Turbo Miata - Delete AC or keep it?

Hi guys. I am debating whether I should delete the AC or keep it in my street driven, soon to be turbo Miata. The car is not my daily, and I usually drive it on nice days for fun. The AC hasn't blown cold for the 4 years I've had it, and I rarely have ever turned the fans on. When I go turbo, I figure not having the AC condenser in front of the radiator would help with cooling, so instead of Intercooler --> AC Condenser --> Radiator it would just be Intercooler --> Radiator. Would it be worth it to delete the AC, or should I just keep it and consider recharging the system?

Would you delete it even if you weren't putting on a turbo? On a street driven car, there aren't a lot of good reasons to take it away.

I haven't heard any benefit to keeping AC based on your post.

I took the AC off of the Manic Miata. I figured anything I can do to help reduce underhood temps is a good thing, and I never turned it on anyway. It worked and it fit but it just seemed easier to reduce the complexity. 
 

Guess I'm the pansy here. S'ok, it'll be under 100F eventually...

I haven't driven my CRX since sometime in June because it doesn't have working AC.

I'd find out why it is inoperative.

If it's inop because of impossible to find hardlines corroded through, pitch it.  You're not going to be able to do any usefully long term repair.

If it's just a leaky condensor, or something else easy, I'd repair it.

But then, I loves me some good air conditioning.

Since I'm here trying to figure out how to put A/C into a Triumph Spitfire and GT6, the idea of removing a system from a street car does not compute. Race car or dedicated track car? Sure.  Any sort of street car?  Not for me.

My answer?

I live in Florida. 

Thanks guys! I don't know, I don't ever use it, so I thought why not just gut it. I guess if it won't make a huge difference in temps, then I'll just keep it. Although, will the effectiveness of the AC go down now that I have a AFR gauge and boost gauge in the two center vents? If it is, then I'll just gut the AC.

If you are looking for an excuse to remove it, go ahead.  If its not a competition car, I see no reason to take it out.  Keeping it in place/fixing it will open it to a much wider audience when you go to sell it.

Good point on the effect on the salability of the car.

I also am a wimp and vote for repairing and keeping the AC.  I'm contemplating ways to put AC back in my currently completely guess gutted rallyx car and I desperately need to fix the system in my Miata.

But then I don't get a chub from getting out of my car and having a wet shirt and sweat running down my crack so I guess I'm the weird one here.

A/C in a convertible?

Thanks guys! I guess my biggest concern is just engine cooling after having the intercooler on the front of the car, and then how much cool air I would actually get in the cabin with having the two center vents blocked for gauges if I was to repair the AC. If the car will still have good engine cooling with the condenser, intercooler, and radiator out front as well as still give me nice cool air inside the cabin even with two vents blocked off, then I can see a reason to keep it. I've been searching online about turbo miatas and engine coolant temps with and without AC, but I can't find anything definitive saying that the car would run cooler without the condenser out front or not.

On a street car you won't have to worry about overheating if everything is in good working condition, even with the stack of heat exchangers.  If it were my car I wouldn't even think about removing the AC.  That said, it does complicate planning for the intercooler and piping. 

I had the same debate years ago with my turbo miata.  I ended up taking it out.  Its fun and less stuff under the hood makes me happy.  But i live in Texas and that decision has turned it into an occasional car for me now.   Evenings are great for top down driving but if i have to go anywhere during the day and i don't want to sweat, i usually drive something else instead.   I think about putting it back in lots of times, usually June-September ;)

If you ever want to sell the car the pool of buyers who want no AC will be small. You think you will keep it forever but will you really?

In Texas you need it in your race car just to get from the trailer to the paddock.

I deleted it when I put the Rotrex blower on my Miata. It was still working and still on R-12, but I rarely used it and even with the A/C deleted, my engine bay is the proverbial 10lb bag. I couldn't imagine cramming A/C in there as well. As it is, I have to remove charge piping to check the power steering fluid level(!). Like you, I also got concerned about stacking up a condenser, a power steering cooler, a radiator and a charger air cooler.

Through the time I've had mine I lived in the mountains of western MD, Pittsburgh, and the DC area. Each place had progressively more hot days.

Mine never had ac. I looked at retrofitting it on. Some days were just too swampassy and the older I get (I'm only 35) the more I want it.

Deleting it is enjoyment limiting, resale limiting, and a marginal gain mostly from weight reduction

Coolant temps will not be a problem on a street car. 

My MSM has a FM built motor, upgraded radiator and the FM fan kit and has ice cold AC. Point being you don't have to remove the AC even if you are making a lot of power, does not affect the car at all, temps never go above normal even on the hottest of days. I would keep it, there is  no real benefit of removing it unless you have a dedicated race car. 

Keep it.  

Thanks guys! You convinced me to just keep it and recharge it or do what I need to get it back to being cold again.

Japspec said:

Thanks guys! You convinced me to just keep it and recharge it or do what I need to get it back to being cold again.

We may be a bunch of enablers, but sometimes we can still make sense.