Didnt get much done on the car this past time I was in at my parents. Did drive it again though. I got a horn issue addressed and retuned the carb after I screwed with some settings on the side of the road down in florida. I hope to get the vents connected up the next time I am home so that hopefully I can get the full effect of the A/C when it gets humid out.

Went home this past weekend and got some wheel time on the Carib. It runs and drives really nice!! the car does not see saw anymore with the new bump stops. however, the car is not charging now. In preparation for taking the Patrician to florida in the beginning of the month I removed the generator and installed new brushes to put in the trunk as a spare. Well, what ever I did to the generator it now doesnt want to charge. So I will have to see what I screwed up. But other than that it is driving nicely!

So the trip was a success!! The car got down there no problem. There was an issue with the tank leaking, again, but the individuals that received the car took it to their mechanic to seal it up (with an O-ring). They claimed my steering box had a lot of play so they tighten that up, a little bit to much so I will have to back that off. But it was able to sit safely inside until we were able to pick it up. But driving around Orlando in traffic was no issue at all. Handled all the roads around Disney property fine. I was even impressed with the a/c. It still blew cold air. Unfortunately I was not able to find where the thermometer rolled to actually test the temps, but no worries I can do that this summer. I am also going to get 3in ducting instead of the 4in I originally planned since I was only had the passenger side vent hooked up for the trip. Thankfully didnt need a/c while we were down there. But the 3in duct work should give a little bit more room on the drivers side of the dash.

The only issue I ran into was coming back from the air port the car started to stumble and died before we got out of the airport exit. Somehow I managed to find a "safe" space to pull off and noticed the glass fuel bowl was empty. Not having a fuel gauge in my tool box (never packed it....), I finally got gas back in the fuel bowl after 10-15 minutes and away we went. Got to with in 2 miles of the resort and it died again. I could only crank it so much before the battery and my jumper box died. I called Ross and he gave me some pointers but with missing a gauge to see what the fuel pump was doing I was SOL. So we had to flat bed the car the rest of the way to the resort. The following day I did a part and tool run and initial diagnostics lead me to believe there was no blockage in the line or tank (all that stuff was new and fuel was pissing out of the line when I took it off the pump inlet) and the suction on the pump was good. The pump was only able to push 3.5-4 psi out the outlet before and after the plastic filter I put in before the ceramic filter. According to the service manual that is within range. However, I tried the suction and pressure on the mopar fuel pump I stuck in the trunk and that pushed out 7-8 psi. Feeling that 4 psi was low and anywhere I looked online said carbs needed 6-7 psi I put the mopar fuel pump on. Started right up and didnt have an issue the rest of the trip. I am going to put back on a plastic filter again and make a better fuel line routing than what I did in the parking lot of the resort. The pump that was on there initially was a rebuild ford T-bird pump since that also had the vacuum pump on there for the wipers. But seeing how often this car will ever see rain, I figured running off of engine vacuum will be just fine. I am thinking maybe heat had something to do with the ford pump failing. Whether something was warped or the diaphragms showing a hole once it got warm.

But other than that it was awesome driving this thing around down there. Below are some pictures of the trip.

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So the past two weekends I made it home in hopes to get the car ready for the journey down to FL. So here's a recap:

two weekends ago I was able to install the gas tank and verify that it wasnt leaking and the fuel gauge worked. I put fluid in the rear end and got everything else buttoned up. I forgot the last hose I needed to close off the system, didnt realize that until I was already 2.5 hrs into my trip back to my folks place... thankfully it was the weekend of my brothers wedding and my inlaws were able to stop by the house and bring it with them. I did get it partially installed but decided to wait to fully close the system off since I didnt want to open the filter/drier to atmosphere if I wasnt 100% certain the system would hold a vacuum because I felt I wouldnt have enough time to address any issue/leak that may arise. good thing I didnt connect that hose.

The following weekend I was able to connect all hoses and pull a vacuum. Unfortunately once the vacuum pump was shut off the vacuum would creep back up to atmospheric pressure in less than a minute. Not good. Not knowing how to find a leak without a sniffer or pumping it full of dye I went to google and found a youtube video that said to pressurize the system with 30-70 PSI of shop air and listen for a leak. Well I found it!! it was the suction hose connection off of the evaporator. Removed the copper gasket, tightened the connection up and was able to pull 30 inHg and it held! while waiting for that I was having my mother go back and forth getting me belts that would work, found one that worked and was able to get the system charged up. I was only able to get the passenger side vent connected to the evaporator box, but I am thinking I may run a 3 in duct hose instead of the 4 in I got since there really isnt much room on the drivers side due to all the wiring. So I will run with one. So with the garage being 60-65 degrees it appeared I was getting about 40 degrees out of the passenger vent. which should be good! but the real test is to see how it works when its 80 and in sunlight.

I added another set of washers for the horn button and now the horn functions by pressing the rim! which is nice.

All fluids were topped off, brakes adjusted and I put about 30 miles on it to make sure everything else worked. Over drive worked, windows appear to work, lights all worked. I finished packing the car with spare parts, tools and other vacation stuff. It was washed and waxed and now sitting under the cover waiting for the shipper! pick up should be holy week (next week).

On another note. The car is now featured in a magazine!! It is in the April Issue of Hemmings Classic Car that is now on the News Stands! I got me a couple of copies to hopefully get it framed for the garage walls!

Well, as I mentioned in the beginning of this build that this car is going on a family vacation to fulfill the idea I presented to my old man about 6 years ago, the date is set for the beginning of April. The car is being picked up before Easter to make the journey down to Florida where a couple Packard owners agreed to accept the shipment of the vehicle and to hold onto it until we get there. Thank God! Now to hopefully get the last couple things checked off the list.

last time I went home I went to work on installing the A/c Lines. Well that didnt go to well because the one line I ordered wrong. The new one is in hand and I hope to get it installed this week. But I was able to print off some duct work adaptors so I will be able to plumb the AC vents in the dash. I also accounted for the overdrive cut off cable for the driver side one. I wasnt able to mount the thermostat on the side of the EVAP box since the box and dash was already in the car when I realized I needed one. I was able to find a spot on the passenger compartment side of the firewall that I could mount it and run the capillary tube through the adaptor and into the EVAP core. The wiring for the thermostat, compressor and low pressure switch is all done, just needs connected.

So when I am in the area this weekend I hope to install the final A/C line, tighten everything and hopefully pull a vacuum on the entire system. I will also be replacing the fuel tank... When I was in last I noticed that there was a puddle under the rear of the car which was interesting considering I did not put fluid back in the rear end yet. Well after going back and forth with the vendor with pictures and videos I am getting the tank replaced under warranty. It was leaking from the joint where the fill pipe was joined to the tank bottom.

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I was able to crank a small task out on the Caribbean. The car always had the issue of "clunking" the suspension when the nose would go sky high. Well the reason for that was due to not having the upper bump stops installed all those many years ago. Well I was able to get new lower and upper bump stops (because the lower bump stops were rock hard) installed. So the next time I get a spare minute it will be spent on the top issue.

I believe the R11 your referring too is an overdrive unit, I am not to sure what transmission is in that car, but the V8 packards used the Borg Warren T-85 Trans with the optional R11 over drive.

However, with my T85 I had a similar issue where the linkage would not move. It came out to be that the shift forks (the things that actuate the sliders over the gears) were gunked up in the transmission cover. Once they were free it shifted fine. But at that point I just rebuilt the transmission.

I am not to sure if you mentioned where you set your initial timing? If this bog is happening only between 700-1000 rpms and no where else, it could be the accelerator pump, or it could be the transfer slot, which is the fuel circuit that is active right off of the idle fuel circuit. I was informed that these cars should be set at 10 btdc, and if you have more than that there could be an issue of closing the throttle blades to keep the idle rpm within spec, which would close more of the transfer slot allowing less fuel than needed during off idle response.

This past weekend I went back to where the car is stored with my tail between my legs. I was hoping to get the A/C system connected up but the hoses did not come in before I left. I tried to install fresh air vent a blower housing until I saw I did not have the proper screws. I did however figure out where to mount the thermostat and how to route that capillary tube into the evap box.

Seeing the cost of the "tubes" that run from the evap box to the dash vents cost an arm and a leg on ebay, and the fact that the over drive cable would cause a restriction. I am going to get adaptors made so that I can run standard a/c routing hose from the box to the vents. I got the general dimensions, I just need to design something up.