According to it, ac was factory installed on all 2+2's and dealer installed on two seaters.

[mdbrandy]

4000 higher or lower? My 78 is about 4200 lower than yours and it has aftermarket air. And it works fine. Someone wronlgy contended that factory air lasts longer than non factory air eariler in this thread. Maintainence is the key for any type of ac system. And as far as what was standard or dealer installed in 78, these scans are from the 78 sales brochure. According to it, ac was factory installed on all 2+2's and dealer installed on two seaters.

I'm not 100% sure anymore! I'll have to see if I can find the VIN for the no-longer living one. If nothing else, I still have the dash around here somewhere... I THINK it was 4000 lower than my current one.

[alissa280z]

VIN for car with A/C is HLS30-469222 build date 6/98?

VIN for car without A/C is HLS30-427243 build date 9/77

I don't know if that makes a difference.... the A/C is coming out anyway.