Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

See the following thread for part numbers and more details.

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=5042&forum=3&post_id=54120#forumpost54120

I'll try to get pics tommorrow if i can catch the sunlite rite.

Note that the radiator conversion process is not difficult. Once accomplished however the actual R&R of the radiator IS difficult. See above thread for details.

Lower bracket for F radiator. Ez to make. Use 2wo muffler clamp saddles and a piece of steel tubing cut length wise in half. Line saddles with rubber. Only welding required is to weld semi circular saddles to muffler clamp saddles.

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I have to respectfully disagree with you there.

My straight 8 288 50 Packard would idle all day in the summer heat and never puke or complain. It was great until the water pump went and then you started to notice it at low speeds, and then eventually even the highway wasn't enough to keep it cool. We'll see how the new 327 does, it's cooling passages weren't quite as clean.

I have a 71 pontiac that will idle all day with the A/C on at the car will run at whatever thermostat you throw in it. Even a 160. Granted, i made sure i had the larger crank pulley and the smaller water pump pulley and aluminum radiator and 7 blade fan and high flow water pump and the exhaust is free flowing and fuel mixture was spot on. The point is though, that even stock that car would idle at 200 (pontiac wanted the temp at 205-210) all day in the heat. Now it has a 195 thermostat in and runs at 200 all the time (i bumped it up to run warmer for more fuel and engine efficiency.)

I had a stock 91 GMC truck with no thermostat. It had slightly higher than stock compression, but that would add to heat issues. When i first met my wife, she would enthusiastically go on parts runs with me. We went out one night, the firs really cold one of that year, and drove 2 hours each way to pick up a rear end. The truck NEVER got warm enough to even try to heat the cab....We sat in 20 degree weather for 4 hours, stopping at gas stations to warm up. Don't know why she married me I never did get that truck even up to 100 degrees until i put a thermostat in.

Now, some vehicles with no thermostat will run away heat up, where you can't keep them cool because the water moves through the radiator too quickly.

Any newer car (80s and up) should have no trouble idling in summer heat if it's in good running condition, especially with electric fans to keep everything cool kicking on and off, and with such smaller and more efficient motors.

Again, i have NO experience with V8 Packards. And i know in STOCK form, yes, you might not get certain vehicles to idle in summer heat and not cook. That's a mistake of the original engineering in my book. There are small things you can do to help (overdrive pulley sizes, fuel mixture) and major things you can do to help (great radiators, up the exhaust size, find a high flow water pump) but it all comes down to the fact that almost any motor can be made to run cool under almost all conditions, and i have to believe that for the Packard V8 as well unless there is some large design flaw in the block somewhere. I don't want a car that i start and move to the driveway and then get an emergency phone call or something happens and i don't get a change to watch it for 20 minutes and come back to find out i cooked it.


Now i agree that if it's not showing symptoms of overheating, then it's likely not and it's the gauge or our perception of how hot is too hot might be off. But as far as saying that it should overheat from just sitting still in the heat, i would investigate to see if i could eliminate even that. A more efficient motor is a happy motor and the car would thank you for it.


Edit: I would like to point out that i was always told letting a car idle for a long time would promote cylinder wash down from the fuel and lower oil pressure and lead to cylinder/piston ring/piston wear. I don't know how true that is. I definitely have let some cars idle for more than an hour while i work on them or tune them. I wouldn't recommend letting any car idle for 3 hours just to test it's idle cooling. I would think half hour to 45 min would be more than enough to get up to temp and see if it stays there.

A little off topic, I have always given any vehicle of mine a two minute stationary warm up so initial oiling and parts expansion are at a constant rpm and maybe more importantly a two minute idle down before shut down. This way your cooling system can help dissipate block heat and extend the life of your seals and gaskets.

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You said it all there, brother. The hard way first, and the easy way second: Retrofit electric fans if you want your overheating problems to suddenly disappear!

On your note about idling and "cylinder wash" on gasoline engines-- with a carburetor, yes, the mixture tends to keep getting richer as the car idles longer. With fuel injection--usually not a problem, especially for newer electronic fi systems. Basically, you could idle a whole tank dry without a problem, even on a hot day with the AC left on! Locked my keys in running car once ('95 Ford 4.6 L V8) My passenger hit the door locks and I didn't know it, got out to open the garage, we both shut our doors and that was that. Idled with the AC on for about an hour on a very hot day. No problem.

On running without a thermostat... some will probably remember the days of "winter" and "summer" thermostats, and all the problems you could get into when you didn't change them out. Often "summer" was NO thermostat, and in those days, there was no such thing as circulating the water too fast to cool it.

While electric fans are effective, they are generally noisy (well, the ones moving a nice amount of air are anyways) and i like the look for a nice big 5-7 blade fan on a well working clutch in a classic car. Also, some of us are still running 6v. so you can count us out of electric fans unless we want to convert that too.

I still think you can cool just about any motor in just about any weather condition without resorting to electric fans, but in a lot of cases, it's just plain easier and simpler to put a NICE set of fans with a good shroud setup in and forget it.

Now, not really Packard related, but in the Pontiac world, if you have the wrong compression heads and the wrong cam and the wrong fuel setup, dual fans and aluminum radiators and rear mounted batteries and shielded solenoids won't save you from overheating and heat soak and hot no-crank over situations. My 428 came to be with all those band aids on and the previous owner said he could never get it to run cool. Not even cold, just cool enough to not boil over and refuse to start.

Head swap and cam swap later with the above changes, and the dual fans and shrouds removed....cool as a cucumber.

Most of us here aren't swapping non matching parts though, and it's just going to come down to trying to make the system as efficient as possible.

Electric "pusher" fans that mount in front of the radiator ARE available in both 6-volt and 12-volt. One reason I've not been a fan of them is that, if you need one, it's use is just going to mask some other problem that should be attended to. But they are effective.

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I second that, and the masked problem, if solved, will let you sleep better at night. Also, a pusher fan is not as effective as a puller fan, and it can actually block some airflow on the highway that would naturally be there.


One of the worst looking thing on a 30's hot rod, in my opinion, is an out of place electric fan you can see from the outside through the grille. If i was going to convert to an electric fan, i'd buy a nice pusher dual fan setup with a nice shroud spaced back from the radiator about 1-2" and eliminate my stock fan altogether. But if i'm going crazy making changes, changing fans is pretty far down on my list. After tranny swap, AC, etc.

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corcomp,

If you want that ugly exposed-fan look, all you need to do is buy a late model Rolls-Royce!

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Owen. I'm sure the pun was intended, and I am not a "fan" of retrofit electrics, either. I was just sayin', if you're intent on keeping an even temp under almost any conditions, and you can stand the inauthenticity, it's the way to go... and most do not make any noticeable noise except at idle, which is excusable considering that's when they'll give the most improvement over mechanical fans.

Speaking of IDLE. Just look at the eyes in the back seat. Proof that THEY LIVE!

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Wow, I scrolled down this thread while I was drinking my morning coffee and almost spit it out on the computer screen.

That Rolls is equisite in ugliness, ungainliness, clumsiness, heavy-handedness and whole bunch of other nesses.

Seriously, is that the best they can do or were the stylists trying to fail the company for spite?