I prefer to use ethanol free gas in my Packard (and my lawnmower, but I digress). I have always used the website pure-gas.org to find local gas stations that sell ethanol free. Good website, but very clunky, not optimized for a phone, and slow to load if you have limited bandwidth.

I downloaded the Pure Gas app, and it worked flawlessly for me today.

Just throwing it out there if you too like finding ethanol free gas when you're away from home. As far as I know, it's supported across the entire US. Happy ethanol free motoring!

bringatrailer.com/listing/1928-packard-4 ... email&utm_campaign=campaign_2648439

Other than the 12V system, what is wrong with this? Will be interesting to see what it brings.

Got the pump back today, touched up the paint on the engine block and the water pump. I don't have any Packard green in a can, so to touch up the block, I sprayed some spray paint into a solo cup, then applied that to the block with a brush. Fun fact - a Bill Hirsch spray can will melt a solo cup in about ten minutes.

Once the paint dries tomorrow, I'll install the water pump, test everything, then we've got a tour with my local car club scheduled for Saturday. Should be about 175 miles, assuming the weather holds. Looking forward to it!

Block after touchup




Solo cup casualty

Stumbled across this today, thought it might help someone:spokane.craigslist.org/pts/d/sprague-pac ... parts-hoods-fenders/7838324099.html

A few updates.

Water pump:

I sent the pump back to AG Rebuilders. While mine was there, I took apart a second pump, just to put eyes on how the bushing is constructed. It turns out the way the bushing is installed, the only leakage path from the bushing to the rear oiler is via the packing. I talked to Parker at AG Rebuilders yesterday. He confirmed my understanding and I learned a few things about my pump:

- On driver cars, the normal procedure is to install a grease zerk at the rear oiler position. They rebuild the pump with waterproof grease, which lubricates better than oil.
- On the original pumps, there was a heavy cotton wick underneath the oiler. They (AG Rebuilders) don't duplicate this. Sounded to me like it would be cost prohibitive.
- Also, apparently some of the aftermarket pumps cannot be rebuilt, because the casting is too thin. Just interesting.

I'm going to run it with the grease zerk for now. Long term, I am either going to try and figure out a solution for replacing the original cotton wick, or I will seal an oiler shut, then remove it once a year and add grease instead of oil. I haven't decided yet. Either way, I should have a pump back this week that doesn't leak, so once I get the paint on the block touched up, I'll be good to go, and have a driving car again. There was a grease zerk on the pump that was on the car when I bought it, so perhaps it had a rebuilt water pump on it.

Packard handling improvements:

I bought a sway bar last fall from John Uhlrich, and finally made time to install it. No driving impressions yet, but install was fairly simple. I got the sway bar, new torque arm brackets, the frame brackets, and all the rubber from John. I got four 7/16-20x1 bolts along with washers, lock washers, and nuts from the local hardware store. Took about an hour to install. No driving impressions yet. Not looking for a race car, especially since I still run bias ply tires, but I'm sure it will take some of the "wallow" out of the car, especially when turning.

New torque arm brackets



Old vs new torque arm brackets



Sway bar installed

All of my experience is with '37s, so I'll have to leave it to others to chime in more definitively. Perhaps you have a later bellhousing installed, where the inspection cover is cast in? Just a guess...

You still have the cover installed over the hole where the time marks are. Put a prybar, screwdriver, etc in the indentation, and the circular cover will pop out, showing you the needle and the front side of the flywheel. As others have said, sometimes hard to find the marks. I removed the clutch cover from the bottom of the bell housing then used a scotchbrite pad to clean up the front side of the flywheel, bumping the engine over by hand, until I found the marks.

Your title is definitely accurate, but it looks like a lot of fun! Keep us posted as you go along. These cars are beautiful, but they're pretty simple too. I did all the mechanical restoration on a '37 115, then upgraded to an original condition '37 120 that I've been a caretaker of.

As you start going through systems on your '38, be sure the check the condition of the bearings in the center steering link - it is a common wear point, and greatly affects driveability once you get it on the road.

Again, welcome, and let us know what help you need!

Howard and Don, thanks for the info and input! Glad to know they are at least obtanium!

I'll drop it off at the shop today and see what they say. Mine appears to be in excellent condition, there is just a little corrosion on the core and rust on the housing that indicates a leak; it has never left coolant on the floorboard.

Made it back out to the garage last night and got all of the rust cleaned off the block. I cannot believe how effectively antifreeze strips the Bill Hirsch engine paint off the block. Has anyone had similar problems with other engine paints, or the Bill Hirsch paint in particular? That's what I'm going to repaint it with, because that's what I have, just curious.

While I had some time in the garage, I also resumed a project I had started a few months ago. There was evidence on the bottom of heater body that I was getting a little bit of core leakage, so I wanted to remedy that in the summer time when a heater wasn't necessary. I started trying to disassemble the heater a few months ago, and there was enough rust that I couldn't initially get the heater body apart. Since my car is so original, I don't want to fully restore the heater. It looks fantastic on 95% of the body. I periodically soaked the offending joint with penetrating oil. The body is two pieces of stamped steel that sandwich the core, which also has a band of stamped steel. A lot of surface area, so it doesn't take too much rush to hold it all together. Pleased to report that it slid apart last night, and yes, there is evidence of core leakage. It looks small, so I'm cautiously optimistic that I can get the core repaired. If I cannot, I am not optimistic about the cost of recoring it. There is a good radiator shop in town, and they did a great job on my radiator a few years ago, so I trust them.

While it is apart, I will also replace the wire for the motor, as the insulation is brittle and turning to dust. Not the safest under dash situation.

Heater disassembled:




Core leak: