I know the 62 and 61's are similar in many ways. But they also are different in many ways. For myself, I put in a lot of time poring over manuals, parts books pictures online, anything I could to learn what was needed for the AC cars. In the case of my 62, at least from a cooing perspective, it wasn't much. I can tell you that many of those parts were "62" only. My only pont is that you'll have ot figure this out either way. But Buick already invented that wheel. So there may be some benefit to piecing together a factory type system. I had to source a fan shroud and a 5 blade clutch fan. I'm still trying to sort out the brackets for the shroud. They're as rare as hen's teeth and I may need to make my own. The clutch fan is longer by design and fits nicely in the shroud. The chassis manual aslo has a spec for how all of this should fit together for proper cooling.
I will go electric fan and Vintage Air. I can fabricate anything I need, including the shroud. I am not a purist but will keep the mods neat and tasteful.
Copper Brass is far superior for heat transfer. The thing that absolutely kills it is the solder used to hold it all together. AND, the more rows you go now you are talking about air flow over the heat dissipating fins gets restricted. It will usually cost more to get the original re-cored. Normally in the $400.00-$550.00 range. Even though Aluminum is not as good at transferring heat but it is, in my opinion, superior to brass/copper as it's ALL aluminum. Get the welded tanks & stay away from multi tube aluminum & plastic tanks. You want 2/1" rows OR 2/ 1/1/4" rows. You can get by easily because aluminum is much stiffer than copper/brass. I will guarantee you will never have a heating problem. Do a search as I believe Champion makes a bolt-in replacement. Rather costly but you will NEVER have to replace it. I've used Mustang aluminum radiators in some Rivs & full size cars which are ALMOST exactly the same as hose configuration & available sizes. Do a search on Summit or Jegs. I'm sure you'll find what your looking for & probably less costly. AND, I wouldn't count out a 20" 5 blade A/C fan, again Rivs of full size cars, with a H/D 1 ton truck clutch available at NAPA 271-301. ALSO, fan clutches come in a variety of lengths so you can customize the optimum fab blade clearances. I didn't even get a chance to go look at my parts to see IF I had the pulleys AND I mentioned I DO have the Alt/A/C bracket & now your buying them from the "Martins"???. Just my thoughts. Tom T.
Sorry, Sorry, Tom. You didn't mention that you had the parts or I would have bought them from you. I will check with you on anything else I may need.
Please continue to post your progress. That's a great looking car. I'd love to see how the install comes along.
I'm pretty sure I have the A/C vents when I parted a '61 or '62 some years ago. I'll have to look into the parts supply in one of the MANY boxes of parts I have. I don't know what kind of shape they may be in after all these years, BUT they have been in dry storage all this time. May need to be re-chromed??? Tom T.
Tom, what I really need is the part that tilts the louvers up to level, not the louvers themselves. I will take the louvers, too. Were these separate from the dash or stamped into the dash? If separate, I do want them.
I'll have to look. Been a LONG time, BUT IF I remember correctly they just screw into the dash with a couple screws & are separate. It will probably take me a few days/time to get to my storage space as it's almost 60 miles away. Again Dan I will have to look, but I don't think so. Tom T.
Well, this is not going to work, Tom. In one picture you can see that the bracket is sitting on the inner fender. In the other, you can see that the bracket would need to drop a couple of inches minimum to line up the bolt holes. Not gonna work.
What are the chances of finding a 61 compressor mount? A discussion with a tech at Alan Grove confirmed that the upper control arm occupies the space needed for the alternator on 61's. His "hot rod" bracket is too tall. So it looks like I get to build my own.
I'm not sure that's the only type of mount they used. I found some pictures online of factory air engine bays and there seem to be others. I think that mount is intended for the alternator cars. Probably at the end of the day you'll have to make your own anyway. You may want to try Russ Martin at Centerville Auto or Best offer Counts on ebay. Both of those guys have a fair bit of Nailhead stuff.
Rockable, I'm sorry IF I gave you some bad info. Hopefully you didn't overpay for the part & shipping. I know the vents I am looking for came out of an Invicta that would have been equipped with a 401, but they would make no diff. as the body & interior style are the same. So that won't work as we now well know. I know that Jeff at BestOfferCounts doesn't have the bracket as I already called & asked. Again, SORRY for the mis-information. I will make contact with a few people I know in the meantime. Tom T.
The vents should still work, shouldn't they? No problem form me on the bracket. You were trying to help. It would be easy to mate it to the engine, it's the engine bay that is the problem. How did they do it on the 61 Invicta? Anyway, I have begun making my own. Not what I wanted to do but I am sure I can make something work.
Great work on that bracket. I tried to find a drawing of the brackets in my parts catalog. No luck. The vents for the 61 and 62 are the same. Hopefully yours look nicer.
Hang onto those. If Tom doesnt find me a nicer pair in the next couple days, I may want them. Can the louvers be removed and replaced with Vintage Air 2 1/2" louvers?
Sorry, these are for my conversion. I may have a second pair though. I'll take a look this weekend. I'm working on building a hoard in my attic.
I found this online. It may give you some guidance about making your compressor bracket. In 62, the factory A/C equipped cars got an alternator.
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade! I took the bracket I bought and removed the alternator portion and will use it as the basis of my compressor mount. I am waiting on some basic compressor brackets before I can go to the final step. What radiator hose is that in your picture? I am going to need a different one.
