IML: 1952 Air Conditioner

[Joe Strickland <jwstrick426@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I believe the rear AC units that were optional in Imperials on into the 
'60s use the same physical evaporator assembly except for the 12VDC 
motors.  You should be able to locate one of these and find a local area 
electric motor rebuilder or manufacturer who could make suitable 6VDC 
motors to take their place.  It may even be possible to find existing 
new electric motors from some suppliers that would work too.  A 53-56 
air intake grill/escutcheon for the rear AC unit would work, although 
the' 53-'54 may be different from a '55-'56.  Perhaps someone in the 
club could take some digital photos of an Imperial equipped with the 
rear AC unit from the 53-56 time period so you could see what the air 
intake ducts look like.  It should not be too difficult to fabricate 
refrigerant lines to run from front to rear.  I believe that the 
refrigerant lines were always run just outboard of the frame rails using 
brackets screwed to the frame rails.  On OEM units the high pressure 
line had a convoluted or corrugated appearance and was made from steel 
that was copper plated on the inside.  The return line also was copper 
plated inside and could be insulated using some of the available foam 
plastic or rubber materials available at Home Depot or Lowe's.  I 
suggest using that since the only thing that cools the compressor is the 
return freon.  If you use copper lines it would be best to do a spiral 
wrap with steel wire to protect the lines from sharp rocks that might be 
thrown up by the tires.  Try to find a thermally operated expansion 
valve for the evaporator.  That way you will not have to try to design 
some sort of electrically controlled expansion valve.  There are some 
vendors who advertise in Hemmings Motor News that still have new 
evaporator valves for cars of that era.

Joe

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