Putting aircon into an 325TDS E36?

Okay, this might sound like a crazy plan, but it's my last resort...

Up until the beginning of this month I had a nice reliable 325TD auto
saloon with most of the extras, specifically aircon. That was until Mr
white van man decided to park into the back of it from 40mph when I
was stationary at a junction. (Even worse I'd just spent £140 on
replacing the master injector only the weekend before). Grrrrr!

I'm now looking for a replacement, and I can't find a good 325TD or
TDS auto with aircon anywhere south of Scotland (I'm just outside
London).

However I have found a nice 325TDS with most of the trimmings, low
mileage, sunroof, 4 electric windows etc, only a lack of aircon for a
good price...

Given that the insurance will let me have my old car for £450, how
complicated is it to extract the air conditioning system (not climate
control, just the simple 2 temperature knobs, air con button, and fan
speed/direction dials) and fit this into a car with the basic 3 knob
cooling/heating? Will the plumbing from a TD fit onto a TDS or does
the intercooler piping change the route of the aircon pipes?

How much of the dashboard needs to come out? Are there any pictures
anywhere? Is it worth bothering with the Haynes manual (it doesn't
cover the diesel engines anyway).

Is the wiring all there, or am I going to have to swap bits about?

Does anyone have any views, or should I just find a vacant padded
sell.

Dodgy.
--
MUSHROOMS ARE THE OPIATE OF THE MOOSES

The most difficult part of the AC is the evaporator coil. It has to be
installed under the dash. The entire dash has to be removed. It's really not
worth the expense especially if there's a different dash for AC cars. I'd
keep looking...

"Dodgy" > wrote in message
...
> Okay, this might sound like a crazy plan, but it's my last resort...
>
> Up until the beginning of this month I had a nice reliable 325TD auto
> saloon with most of the extras, specifically aircon. That was until Mr
> white van man decided to park into the back of it from 40mph when I
> was stationary at a junction. (Even worse I'd just spent £140 on
> replacing the master injector only the weekend before). Grrrrr!
>
> I'm now looking for a replacement, and I can't find a good 325TD or
> TDS auto with aircon anywhere south of Scotland (I'm just outside
> London).
>
> However I have found a nice 325TDS with most of the trimmings, low
> mileage, sunroof, 4 electric windows etc, only a lack of aircon for a
> good price...
>
> Given that the insurance will let me have my old car for £450, how
> complicated is it to extract the air conditioning system (not climate
> control, just the simple 2 temperature knobs, air con button, and fan
> speed/direction dials) and fit this into a car with the basic 3 knob
> cooling/heating? Will the plumbing from a TD fit onto a TDS or does
> the intercooler piping change the route of the aircon pipes?
>
> How much of the dashboard needs to come out? Are there any pictures
> anywhere? Is it worth bothering with the Haynes manual (it doesn't
> cover the diesel engines anyway).
>
> Is the wiring all there, or am I going to have to swap bits about?
>
> Does anyone have any views, or should I just find a vacant padded
> sell.
>
> Dodgy.
> --
> MUSHROOMS ARE THE OPIATE OF THE MOOSES