Re: 1956 Packard Caribbean

Posted by HH56 On 2018/12/18 23:58:08

I believe the only insulation sheathing will be on the T shaped heat tubing between the manifold and automatic choke stoves and finding the exact look and off white color as the original might not be easy today. You can check out some of the wire and cable sleeving from McMaster-Carrhttps://www.mcmaster.com/fabric-tubing There are a couple of high temp modern material sleeves in white that are not too expensive and look fairly close although not quite the same weave as the original. Downside is you will need to buy the specified minimum length which varies on selection at around 3 to 5 ft and will be more than you need. It is also a slide on the tubing sleeve which will be difficult to install over the end fittings if you already have the original tubing. McMaster only has the wrap around type in black and would not be a correct look. If I recall, the original tubing uses compression fittings at the choke stove ends so it might be possible to remove and replace the ferrule and nuts to install the sleeve.

The heater hose connections all use wire Corbin clamps and the size needed is easy to find. McMaster carries them also in bags of more than you need if you can't find them locally. The radiator hoses used both adjusting screw type and the wire Corbin clamps. There are factory and original car photos that show both types in use at the same place so conceivably either was used in spite of what the parts book lists. There is a large 2 3/16 wire clamp for the water pump return end that will be hard to find and If I remember correctly even one of our vendors had difficulty trying to find that one for his car. The others are not too bad but you still might wind up deciding to use the old style screw type which would look more appropriate than the modern stainless steel screw clamps. Restoration Supply has a nice selection of the older style clamps.http://www.restorationstuff.com