Removing A/C: Air Conditioner, have question

[ceasars chariot]

Car: 97 Nissan Maxima SE ( 5 speed manual )

In short, I will be shipping my car to New Zealand at the end of this year. The climate will be mild and the air conditioning wont be a necessity like it is here.

Performance Question:

From a performance point, while it will be minimal, will the removal of the air condition have more effect than just removing 20 pounds from the car ?

From what I understand the car has to turn a 4" pulley which would also sap some power. By removing this, will this have the same effect like when i swaped my stock pulley for an unorthodox racing underdrive pulley ?

Can someone explain this and if removing the A/C, pulley, and belts will free up some HP ? if so how much ?

Technical Question:

How hard is this job ( removing AC, belts and pulley) and will Nissan do this, if i cant ?

thanks

[DAEDALUS]

You've pointed out 2 types of gain possible: lower static weight and reduced rotating mass. From a static weight standpoint, yes, it will be the same as removing 20 lbs from the car, or whatever the system weighs. For rotating mass, the pulleys being turned are pretty small and light, as is the belt, so I don't know if you would notice much difference. You can easily see what the improvement would be--all you have to do is remove the AC belt only. This should take 5-10 minutes. Remove the spare tire and tools from the trunk, and you would have a pretty close approximation of the benefit of removing the entire AC system. I don't recommend it. It'll cost money to have the system evacuated (per federal law) and if you ever sell the car, it'll probably be worth less to the buyer without an AC system.