So I cleaned all of the connections, including the copper strip going from the solenoid to the starter and the bolt & block area for the ground wire. Still only clicks.

Removed all the wires from the starter and connected it straight to the battery with heavy duty jumper cables. When I jumped the connection at the starter to the solenoid, the motor spun, but did not engage the engine.

Hmm...still not sure if it's the battery or the starter.

Next I hooked the starter to a 12v battery that I know was fully charged. Same result. Maybe it's not the battery, but the starter?

Went into the bowels of my garage and managed to find the starter that came with the car originally. I tested this one with the 6v battery and it only spun and the gear only came out a little. Tried with the 12v battery and the same thing! This was using the 12v with positive ground. I switched to negative ground and the starter gear came out a lot farther (not sure how far it should come out). Now I'm not sure what to dry next.

I put the wires back on the old starter and it only clicked again. Then I added a jumper cable from the positive terminal to the engine block bolt on the ground cable and the motor would spin, but not engage.

Is it possible the motor is turning the wrong direction and not allowing the gear to come out and engage the flywheel? I don't want to swap starters since the other one appears to do the same thing when connected to the 6v battery.

I had my 51 towed about 30 miles in neutral at 70+ mph when I bought it. Once we got to my house the whole underside was smoking! I had no idea you shouldn't tow one of these cars like that. Needless to say, the trans needed to be rebuilt/replaced.

Might be better to source a different engine. Seems they are pretty plentiful and usually cheap. Check out BigKev's project blog for lots of information and wiring. He bought a new universal harness and installed it. I have a few pics on my blogs too. I ended up making my own harness using the old one as a template, but you might not have enough left of yours to do it. There is a service manual on this sight you can download with wiring diagrams. Of course you can always ask the forum for help. Lots of helpful people on this forum. For your brakes, I would replace all lines, cylinders and master cylinder. You don't want to take chances with that. Napa can supply all the parts. You would be surprised how many mechanical parts you can still get from the auto parts stores. See the Packard Parts X-Ref on the left side of the website for examples.

From experience, bodywork and rust repair will be the most difficult and expensive things to be taken care of just to make the car safe. I would start there to make sure you can get this fixed reasonably or you will find the car is only useful as a parts car.

Thanks guys, I had tried all of those tricks. Maybe the wire I used wasn't thick enough when I jumped the starter. I'll try something thicker. Hopefully it's the battery rather than the starter.

This was his website 1956PackardPanther.com

7/25/19

No driving this whole year so far. Car will not turn over. Due to a series of unfortunate events, my time has been taken over with boat and multiple car repairs involving body damage keeping me from really looking at the car at all. I'm at the point now where I need to get the Packard running to move it out of the way of another car I have to fix. The battery is fully charged according to my charger. When I press the gas pedal or jump the starter to motor posts, the car only clicks. I think it's tripping a breaker. After the click no more bat or oil light on the dash. I have to disconnect and reconnect the battery to get them to turn on again. Maybe there is a short somewhere or the starter is not working. I don't think there is anyone around me that can test the starter. It was rebuilt in 1998ish, with very few miles on it since then. Worst case I'll have to pull the car out until I figure it out.

Wow I would have never had thought to drill a hole to keep the alignment. Great tip!

All the lug bolts come off "lefty loosey" no matter which side of the car you are doing.

Congrats!

Motor sounds like it is turning over kind of slow. Make sure you have really thick battery cables 0 gauge and the battery is in good condition. Make sure the connections are clean as well.