Finally, the plunge and the Rear Aircon fitment for my Innova happened at Anisbhai's Unicool car a/c garage in Ghatkopar. The personal and technical experience is quite something to recount and I am going to post all of it here. Hope this will be useful to the people searching for complete knowledge on proper fitments and a place to get it fitted in the car.
I have been surveying quite a few aircon retro-fitters and a few fitments, Sanden, Formula1. I had zeroed in on Sanden after taking stock of fitments of both and how they look, not in person but atleast from pictures and their packaged fitments.
But the crux was to find one good retro-fitter and that was holding me from going ahead.
I heard from many retro-fitters statements like, sir you have a sit here and we will do the fitting in less than 4-5 hours in front of you. I was quite taken aback after seeing their attitude towards such a critical work that I imagined would be quite a thing to do. So my search went on to find one from garage from Fort to Thane, West and East but primarily looking for some good workshop nearby Powai, Vikhroli, Ghatkopar. There are indeed many of them who would claim to do the fitting but none when asked to show a sample and take the pains to call back and tell you that the retro-fitted vehicle can be checked for you to see atleast in pictures.
So, in middle years, I had virtually given up on the idea of fitting it at all. But seeing the rising heat and the family needing it more now, I decided once again to start the hunt.
Finally, I met Anisbhai, Unicool Car Aircon at Ghatkopar Industrial Estate behind R-Mall. And it turned out to be quite a find. Not only fitment-wise but the entire atmosphere with a personal touch and the sheer team-work there and attention to detail and attitude to giving due time to do the work of this nature is just beyond words to bowl you over. Glitches are part of the game but the way they are overcome and solution achieved without tension and coolness is important.
Enough talking now. I will start posting pics with the descriptions so everybody gets understanding of what it involves and how it needs to be done and how it finally looks. It is going to take time to make pics worth uploading here and put the descriptions alongwith, so bear with me.
The entire process took from morning 10:15AM till 9:00PM with a 1hr lunch break by the team of about 5-8 and that too at my request that I would not be able to spend another day due to usage needs after that day.
First, here are a few snapshots to give an understanding of the overall outlook of the fitting before I begin on the process.
This view of complete aircon from top of 2nd Row.
This view of Right/Passenger-side B-Pillar Corner Side molding from top of 2nd Row.
This view of Left/Driver-side B-Pillar Corner Side molding from top of 2nd Row.
The aircon is Sanden, in beige color, widely available in market and IMO is the most suitable for fitments unlike Formula1 or other brands. I had seen Formula1 fittings in couple of cars and it had come to such a state that the owners were ready shell out additional money to replace it with this one by Sanden.
The Corner Side moldings are the only things that change as per the car, Tavera, Sumo, Eeco etc. However, I and anishbhai also wished the the mold manufacturers take some time out to see how they fit in each car and take small trouble to make it perfectly fitting ithout leaving such visible gaps and make it look like a factory-fit. It is just a one time job and the car for which they are designed will not be changing.
Much more to follow. For those who are interested, keep watching this space.