Can the cam sensor be bypassed or tricked?

[steiner_5000]

I'm in the planning phase of doing a diesel swap into my 2000 explorer (small Detroit, 4bt or maybe Isuzu) and I came across a guy who was saying his AC wouldn't run in his sport trac because of the cam position sensor not sending a signal anymore. I would like to keep my AC so is there a way to get around the cam sensor signal?

 

[RonD]

False information

Air Conditioning is a separate electrical circuit in a vehicle

You may have read AC(alternating current) was effecting things in a SportTrac, that can happen, Cam sensor outputs AC current

2000 explorer Air Conditioning "activation" signal did use the engine computer but that's easily by passed using a relay
Engine computer was used so AC could be shut off automatically when Passing(wide open throttle) or if engine temp got to high
You can delete those or use either or both with external relays

 

[Snoranger]

The electronic climate control on the high end models wouldn’t have even cared about the cam sensor.

 

[steiner_5000]

I thought this sounded very odd as well, that's why I wanted to confirm with you guys. I got this idea out of this post : https://www.4btswaps.com/threads/explorer-sport-trac-isuzu-4bd2-auto-to-manual-swap.87441/page-3. Looking post #60 & #71. Sounds like there may have been other underlying issues that caused the A/C not to work.

 

[RonD]

What those posts have in common is that the people are using Original engine computer for the vehicle, maybe because they wanted to use the factory automatic???
I wouldn't recommend that with a diesel swap, shift points would be way off

But for sure you can run an AC system on its own with any engine you care to use, and using the vehicles dash controls
You will need a vacuum pump if using a diesel engine, but thats normal for most diesel conversions in to gasoline vehicles

 

[steiner_5000]

Ok great! Thanks for the info!