1955 buick a/c shop manual

[PONTIAC1953]

hi, can someone tell me if buick printed a 1955 air conditioning manual ?, or is it part of the regular 1955 buick shop manual ?, thank you, charles coker, 1953 pontiac tech advisor.

[buick5563]

It is just a section of the Shop Manual. There is a small manual for 1954's, but I personally didn't find it all that useful when I added factory air to my 55. Too much is different between the two years.

[MrEarl]

Charles, the 1953-1954 Buick Air Conditioner Manual is about 40 pages and to me contains a great deal of info from principles of operation to trouble diagnosis for 53-54. I always thought the 55 was very similar to 54 hence the reason there was no 55 manual printed but may be wrong. I know there is a difference in the compressor and shape of condenser and that the air ducts don't go through the headliner but now I'm curious as to what the other differences are.

Anyways...I may have that book in PDF and if so can email it to you, if not I can copy and send if interested.

[PONTIAC1953]

thanks lamar, if you could make a paper copy, i'd love to have it, let me know how much for copy and postage to 65759, i currently have the following a/c manuals, oldsmobile 1953, pontiac 1954,55,56, my 1953 pontiac chieftain custom catalina is getting the 1954 pontiac a/c system up front, and the 1955 buick a/c system under the package tray. the compressor is factory to the 1955 pontiac 287 V8 it came with. thanks again lamar, charles coker, 1953 pontiac tech advisor, poci.

[buick5563]

Lamar is right, in that many of the parts are the same. I guess I remember when I was doing mine that I was looking for the compressor rebuild section and it was different.

Other things that are placed differently (for restoration/ proper installation in a 55 when looking at the 53-54 AC manual) are:

the sight glass- different location.

Solenoid valve- different location

the 54's had a two speed fan switch

along with the different compressor and tube layout that Lamar mentioned above.

The things that I altered were:

I didn't install the solenoid valve. If the AC is on, it's on.

My thermostat control didn't work, so I installed a push-pull switch at the back (inside of the AC dash control unit). I can try to get a pic of that, I'm proud of THAT rigging.

I also didn't install the fresh air intakes which would look correct, but I didn't want to perforate my freshly painted car. I have thought about just siliconing them on so it looked correct, but as far as usefulness goes, I don't need any "fresh" (read HOT) Texas air in my car.

Everything else was relatively straight forward since I had some original (used) refrigerent lines. I had to fabricate a few lines since they were crimped, plus the dehydrator that came with the car was longer than the one I installed. (edit): Oh yeah, remember 3/8" i.d. refrigerent lines are used versus 3/8" o.d. plumbing copper!!!

I can take pics of any specific items you need.

Edited November 10, 2010 by buick5563 (see edit history)

[bhambulldog]

hi, can someone tell me if buick printed a 1955 air conditioning manual ?, or is it part of the regular 1955 buick shop manual ?, thank you, charles coker, 1953 pontiac tech advisor.

There is a 1955 Service Bulletin manual, that has some A/C information.

[MrEarl]

Charles, did you get the 53-54 AC Manual