W116 450 Air Conditioning upgrade

[450sel5.0]

Hi everyone,
Has anyone else found their 450SE/SEL Air Conditioner to be useless?
I came up with a nice solution which was minimal work.
I have removed the bracket and AC Compressor from a 1994 4cyl Mitsubishi Magna that we have here in Australia.
Removed my giant Delco Black lump of uselessness compressor, chopped and adapted my M117 engine bracket to take the Magna bracket which incorporates it's own adjuster pulley.
Now I am able to bolt the small, weightless Nippondenso compressor from the Magna right on.
The compressor and bracket cost $150au from a local wrecker (they would have been happy to sell me 10 of them with their stock overflowing)
The pipes I had made to adapt to the original fittings on the 450. This cost around $110au.
So in total around $300 including some metal I had lying around to build the M117 bracket up.
Some time also. However, I now have a compressor that is very unlikely to fail or leak, very effective, much colder than before, it is 4 bolts, two fittings and it's out,  but most importantly a compressor that is available at any wrecker in Australia.
Let me know if you have also had any good ideas on the A/C, we all know W116 heaters can melt your face right off, the A/C's in my opinion are let down by the Delco unit. 
I did this conversion on my W116 450SEL M117 5.0

[Mforcer]

That seems like a great upgrade and something I will likely do before my car returns to the road. Do you have photos? How about a pre-made conversion kit?

[Rimas]

Wow great work!

I'd love to know how to do this too, my current A/C compressor is making a hideous noise and not getting very cold. Mine is the M110 though, I wonder how different the brackets are.

Although not a purist solution, I would happily upgrade to this. After all, the A/C compressors are not what give these car their character so why not use a unit that we have in abundance that seems to work better in every way.

Now when are the pre-made conversion kits coming? 

[Squiggle Dog]

Rollguy on peachparts.com sells brackets to convert from Delco to Sanden compressors, and a company called Klima http://www.klimakit.com/ sells complete conversion kits, however, these are geared more toward the diesel models.

[KenM]

Sounds like a nice upgrade and as you say an assured supply of replacement compressors to be had. I have a personal opinion that a lot of the problems people report with the standard 116 air con are in fact

down to worn out compressors. My own 450 SE has the standard setup, converted to 134a and it works pretty well, however I know my compressor is many years old and would have lost some efficiency.

These compressors if original have now done a huge amount of work, especially here in Oz so it's no wonder that a lot of people report less than satisfactory a/c performance. There's no getting around that

the Delco is a huge lump so a newer lightweight unit would be a good alternate solution. Also, with the M110 you have the York compressor and much easier to get at. Same still applies with wear and tear, I

have seen a couple of conversions with these ones too, not sure if the brackets were home made or adapted from something else.

[450sel5.0]

Hi guys, love the comments, I think that the sanden compressors are the best upgrade for m110 engines, have seen that done a few times, I wanted to utilise the second hand Magna compressor due to its availability and reliability.
I am making another bracket up shortly for a mate with a 380sec, I will photograph the process and post it when I'm done.
Don't hold your breath for me, it may be a couple months before its up.
Cheers.

[Mforcer]

it's been almost a couple of months

Are you still happy with the change? Any chance for schematics/details on the bracket needed?

My engine should be coming out soon to help with rust repairs and will look to make a few upgrades at the same time, this being one of them.