Re: Engine Bay detailing on a '56 dual carb car

Posted by BH On 2012/7/28 22:19:38

Gee, I went away for the better part of the day and missed all the fun, here, but I'll try to catch up in one long post.

The band clamps shown in the illustrations of the "Packard Air Conditioning Service Installation" document certainly raise a valid question. In fact, Figure 2 of the "Air Conditioning" section of the shop manual also shows a band type clamp at the top of the radiator, but darned if I can find a good clear view of the clamp at the engine water outlet in any other factory publication for the V8s. Trade Letter 55-1001, Dealer 1, Supplement 3 seems to indicate that factory-installed air conditioning only became available mid-year, effective May 2, 1955, but this might be a moot point since the aforementioned instructions appear to be for dealer-installed units.

Of all the Packard V8s that I've purchased (including a '55 Patrician that I sold long ago), none had A/C, all were unrestored, but not a one had spring wire clamps on any of the radiator hoses. However, the odometer was over 50K on each, and all of those hoses had been replaced at least once. They all had worm-gear type clamps - EXCEPT for this nagging recollection I have of some band type clamps on my Caribbean Hardtop. Looks like another trip to offsite storage is in order.

Meanwhile, it was many years ago that my dad told me his 56 Exec originally had spring wire type clamps on the radiator hoses, but he had later changed them all out in favor of worm-gear type. In view of his account and the preponderance of shop manual illustrations, I concluded that, except for the undeniable band clamp for the water pump inlet, spring wire clamps were correct. Mind you, I had never seen those AC instructions until recent years, when they became available, here at PackardInfo.

Now, the clamp types aren't described in Gr. 11.0122, but only in the Utility section (Gr. 50.675) of the parts book. Odd that P/N 473183 is absent from that section, but so are some other special-purpose clamps - like the really long band clamp that holds the large grommet for the power steering hoses to the fresh air duct. While the cover of the parts book reprint shows revision date of April 1, 1957, the relevant pages show they were last revised on July 1 , 1956 - same as the archive copy that I provided.

However, our band type clamp, P/N 230085, is listed in the Utility section for 2-3/16" O.D. hose. Then, there's a Corbin spring wire clamp, P/N 426103, also listed for 2-3/16" O.D. hose. Turns out, those are the same clamps used at the analogous locations of 51-54 models; Figure 4 of the "Radiator and Cooling" section of the 51-54 shop manual even shows a spring wire clamp on the engine water outlet.

Back in 1990, I ordered spring wire clamps from a vendor who published a price list by S-P number, and the invoice shows P/N 426013. My notes for the order show that I had specified that part number, but darned if I can remember how I came up with it - whether it might have been a supersession in his price list. Maybe I'm wrong in having drawn that conclusion, but those spring wire clamps fit with no problem and no leaks.

As for other brands, by the time I started working on cars, GM was using tower clamps on radiator and heater hoses and spring-band type clamps for fuel and PCV hoses. I've heard that Corbin clamps were used for both radiator and heater hoses on Mopars of the '50, '60s and even into the mid-'70s, which was a good decade before I went to work for Chrysler, but I've no catalogs to go by.

Corvette did use Corbin style clamps 55-59; though I can't tell you what size, I believe those radiator hoses were a bit smaller than what Packard used. I haven't found a vendor that states working range of their spring wire clamps by vehicle; likely a "trade secret".

Short of someone coming up with a "factory" engineering drawing, I don't see how we'll ever determine what type of clamp is truly associated with P/N 473183. There could be a lot of slack-jawed owners out there if it turns out to be a band type.