Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I am installing air conditioning on my 48 Station Sedan and have everything ready to go but am concerned about the engine overheating. I have seen AC on some other Packards but did not cheek to see if the radiator and fan had been replaced with different units to reduce the engine heating. Any help would be appreciated.

Guess it mostly depends on your climate and if planning prolonged low speed driving. Packard did have a larger radiator and 5 & 6 blade fans for their factory AC cars. No other changes I am aware of. Since AC was not offered in 48 but if memory serves those are fairly substantial radiators, if the rest of the cooling system is in good shape you might get away with just with a more robust fan.

When you get it done, would appreciate some pictures, what you used and how you mounted things. Many on the forum are contemplating best way and what to use on those cars where no factory option was offered.

You might get away with just a supplimental electric fan in front of the radiator, those 22nd-23rd series radiators seem more than adequate to the thermal demands of the job. Having an engine that dissaptes heat well would be a prerequsite--make sure your cooling passenges are clean. Borden's used to make "Number 7" engine cooling system cleaner, an acid powder that you added to a dry radiator, then filled with water, ran until it was weall at temp, cooled off, drained then you poured in a second power rom another chamber in the paper container, it was a neturalizer. All kinds of funky brown crud would come out when you backflushed after using the acid powder, and in general, things ran much better, this was usually accompanied with a new thermostat and housing gasket, at the least, I would replace the upper and lower radiator hoses and heater hoses at this time too, not knowing their age or integrity.

The first powder was oxalic acid which has the somewhat unique ability to "chelate or sequester" (solubilize) iron and it's oxides (rust). Google "chelation" for more insight. It's not a particularly strong acid but precautions like rubber gloves and safety glasses are recommended. It's not particularly aggressive against tin and lead (solder) and other materials of construction within the cooling system and thus should be safe to use except in cases where rust is the only thing holding things together. The second powder is sodium carbonate or bicarbonate to neutralize residual oxalic acid. It's certainly among the most effective radiator cleaners, far more effective than the single salt (trisodium phosphate) types.

Owen, I am up on chelation, my son had issues with metal toxicity when he was an infant due to the use of Thimerasol in vaccenes, which is thought to be a contributing factor in autisim. He is not autistic, but had severe skin reaction problems. A chelation therapy was used to remove metals from his blood.

Yes, I had actually forgotten about the medical uses, I've heard of that and had another friend who had chelation treatment for Thallium poisoning. I hope you son is now leading a happy, normal life, and thanks for the reminder about those uses.

Owen, he is fine, as normal as his DNA will allow! (he is my son). My wife is quite a crusader against the use of Thimerosal (which contains mercury) in vaccines, our next door neighbor's boy is very autistic, he had a bad reaction to a vaccination and many feel that it is attributable to the heavy metals used as preservatives in vaccines.

I can't seem to find that the Borden's stuff is available anymore. Do any companies still offer the acidic cleaner?

To answer the initial question based on prewar information, I was just reading through the 1941 Data Book and it states that the air conditioned cars equipped with the 356cid engine did NOT need a different fan than what was normally used. ONLY the 110/120 cars with the smaller engine received a different fan, which was the same one used for the 356 engine.

Electricfans are great as long as they directly against the radiator. Some cars prohibit such mounting. 55-56 Packards are an example unless mounted BEHIND the radiator which mite mean removing the oem fan. A fan shroud is far more effective but not always ez to install or fabricate.

Electric fans mounted more than 1 or 2 inches from radiator are at best meaningless and usualy more of hinderance than a help