Would it matter?

[Com91]

Hey our VN S pack has a very noisy engine and we've made our peace with it as best we can, however recently it's making more of a wine thats very irritating, at first i figured it was the alternator but after looking into it a little more it appears to be coming from the aircon compressor maybe a bearing im not sure, the aircon hasn't worked since we've owned it and we have no intention of fixing it my question is would the car be affected at all if we were to put on a fan belt that by-passes the aircon pully? since there's non-aircon belts available i figured if anything it'd be less drag, any help would be great before i go ahead and do it, its my mums car and i dont want it breaking down on her or anything, thanks.

[sleepa]

Should be fine, as long as the belt is the right length and you still are able to use the tensioner than do it.

[Phoenix21]

yer i had a shorted belf for my vr that bypassed the ac so you shouldn't have a problem doing it anyways

[zskinner]

definately a go-er mate, i had a a/c bearing noise too and eventually changed to the shorter belt and pulled out the air compressor while i was there (as it didnt work anyway and was just adding more un-required weight to the car), now the car is quiet as.

[Vlad01]

I am doing the same right now. plus the front end, power steering rack, engine, trans(manual), radiator, tailshaft and brakes got a long week ahead of me.

[Com91]

Definitely sounds like a wise move , how much work would be involved in removing the compressor?

[zskinner]

i forget now how hard it was, pretty sure it was only 3 or 4 bolts, but if i remember correctly 1 or 2 of them were quite hard to get to, sorry i cant be more help, just get under the car and have a quick look and you should be able to find them. i also just hack sawed all the pipes going to the compressor. remember though that by law your supposed to have all the existing gas released by a certified mechanic, unless you just "accidentaly" loosen off the valve in your backyard without anyone seeing lol

[pow3rslave]

from memory the compressor is held on by 2 bolts, fairly easy to get at, there's a bolt on each of 2 lines going to it, you can also unbolt the lines from there and the top of the firewall.
mine had no gas in it anyway, i think it's pretty bad for the ozone or whatever.

[Com91]

lol thanks ill have a look tomorrow, and yeah it has no gas in it we had it looked at couple years back cracked lines or a leak or somfin whole thing would need to be replaced :S

[vt s]

whatver you do do not just go disconnecting a/c hoses the gas is very dangerous
The gas is "supposed" to be collected and is illegal to release into the atmosphere, if caught the epa fines are very severe.
Main reason i say this though is that if you come into contact with the gas its likely to freeze your hand off