The '79 240 sedan I've been looking at never had a/c installed. It is a fuel injected model. Is it possible to gather the necessary parts from a newer/later 80's model and "build" the system that way?

Thanks.
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'86 sedan with 437,000 miles on the original engine and automatic transmission

US market 240's did not have factory installed AC until 1985.They were equipped with the "combined unit" heater and ventilation,ready for dealer-installed AC.

Your best donor car would be a '93,the first year for the 134a refrigerant.

Bill

I think that's incorrect. I have an '82, 2 '83's and 3 '84's (all 240's) with factory air conditioning. Look into the Bentley repair manual and you'll see all of the wiring diagrams and an A/C section. They wouldn't list, nor is there any mention of any such "factory installed units". The only Volvo 240 I have without factory air is an '80 242. As far as that conversion goes, it could be done but I'd recommend finding a donor car and swapping everything over including the car's wiring harness. Good Luck!

I think it can be done. It seems that even the factory a/c units are "added on" anyway because they have their own exclusive wiring harnesses and parts. I would go with the later model 91-93 because their systems were more efficient and set up to go for the R134 refrigerant (they had larger evaporators and the condenser cooling fan). When you take the stuff from the donor car, make sure you grab the firewall plate on the passenger side, ALL of the wiring, hoses, even the center console heater/a/c housing. This will make the installation easier. Plan on removing the whole dashboard. The only problem you might run into is running the wiring to raise the idle speed when the a/c is turned on. That is accomplished in the ECU mounted in the passenger wheel well on the newer cars. I don't know where your ECU is, but you will have to find out which pin on the unit will raise the idle speed. Good luck and let us know how things work out! I did a swap from a 92 donor car to my 87 and it worked out great. Don't have any specific pics of that, but here are some pics of the total project: http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=53563&id=1189132524