The short answer is:
I like it! I wouldn't worry too much about heat dissipation--the biggest source of heat is the exhaust system, and I think this mod moves the motor further away from the exhaust pipe. The "can" portion of the motor is a thick mo-fo, about 1/8" thick, so the muffler clamps aren't going to have a negative effect.
I'm wondering about the degree of adjustabililty available through the turnbuckle. The business of rotating the actuator to adjust per the shop manual (the stock installation/orientation) gives quite a wide range of adjustability--good and bad. Some folks remounting a PB actuator go through quite a lot getting the unit aligned with the detents in the tranny. Perhaps the boys at Conner had a gauge that allowed them to pop these on transmissions at (near) production line speeds and have them be close enough to allow the cars to be driven off of the line and on to car haulers, the dealer to fine adjust if necessary as part of new car prep. Heck, I think we ought to make a poll of PB equipped cars with (what we think are) well adjusted actuators--measure from the very back of the motor can (where the end-cap of the motor meets the "can") down to the bottom point on the trans housing--where the pan bolts on.
The PB actuator is located in an absolutely miserable place to service, it was obviously a marketing brain-fart, traceable in some part to Jim Nance's love for all things push button. There is a great book that examines the 1950s through the artifacts that remain, and the consumer goods that came and went entitled "Populuxe"
http://www.amazon.com/Populuxe-America-Tailfins-Dinners-Shelters/dp/0394545931 the author coined this word to connote the mass produced, modern designed consumer goods (and buildings) of the decade. There is an entire chapter devoted to "just a touch of a button", the decade's promise that all manual labor would be replaced by the touch of a button. I think JN bought into this all the way, first at Hotpoint, then at Packard.
Had the 1957 models been produced by Packard, for Packard, with the new body shell and chassis I would have bet that they would have done a better job of locating the PB actuator.
I say we get a beta-car going on this soon. No aspect of it is non-reversible, no mods that change anything in an irreversible way. I would engineer some sort of seal at the point where the short-shaft exits the actuator, if no more than a piece of rubber that is a tight fit to the shaft OD, packed with grease on the inner side of the seal and tightly spaced to the upward link-arm.
As far as removing the whole unit from the car, I don't like the shop manual business of removing the tail stock from the trans. I have my method, which I have outlined in previous posts, in short:
a)support trans, remove rear trans cross member
b)place small scissor jack between frame and trans
c) remove motor from actuator
(carefully-be mindful of commutator coming out of brushes and brushes springing together--you MUST seperate brushes and reinsert armature/commutator into brushes without bending/breaking phenolic brush plate) then remove the gear-housing from the trans. A PITA. Luckily, with proper PB repair, something you don't have to do often.
Additional question: is there going to be an interference problem with the pressure switch?
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