GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

You may laugh but I live in central Florida and never use it. Summer time the temps only reach the high 90's lol, I just prefer the windows down. A lot of people buy the lightweight pulleys that supposedly free up 5hp but I think I want to go old school and remove the compressor altogether. Or maybe just the pulley. Think it would help anymore then a set of the lightweight pulleys?

If you do remove the compressor altogether, then do two things: have a shop break the lines and capture the refirigerant, and keep the compressor for later. Maybe it's a holdover form the freon days, maybe not an issue anymore, but freon was one of the key "hole in the ozone" pollutants, so don't just vent it into the atmosphere. maybe not an issue, but play it safe. And keep the compressor, because someday you may want to sell the car, and I bet you are in a mnoirty of Floridians who never use AC, the next owner will probably want that thing.in http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=28226 NSimkins and BlueCrush discuss the different size serpentine belts, since there is a Matrix variant that does not have AC, you could probably just get one of those belts.If it were me, I'd leave the compressor in place, and the AC functional. I don't think the free spinning AC pulley is going to cause that much power loss, and you never know when you might want it, maybe not for you but perhaps for a passenger. or some special circumstance. If you yank it, it will be expensive to put it back. However, if you want an easy half step, then follow the link in http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=4683 to vibeowner's info on how to disable the auto AC while defrost. That way you can have total control on if and when the compressor comes on.

On a car such as ours and many other small 4cyl. engines, putting on a shorter belt and bypassing the A/C does not free up as much as you think. Maybe 1-2hp. Most modern cars starting from the 90's switched to the retrofitted style where no freon was used due to its environmental harms. It's almost impossible to find nowadays for older cars as well and many places won't service them due to environmental restrictions. My advice, not worth the effort and work.

Yeah now that I look at it I'm not sure just re-routing the belt will work because the tensioner isn't over far enough, don't know how adjustable it is though. But hey 2 hp is a lot for the what 30 bux for a belt? vs 10 out of a $200 CAI or 10 from a $400 exhaust set-up. I will look at it more tomorrow but I wont be removing the compressor or any of that.

You can't remove the air conditioning yourself. You'll need a recovery machine and cylinder to evacuate the lines. Otherwise if you just cut the lines you will let harmful gasses into your lungs and the atmosphere.Good luck, but unless you're trying to make your Vibe a drag car or something it's not worth the trouble.