MGB: Yet another air conditioner question

I am painfully new at auto restoration, and have the wonderful attribute of not knowing what I am in for. Right now, I'm waiting to find a good buy on an MG, probably a B (though there appear to be some great deals in many places).

Living in Florida, finding an MG that I could fit with air conditioning is a MUST. So the question is: is the MGB the only model that can be fit with air conditioning?

I have a thousand other questions, but I'll reserve them for now.

Suggest you contact Ed Sweeny.
http://www.motorcar-garage.com/aboutus.asp

I think he is the person that did a tech session on this at MG 2008 in Philly this summer.

to me, the idea of MG and AC is like smart and dumb. (darn near said smart and Democrat, but that would make it OT) the two do not belong together. these are 40 year old cars. My 73 came to me with dealer AC. I ripped it out.

My opinion on AC and MGs is that if it permits you to drive the car more often than it is a good thing. If you live in a hot, humid area then AC makes a lot of sense and that is why I am in the process of installing one in my car at this time. The new systems are much more efficient than the earlier units. I compare it to not having a heater in the colder sections of the country; you did realize that the heater was an option on the earlier cars.

I have installed the Moss kit and am really dissapointed with it.
Before you do anything call Glenn at Glenn's MG Repair in Saint Petersburg Fl
and find out the best way to go. Very helpful and being in Florida knows
alot about AC. www.glennsmg.com
Good Luck

To answer your initial question, any MGB or MGB-GT can be fitted with A/C. Aside from the contacts above, there's one nice feature of this board - a search function. You can get to it by clicking on the "search" link at the top of this thread. It isn't as intuitive as we might like, but it does the job once you get used to it - and there is a LOT of recent discussion of A/C to be found.

Welcome aboard, by the way. :)

Sam, could you be more specific regarding your displeasure with the Moss AC?
Cooling Performance in the cabin?
Impact on the Engine performance/cooling?
Fit?
Installation?

What ticked you off? Anything you really 'LIKE' about it.

Others would like to know your experience in more detail.

I put ac in my GT and it turned an easy bake oven into an enjoyable ride..
I have a problem with overheating in traffic and know some Moss system people complained of the same thing. I spoke to the owner of Nostalgia Air and his comment was that the cars and their cooling system were not designed for ac
and it will be a problem..
I may do it over and move the dryer away from the condenser to allow for two fans instead of one.. You could also install one of the aluminum radiators with a bigger core.

Peter-

I will post a detailed experience with the Moss kit when I get a chance. It will be a long story.

Actually after thinking about it, I would like to hear any comments from anyone
who is using the Moss kit and is happy with it. I know Gil DuPree is still messing around with his trying to get it working right, I don't know how far he's gotten.

I went with the Nostalgia Air kit which is similar to the Moss but there are some major differences. That said I am getting closer to completing the installation.

First what I consider the negatives:
If you have a later model MGB this would not be necessarily be considered a negative. The Nostalgia Air system mounting brackets work on the later models which have the top radiator inlet on the driver’s side. My 1964 is on the other side and mounting alternator with the compressor stacked on top has an interference with the thermostat cover and top radiator hose. I made a set of bracket similar to the Moss brackets and mounted the compressor and alternator in the configuration that Moss uses. I got the scrap steel free and cut the brackets out on my band saw so not an issue for me, others with the earlier cars this may be a deal breaker.

The Nostalgia Air system does not include a radiator thermo-switch for the electric fan. The electric fan is turned on and off at the same time as the AC compressor. Not a big deal to me because they sell the switch for $25 if need one.

All the hoses have to be assembled and swaged with Nostalgia Air system. This is not as nice as the Moss preformed lines.

Nostalgia Air systems instructions are minimal. I also used the Moss instruction that is online in PDF format.

The positives:
Nostalgia Air has excellent service. I screwed up one of my fittings and called to see if there was a way to fix it and they sent me a new fitting, no charge.

The temperature control is next to the fan speed control and not located on the under dash unit.

Cost, Nostalgia Air system $950, Moss $1,800