Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

This was not specifically Pontiac. I purchased it for use in that car. I'm sure it was made for Sears; not by Sears.

TJ,
Saw one of the floor coolers at swap meet in Austin this past weekend, looked to be in excellent condition, asking price was $50.00. I tried to get contact info for this site but couldn't get any.

Loyd -
Is the evaporator under the dash? Can you open the glove box fully? I have a Vintage Air unit and it is a difficult fit.

Bernardi

Jerry,
I am ready to put A/C in my 56 Exec and have been looking at Old Air Products in Ft. Worth, TX until I saw your installation from Classic Air and it is so professional looking. I was wondering if the compressor mounting bracket comes with kit or did you buy or make it separately? The bracket is my only roadblock in going with Old Air as they don't have one for Packard. Any information on your bracket assembly will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Bill

Bernardi,

The heat exchange unit is under the dash mounted in approximately the same position as the stock box was. It is a little longer but not quite as wide. Contains both heat and A/C exchanger and eliminates the box on the engine side of the cowl on the passenger side. I have it vented both to the original A/C vents in the dash and to the original defroster outlets. There is one air outlet on the box, itself, just a little toward the driver's side of the car and I have another outlet mounted to the bottom of the dash on the passenger side. The only two drawbacks that I've found with the system are that, although you can hook the heat/cold air cable to one of the levers on the original vent/heat/AC controls, the fan/AC switches are mounted on the interior exchanger box itself and I've not yet figured out how to make them work from the original controls. Too, the three speed blower fan switch that came installed in the unit was kind of cheap and the wiring connectors melted under the amperage of running the fan at high speed (twice). It did not over-amp enough to blow the built in fuzing that is designed into the system or the extra ones that I installed. The switch that comes with the unit just isn't up to its task. I finally replaced it with another that I found (I think) at radio shack that had adequate wire connexions. Yes, you can open and close the glove box without interference but you will find the installation of the exchanger unit is much easier if you remove the glove box and then re-install it after the unit is in place.

Nothing of course is perfect but I am well pleased with the system after replacing the shoddy blower fan switch. It has, as I said in my other post, been operating now for almost three years without problems and under (in Florida) almost constant usage.

Rowdy. Look a few posts above. Jack Vines has original Packard V8 brackets for sale.

Quote:

Loyd,

don't want to be too nosy but have been giving this same issue a lot of thought for several months. My fact AC is in-operative and parts NLA. Have had a few ideas about adapting a modern unit to look as original as possible.

Just curious what original controls you have left in your car. Did your car originally have the fact AC with control which was just an on/off and rheostat for the blower in the dash? What type do you have in the way of current you would need to use. Electronic or mechanical or which AC unit do you have?

If something could be made work, what existing controls would you like to use for the added.

Factory AC had a rhestat sw. in the dash???? AND some kind of control lever under the dash?????

If the aftermarket unit has the fan/ac sw that is inaccessible then just set the inaccessible controls to MAX settings. THEN splice the Packard factory sw. in the circuit between the aftermark unit and it's feed wire. Why wouldn't that work????

Oh. Wait a minute. The problem is not the fan sw. but the inaccessible "AC" sw. Let me guess, its a bourdon tube type control with the sensor tube that fits into the evap fins???


I'm wondering if such a control is available with a longer bourdon tube???

One alternative to this is to use a pressure sw. in the high side line. I don't like that set up tho.

The original factory 55-6 AC had a fixed temperature maintained by another valve just under the expansion valve.

Once turned on, the compressor ran all the time and temp regulation of the evaporator was done by the valve opening the suction and pressure lines to each other--otherwise known as hot gas bypass.

The dash knob just turned on the clutch and fan & continued turning of knob changed the fan speed with the rheostat. Your temp choice was fairly cold air blowing from slow to high speed--no levers.