Re: A Tale of Two Patricians

Posted by HH56 On 2021/2/13 10:24:19

Unless you can come up with a factory blueprint of the entire system I doubt you are going to find any published information at that detail level in anything Packard released to dealers or the aftermarket people. You can get a good idea of original component layout from the photos in the SM and a few in various SC articles but if you are going to try and adapt modern components to an original or repro box then the factory layout would need to be eliminated or considerably modified so might not be that useful anyway.

If you have or are going to search for an original system to install then the factory layout info in the SM would be helpful in putting it back in the car but just like the 55-6 unit, many if not most of the original parts are obsolete or will be very hard to find a place where they might be repaired if care was not taken while removing or stored out of the car. Modern components will not require or be able to use most of the old temp control parts and I am not too sure you would want to reuse them anyway. It will become a matter of finding something modern that will fit and function and then adapt mountings and plumbing etc.

You will also run into the sad fact that almost anything modern will want 12v so unless you are planning to provide a conversion or separate power to run blowers and controls you will be seriously limited in what you can do with installing a complete modern system. I believe both Old Air and Vintage Air offer a service where they will adapt and custom fit their controls into an old dash layout so that might be an option to keep a factory look.

Keeping the adjustable temp control with a modern trunk layout is going to be the biggest issue in trying to duplicate the old system functionality. Mechanical thermostats are too big and won't fit in the control pod and even the longest capillary tube is too short for the distance to the evaporator. Electronic servo type units such as Vintage may still offer might work but we are back to 12v. I expect it is going to cost many $$ if you do it yourself and even more if you need to find someone else to fit something modern to an original box --- although someone in the business might be familiar enough and have access to more units or options than just buying odd components that looked like they might fit from one or two companies like I did with my 47 and 56 adaptions.