Have included a wiring diagram with the overdrive. As Howard mentioned, the switchgear on the overdrive provides a ground to operate the relay.

The solenoid measures 0.8 ohms in the pull in mode, so your relay needs to handle about 20 amps for a brief moment, then about 4 or 5 continuously.

There was an ad along the same lines in 54 by the same firm that showed the seats of a 54 'bean along with I think a Pontiac. Most noteworthy in these photos and well preserved original cars was how SHINEY the leather was. Seems you can not get that finish on leather anymore. Thanks for posting that.

Here is a possible solution for the "wait six weeks" dilemma: Your pinion seal is a pressed steel shell that holds a felt wiper ring and normal commercially available seal. Being cheap and in a hurry on my own cars, I rebuild the seals and put them back:

Carefully pull the old seal with a good seal puller, or by grabbing the nose of the the seal with a pipe wrench and twisting it out. You can now punch out the center section of the pinion seal and replace it with a new one. Use a good sealer and around the new center,and also upon insertion of the assembly into the rear axle.

It will be just about impossible to obtain the drag that Packard specified without taking everything apart but my best suggestion is to keep tightening the nut a little at a time til the bearings take up--that is you can no longer obtain any endplay on the pinionshaft using a dial indicator. I'd probably give it another 1/6 of a turn after that and stake the nut.

The seal you want measures 1.625x 2.437x.50. Over here, that would be a Victor 46281 or Chicago Rawhide 16117.

Have used Kanter's and Terrell's stuff with good results. "Pin fitted" means that the pins come with the pistons.

They are the same 51-54.

Man, she looks good enough to eat. Love that blue.

Make sure that the heat tube for the carb is plugged into the hole at the exhaust manifold and that the choke is going all the way off as it warms up.

Look at your throttle linkage where the cross shaft attaches to the firewall on the driver's side. If that bracket has collapsed rearward, and most of them have, pull it forward and wedge something like an old shock rubber behind the bracket to hold the linkage out away from the firewall. This will give a much better pedal action and insure that the return spring will pull the carb back to idle position each time.

Had to do both of these repairs on my new car last week!

With that annoyance solved you can set your idle speed in the normal manner at the carb and diddle with the two mixture screws to obtain the best idle.. Perhaps someone can post a photo before I can get around to it showing the location of the screws.

Kevin, I believe you are right. Spent last Friday wandering around the big Carlisle show. Even if I discount the show prices heavily, there is NO '50s car you can buy as cheaply as a 51-54 junior sedan, with the 55-56 junior sedans close on their heels. My take is that a lot of folks salted them away in barns because "they don't make Packards anymore" and now there is a very good supply. Which is actually a good thing as I anticipate using my 54 Thousanddollarwonder as a foul weather beater. I patted it lovingly on the fender upon returning from the carshow and whispered "I am glad you are not a Chevrolet".

On a 56 you will not need to remove the lower bell housing as they provided a little trap door to get at the convertor drain plugs. Despite what the manual says, removing one of them is quite sufficient.

I would take down the pan so that it and the filter can be cleaned, so lay in a pan gasket.

Very cool with two Caribbean engines and senior instrument panels with the speedos replaced with tachs. Can't understand why the author of the article is so dismissive and sardonic.

That tee is correct. There is an orifice in it both to the left and to the right, and they are the same. There are no other restrictions in the filter system and the filter can be plumbed in with any convenient 1/4" tubing and generic fittings.