10-25-18

This driving season has really blown by. Not being home almost every weekend and not having much time after work has put the car on hold.

The radiator has mostly water so after work today I drained it out to replace with water/antifreeze before winter. While it was drained, I took the thermostat housing off and as I predicted, there was no thermostat. Took the one out of the '51 (was brand new) and filled the radiator at least half way. I have to buy more antifreeze before I can see if it warms up properly now.

+3 on Por-15. I had swiss cheese for floor pans. I patched what I could and welded up any remaining holes. My welding skills are poor so it was not a water tight seal. I used some fiberglass with the POR-15 as well as seam sealer to fill in any holes. Worked great and is a rock hard finish. I have no door seals and routinely get water inside the car. No rust has come back.

I have also used Phosphoric acid on my engine block after hitting it with a wire wheel (see BigKev's blog) to neutralize the rust and recoated with engine paint. That motor is now outside under a tattered tarp and still rust free where I did the treatment.

8-29-18

Had a great day today! Took the car out and nothing came out of the radiator! Oil light stayed off like it should and the speedometer appears to be working well. I only drove around the neighborhood, but long enough for the car to be warmed up. The temp gauge only went to the far right of the C. I still have to check if there is a thermostat in it. The idle is kind of high so I'll have to adjust that. Next trip will be longer and farther.

8-22-18

I installed the replacement speedometer (and lowered my the car's mileage by 15,000 miles!).

The new speedometer cable core went in pretty simply except the square end that you attach to the cable was longer than the original. I had to cut it with the cut off tool to get it to fit. Put plenty of graphite powder on the core as I slid it into the outer cable.

Started the car and the oil light is working perfectly! I added the sender info Howard gave me to the parts X-Ref.

It will be a while before I can get the car on the road and test the speedo and if any antifreeze is going to come out.

Went with the OP6742 from Napa. It fit fine even though it does not look like the bigger one that was on the car. Light went out after starting the car and appears to be working perfectly! Thanks! I will add it to the Parts X-Ref.

8-21-18

I installed the oil sender recommended by Howard in a previous post. It fit perfectly. I couldn't test it because I didn't have any gas. Seems like it will work though.

Opened up the gauge cluster to get at the speedometer cable. Found the end broken about 3" from the end. I crawled under the car and disconnected the cable from the trans. Pulled the gear and that came out as well. That end of the cable was also broken!

I'm going to try the universal repair kits I read about. I went to Autozone and the only one they had was missing the tips.

Went to O'Reilly's and had to go through the Make and Model questioning. Got the "OK and who made Packard?" question! That amused me but I was getting frustrated. They ordered the part based on the Autozone part number and it will arrive tomorrow. Fingers crossed it works.

I also prepped a replacement speedometer I had bought by putting oil in the felt hole and bushing. Between the cable and the speedo I hope to have a reliable system

I'm also planning on taking the thermostat housing from my spare motor and putting it in this car to get it to heat up faster (assuming no thermostat in current car).

Attach file:

---

  (15.51 KB)

That is a strange connection on OP6415. 2 psi difference makes me think the OP6742 would be OK. Otherwise I could solder a wire lead on OP6415 and put a connector on it. I'll get the OP6742 since that is the easiest option and report it in the parts x-ref after testing.

Thanks!

Hi all,

The oil sending unit listed in the parts-x appears to no longer be available. Does anyone know what sender I can get that will work? This is for the idiot light, not a gauge.

Thanks!

Awesome! Thanks again! Fingers crossed this is the fix. Ran the car another 1/2 hour today and still did not get into the middle or boil over. Seems the phenomenon only happens if the car is driven. Maybe the pressure gets too high at the sustained higher rpms and the cap can't hold it. I'll have to take it for a test drive when the cap comes in.

Thanks Howard,

The last two times were the first time the car had done that since I owned it. Each time pretty much all of the coolant left the radiator. I couldn't tell if it was just the overflow or from somewhere else. I put in 1-1/2 gallons and it appears about 1" below the fill neck. I'm going to order thishttps://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_7031411?ref=MA== it's the radiator cap BigKev has listed in the parts X-Ref.