Capri - Air Conditioning

I have been away for a couple of weeks so not much has happened on the car front but on Sunday I went to the Yatala Drive-In Swap Meet. I had heard that last year this was a very big event so I was looking forward to seeing what it was like & if there were any Capri or small Ford parts.
You may be wondering what this has to do with air-conditioning & I will get to that soon.
Although I did see two Capri items, a rocker cover & a set of V6 extractors (I have the phone number of the guy who wants to sell them), it was rather disappointing. There were not as many sellers as I expected & many started packing up by about 9.45 am. There were a few hot rods & cars on display, including a nice Escort RS 2000. Here are a few photos.


Now to the air-conditioning.
I have frequently thought about how great it would be to have air-conditioning in my Capris. However, this has just remained a thought bubble due to the cost & the power drag that would occur on the 1600 engine. That has all changed after seeing this new Rencool DC Air Conditioning Compressor. A young guy from Maddair (maddair.com.au) had a unit on display and also had a unit installed in an old EK Holden. The really interesting thing was that he had installed it in the boot - see the picture. He told me that the wiring did not need to be upgraded as the unit ran directly off the battery. The electrics may need a bit more exploration but he had the wiring & hoses running to & from the boot. The cost of the compressor is around $1700 but you would need to add the other bits. These could possibly be sourced from car wreckers. He also displayed a number of options for under the dash outlets. A really great alternative if you were really serious about air conditioning your Capri. I don't think I will bother but I wish that I had seen these a few years ago.

Here is the photo of the unit in the boot & a brochure on the unit. (Click to enlarge)