How Many Parts??

[JimNNN]

Originally Posted by L5wolvesf

Not sure the title here is quite right but . . .



I'm considering picking up some parts for the 55 to get various systems working. The heater for instance, is this something y'all do for a mid 50s Ford?

I just completed a full heater refurbishment on my '54 Ranch Wagon the other day...a sub-project of the car rewiring project I did over the winter. When I bought the car way back when, I thought, boy, the heaters on these old cars weren't very good. Not really true, as it worked good and heated well after I completed the job. But I replaced pretty much everything.



The '55 and the '54 are similar in that both were 6 volt from the factory. Beyond that, I don't know much about the '55. If it's anything like the '54, though, a good place to start with a heater that isn't heating well might be the right (passenger) side fresh air control cable and louver/ directional damper/whatever. If the car isn't heating/working well, it could be the flow of air through the heater core is bad because of a broken cable or seized pivot shaft on the louver. Could also be a disconnected or bad cable to the heater control valve (which connects to the heater hoses.)



If your car is still 6 volt, and you need a blower motor, you may have difficulty finding a two-speed 6 volt motor. I know I did, and ended up having to use a one-speed instead. No big deal for me...it works real well and my RW isn't really a cold weather car anyway. If you have a 12 volt system, no problem.


As I recall, everything for the heater I needed was available from either Mac's or Dennis Carpenter, both online. Good luck.

[L5wolvesf]

Originally Posted by JimNNN

I just completed a full heater refurbishment on my '54 Ranch Wagon the other day...a sub-project of the car rewiring project I did over the winter. When I bought the car way back when, I thought, boy, the heaters on these old cars weren't very good. Not really true, as it worked good and heated well after I completed the job. But I replaced pretty much everything.

The '55 and the '54 are similar in that both were 6 volt from the factory. Beyond that, I don't know much about the '55. If it's anything like the '54, though, a good place to start with a heater that isn't heating well might be the right (passenger) side fresh air control cable and louver/ directional damper/whatever. If the car isn't heating/working well, it could be the flow of air through the heater core is bad because of a broken cable or seized pivot shaft on the louver. Could also be a disconnected or bad cable to the heater control valve (which connects to the heater hoses.)

If your car is still 6 volt, and you need a blower motor, you may have difficulty finding a two-speed 6 volt motor. I know I did, and ended up having to use a one-speed instead. No big deal for me...it works real well and my RW isn't really a cold weather car anyway. If you have a 12 volt system, no problem.

As I recall, everything for the heater I needed was available from either Mac's or Dennis Carpenter, both online. Good luck.

I don't know whether the heater works or not at this point. But it looks to be in rough shape. I figured I would pull it out and give it a once over, clean up, lube etc etc. My plan is to go 12v so I would deal with the motor at that point.

Good info Thank you