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A/C with Soft Top Usage

fordguy

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I know it won’t work in the middle of summer very well but does anybody use their a/c with a soft top. I live in central ms and summers are brutal, but thinking it might help in spring and fall. I really want to do some parades and such with my grandson. Taking the hardtop on and off is not something I want to be doing.
 

Speedrdr

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I know it won’t work in the middle of summer very well but does anybody use their a/c with a soft top. I live in central ms and summers are brutal, but thinking it might help in spring and fall. I really want to do some parades and such with my grandson. Taking the hardtop on and off is not something I want to be doing.
Not quite the same thing, but I had a friend that would run his Vette without a top in the summer and the AC did fine…just had to crank the fan up another speed.
 

SLOWnEASY

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Isn't this kind of the same as running the heater with no top? though to be fair I'm in San Diego where it really doesn't get cold.
 
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bigmuddy

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My wife's car has one of those panoramic sunroofs. She runs it open alot in the late fall with the heater on and the heated seats cranked. Then in the summer she will run it open with the AC on..
 
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fordguy

fordguy

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Not quite the same thing, but I had a friend that would run his Vette without a top in the summer and the AC did fine…just had to crank the fan up another speed.
I have seen some people who run with the top down and a/c blowing in the parades. Where is Paris?
 

Speedrdr

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Paris is about 15 miles south of Oxford on 9…kinda between Oxford and Bruce. Be in the middle of BFE, so to speak.
 

DirtDonk

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I don’t think Broncos get a lot hotter or colder with a soft top, than they do with a hard top.
I’ve run both and, while it might get colder a little bit, the summers did not seem any hotter inside.
So I think AC with the soft top would be perfectly legit.
I too ran the AC in a 66 Corvette with the top off sometimes. When the temperature is just right, and there’s no mood to put the top up, it makes perfectly good sense to use the resources at hand. Be a heat or cold.
 

DirtDonk

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I know it won’t work in the middle of summer very well…
But that’s exactly when you’re most likely to want to use it. If nothing else, it’ll take some of the edge off and make the drive more enjoyable for it.
If you have that combination already, just try it.
 
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fordguy

fordguy

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But that’s exactly when you’re most likely to want to use it. If nothing else, it’ll take some of the edge off and make the drive more enjoyable for it.
If you have that combination already, just try it.
I don’t have that combo, I have a hardtop
 

Broncobowsher

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Running A/C in a Bronco during a parade. Now that is a cooling system test! Many Broncos would struggle to make a parade and keep there cool without the added load of A/C.
 
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fordguy

fordguy

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Running A/C in a Bronco during a parade. Now that is a cooling system test! Many Broncos would struggle to make a parade and keep there cool without the added load of A/C.
Just get thru the parade without overheating, period.
 

Madgyver

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I've been running a soft top and AC for years. engine swap a few years ago and I haven't made my custom hoses that I need. Compressor has been capped off all this time.
 

ZOSO

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My dad used to wheel his 83 with the top off and ac blowing. He now does that with his 22 wildtrack. top off windows down and ac blowing. Works great.
 
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fordguy

fordguy

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My explorer set up actually cools pretty well. When we put Freon in the a/c in the heat of summer, we were in an open shop and the truck idled for about 30 minutes and temp never moved. As opposed to when I first started it and left the plug in the new radiator on the bottom inlet, ran hot pretty quick lol.
 
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