I will not sign-up for Ernie’s last caveat of who might respond . . .

’53 Clipper ‘Standard’ Touring Sedan = 288 . . . . ‘Standard’ was added by me to emphasize the two different trims available.

’53 Clipper ‘Deluxe’ Touring Sedan = 327

The car in question has the side trim of the ‘standard’, and is not equipped with the rear fender ‘fins’ as found on the Deluxe. I would say the car is a ‘standard’ Touring Sedan and would be originally configured with a 288, however you’re only a crankshaft and connecting rod set away from a 327, perhaps via short block with the original head, or the lad is confused, or the lad is trying to maximize the sale price.

Frequently I will be asked ‘Who made this car?’, and I reply ‘Packard’. I guess the person has already did a quick walk-around and had already saw the badging, because the next question goes something like ‘No no no, was it made by Ford, GM, or Chrysler?’. That begins the slightly longer discussion about all of the ‘non-big-three’ manufacturers that went out of business. I guess I can add the modern badges within the ‘big-three’ that fell out of corporate favor.

I went looking for how many US automobile manufactures have closed their doors . . . it’s an amazingly long list, see:

List of defunct automobile manufacturers of the United States - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_manufacturers_of_the_United_States

Perhaps I could edit this list to remove those early ‘brass era’ marks, and again those that did not survive the depression. That might be a better list to discuss when the ‘question’ is asked.

Howard my ’48 is not equipped with the AC . . . it’s the ’54 Cavalier.

Joe Wareham ‘Joe’s ’49 Club Sedan’ project blog covered installation of a Sanden compressor starting on page 13. Joe and I exchanged several messages on what we thought was a competitive method to mount any such device. Two issues can be resolved by a two piece bracket design, where one bracket is rigidly mounted to the engine. This bracket will have slots (not holes) that a Sanden compressor bracket mounts to. The slots allows for alignment of the drive belt to the existing Packard pulley. This adjustment would be typically done once, and there would be nothing wrong if an attempt was made to fabricate this bracket with holes alone, as Joe shows in post #170. The Sanden bracket will have slots that will allow for belt tension adjustment, although some Sanden brackets allow the compressor to pivot to tighten the belt.

Back to my ’54, again it’s a 6+ car. I’ve looked for something that might boost/convert the voltage to power the AC . . . I couldn’t find anything, so I’ve concluded; 1.) The converter is inside the evaporator unit under the dash, or 2.) The unit is truly a 6 volt device. I’ve never determined whether the Sanden clutch has been changed or that clutch is intended for 12 volt. As luck would have it I just ordered a Sanden replacement for my ’99 Suburban, so I can compare the resistance of the two clutches and report those values. I have not noticed a problem with the engine coolant temperature on that car, but I do agree with HH56’s observation on the cooling margin available on the ’48-’50 cars.

As the photos show my compressor is mounted on the right side of the engine. It was installed prior to my ownership, and although I tried I have not figured-out who installed same. With power steering and an oil filter real-estate on the left side of the engine is at a premium.

dp

Kevin;

My ’54 also dripped/squirted fuel onto the ‘gas door’ and subsequently all over the lower portion of the fender. When I bought the car it came fully optioned with an aluminum ‘tuna fish can’ over the gas cap, but I just knew cars didn’t need such nonsense so I ran the car for a while until I realized the wisdom of the TFC option. Tobs also had the same experience, and solved the issue with essentially the same method, that is, a means to direct the errant fuel away from the gas door and ultimately down to the ground. Perhaps Tobs can tell us if the third cap he had ‘on-order’ solved the problem.

I can’t believe back in the day all cars without baffles in the fuel tank leaked fuel on turns, but I guess before the environmental awareness anything is possible. I think HH56 has hit on the true cause in that the original fuel cap may have had a feature(s) that helped knock-down the fuel for the very short period of time required to be leak free. My cap, and one of Tobs’ caps appear to have the worst design possible . . . that is, a hole straight through.

My experience is the same as others in that the cap leaks when the tank is near full. Physics suggests a right turn, especially off-camber, would also be part of the equation, however anything that would initiate a ‘slosh’, like abrupt terrain change, would also create the possibility of a leak. So we may not be talking about a high-g right hand turn is the only case, since I can attest that since I’ve owned the ’54 it has not been used in anything that could be described as ‘high-g’!

I went back to page 59 of Tobs’ project blog and tried to open the attachment I included in post #581. I was unsuccessful downloading and viewing the PDF attachment. Seems the extension of the file has changed to PHP. I found that if I open the downloaded file with an Abobe reader application the file is still intact and is viewable. The process I used was to download the PHP file, after ‘right clicking’ the file select the ‘Open with’ option, and finally select the Abode application. Seems to work but I suspect the extension was altered somehow and should be reset to PDF on the server.

dp

It’s pretty easy to test the ignition switch.

Place a match book cover in the point set, and disconnect the small wire that connects to the starter solenoid. Attach a voltmeter to the ‘hot’ (negative) side of the coil . . . run the leads such that you can see the meter from inside the car. Turn on the ignition key into the normal run position and note the voltage, then rotate the key into the start position and again note the voltage. If all is well the two readings should be battery voltage. If you insulated the points and disconnected the solenoid wire you can repeat the tests as many times as you care to, especially the starting position of the switch.

To answer the question about 12 volts please give us a time-line on events. Was the 12 volt battery introduced after all of the ignition parts replacement?

I remembered seeing this on TV

https://staceydavid.com/news/quick-tips/quick-tip-splitting-rubber-tubing

dp

I think I would be inclined to hold the head of the screw with a ‘Vice-Grip’ (or the backside if you have the room), and drill the head with ever increasing drill sizes, stopping at the tap drill size for the screw. At some point the screw head will be removable through shearing of the thin cylinder.

I know this thread was about rust removal and ultra-sonic cleaners, but I have a tidbit of information about removing modern electro-plating.

The other day I was experimenting with stripping the electro plating off of modern nuts and bolts from the hardware store. My goal was to strip the plating off, and then use a Caswell black oxide product, with a penetrating oil sealer, to end-up with something that looked like a black phosphate finish. What I found was a Lysol 10X toilet bowl cleaner (hydrochloric acid) did a wonderful job of stripping the bright plating. Knowing that process had a chance of working, I started on the real job of ‘toning-down’ a set of sheet metal wing nuts for my ’48 battery hold down bolts. The modern wingnuts almost match the original design, but the bright plating on the new nuts was clearly too striking for the rest of the engine compartment, hence the desire to replicate a black phosphate finish. The Lysol product does a good job of striping the modern electro-plating. I guess the next question is whether Lysol toilet bowl cleaner will dispatch rust as well.

dp

Handykapp;

Carter data indicates that the 531 was intended for the 22/23 series 356 engine, and the 42-47 Super, while the 643 was intended for the 22/23 series 327 engine . . . so you’re looking for the ‘correct’ carburetor.

The main circuit mixture appears to be slightly different between the 531S (richest), 643S (middle), and 531 SA (leanest). This mixture adjustment was done by which metering rod set was installed. The main jet size is identical among the three carburetors. I don’t consider the amount of diameter change in the various metering rods as being a big deal, in that all three are close to one another.

The flange part number of the 531S & SA is different from the 643S, and the nominal idle mixture screw adjustment is different suggesting the potential of a porting difference in the flange. When I look at the individual pieces that would be used in the flange there seems to be the same start switch, throttle shafts and plates. The aluminum alloy cast parts are identical. Carter did not list the part number of the casting that contained the venturi. The sizes of all three venturi are identical between the carburetors in this discussion.

I would consider the 643 and 531 similar enough to be a good starting point for any of the engines listed, but if available the 643 would be correct for a ’49 Super 8.

dp

Paul;

I found a close-up view of the way I mounted the kick-down circuit resistor. That circuit would be the green colored wires. The resistor is an Ohmite item with soldered connections. Again when you’re standing looking into the engine bay most of this stuff is hidden by the coil and ignition wires, and if your car is not equipped with an overdrive none of this is necessary.

I forgot a few other subjects; first if you use a Pertronix coil, or any other aftermarket coil. Those items are likely without an integral mounting bracket. I know back in the day some coils used an integral coil bracket, while the others did not. If your car has a coil with an integral bracket, and you intend to use an aftermarket coil, then you will need to fabricate, or source, a hold-down bracket/strap. The good news is that ignition coil diameters have not changed in the last 80 years, and you don’t need to change the coil, but it is part of the ‘extra ignition voltage’ scheme. I made a hold down strap out of flat stock bent over a 1 ½ pipe coupling. The trick is to get the correct length . . . missing short is better than missing long.

The other item is that Pertronix suggests the use of suppression type ignition wires. I’m not sure this applies to all of their product line, because the Model A does not have ignition wires . . . let alone suppression type wires. That car uses flat strips of a copper alloy (alloy and shape depends on the which year/month of manufacture), and they are surely not suppressed. The Model A has 15 years of ‘zero drama’ operation with electron ignition. I also used shiny black cotton covered stranded wire wires on my ’48 (those in the picture), but have subsequently changed to suppression type leads . . . nothing seemed to change when the wires were changed, so I’m not sure about the Pertronix guidance on suppression wires, and whether that guidance is for the entire product line.

dp

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