I ask this question because I would like to add AC to my car...but the swapped engine gives me very little room before the shock tower gets in the way. I suppose there are a number of solutions to the issue but the place I have the most room is to the front of the engine oddly enough. So I am wondering if anyone knows whether a compressor will work running counter clockwise? Normally I would assume no...up until I saw a picture of a Masserati with a reverse mounted compressor and alternator:
Its quite possible of course the Maseratti accesories are designed to reverse rotate like Honda accesories...but its still worth asking the question of whether a standard rotation AC compressor can operate in reverse rotation
Just mount it in front of the engine pointing backwards, that'll rotate it the correct way :)
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I got a headache thinking about that. I drew it and still can't see it. What am I missing? Edit: I got it. Wrap the serpentine belt another way?
Theoretically they do not. They work by a Swashplate pump system, which shouldn't care which way it rotates in order to compress as its the angle of the disc that tells it to create pressure or vacuum, but in reality I could see it creating a vacuum if you set it up the wrong way.
There are enough engine combos out there, and enough routings of serpentine belts that I'm sure there's a compressor that turns the way you need to in order to mount the compressor backwards.
Look at Hondas, as I recall their FWD engines rotated "backward" compared to the convention. So a compressor from a Honda should be set up to spin the way you need.
The compressor you see on the Maserati looks like a piston style and like a 2 stroke engine should not care which way it turns. Modern compressors are not piston style.
