Adding factory A/C

[oldmanche]

I'm new to the forum but not Comanche's.  My first was a brand new 86 that I had too much fun with then sold it.  Now I have a '91 I will be keeping  mostly original as a daily driver and I have an '89 to off road. 

 

My son also has an '89 and that's the one I will be helping with adding the A/C (4.0L 4wd automatic).  It was on 35's and had a stroker when he bought it a year ago and it's been fun.  He is now building it with Dana 44's front & rear and will run 37's and  will do a bunch more work as well.  We spend quite a bit of time in the desert and it also get's pretty hot where we live a couple of months each year so we want to install A/C.  I know many other options are relatively straight foreword to change, like converting to power windows, auto to stick, or even 2wd to 4wd.   I've read Minut's write up on using the 1996 XJ's A/C system, but it looks like he is starting with A/C to begin with.  I could not find any detailed posts from anyone who has added A/C and was wondering if anyone here has done this. 

 

I tried searching the XJ forums as well, but since they made more than 2 million of them the responses all seem to be "find another XJ".  As you all know, it's not as easy to just find another MJ.  The prices are much higher and this one in particular has some history and he really would like to keep it. 

[oldmanche]

Sorry - I forgot to add that the dash is currently removed for some work he is doing inside, including replacing the heater core.

[Tex06]

Personally, I'd find an XJ with A/C and swap in the dash. That's the most difficult and time consuming part in my opinion. Then you'll just need to add in the under hood stuff which you can pull the heater box from the same XJ and order new pieces following Minut's guide.

[Eagle]

The evaporator goes in the box under the dash with the heater core, so this would be the time to install that even if you don't hook it up immediately. I don't know if the box is the same, so I'd suggest getting a donor XJ and taking everything (controls, vacuum lines, everything from that. But don't re-use the old evaporator -- it's worth dropping a few bucks to egt a new one to go along with the new heater core.

 

[oldmanche]

Thanks guys.  I appreciate the input.  I agree the under dash part is the hardest and given it is currently mostly apart that is what will be done first.  Not sure we have the room (or the wife's support) to have a parts Cherokee, but will give it some thought and find a good way to float that idea.  Also the price of the parts Cherokee's I've seen lately have been a bit steep.

 

I've been doing a little research with a parts list and using Rock Auto to see what years parts interchange.  They have a great feature where you click on the part and it pulls up all the make/model/years the part goes on.  While some parts changed in odd break points, it looks like '91-'96 probably use the same under dash box.  What's weird is the serpentine belt break is '91-'95 then '96-'01, but the compressor is '91-'93 and '94-'96 

 

As for the wiring, I'm not sure what direction we will take yet.  I'm going to look at my '89 with A/C and a '95 & '98 Cherokee I can peek at for starters.  I will probably visit the local pull a part to look at a few years and start figuring it out.

[Eagle]

Expect the '95 and '98 to be totally different from the '89.