You can better see the split jounce bumper on the passenger side.

Robert.

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Brian, Randy and Keith,

Thank you for your responses. I appreciate the collective experience you guys have on these cars.

I was able to get into the garage late last night and decided to very s-l-o-w-l-y jumper to solonoid to see if the main torsion bars would activate after raising the rear to level the front as Brian described. The result was I can raise or lower the rear of the car 4-6 inches manually with the jumper but not enough to make the compensator activate to lower the front. Heeding Randy's warning, that's as much experimenting as I will do.

I agree with Keith that under normal load the upper control arms are simply along for the ride. My issue is with the several hundred pounds of weight removed, the frame simply wants to float up and that is exerting force on the jounce bumpers which at this point are toast. (See picture) If the remnants of the bumpers were not still there the upper control arms would be pressed against the shock tower.

I am hoping that no damage will occur and I just need to get the front end back together sooner than later. Thanks again guys as I always appreciate the help.

Robert.

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Thanks Brian! I will very carefully give that a try at my next opportunity and report back.

Best Regards,
Robert.

Gents,

I was in my garage this weekend changing out the oil pan gasket for the second time. I experienced a small leak at the front and before I went to the trouble to install the steering linkage, I wanted to button up the oil pan. That work is now done and after starting the engine a couple of times and letting it run for 10 minutes each time no leaks. That job is a real pain in this heat but now appears successful!

The reason for my post is that while being under the car all weekend, the TL suspension seems to be putting undue pressure on the upper control arms. (TL switch is in the off position.) So much so that the new passenger side bumper stop is crushed and the drivers side is seriously mashed.

I do have the entire front clip off the car so there is not enough weight to bring the car to level. I was previously planning to allow the car to remain up until I am able to begin putting weight back on the front but now I am very nervous that the upper control arms could be damaged in their current position.

Is there a definitive way to lower the front using the TL motor manually? If I was able to lower the front with the TL motor would it just rise back up again due to the lack of weight on the front end? Again, this just has me very nervous.

Thanks in advance for your advice.
Robert.

Brian,

Thanks for the detail on the original houndstooth trunk lining. I too noticed the pattern was off but still felt the overall appearance looked good for non-original. My Carib still has the original lining although very worn.

I agree with you that in this modern digital age that reproducing the pattern on high quality material would be a winner for one of the larger Packard vendors. And if two of tbe larger vendors produced it then it would hopefully be competitively priced :) And to paraphrase the words of Arlo Guthrie, "if three vendors produced the same thing they it would think it was a movement..."

Have a good weekend folks...its 102 here in Atlanta.

Robert.

I like the twin spotlights and the trunk detail. Too bad it's not the original MES 92.

Is anybody reproducing the houndstooth trunk set?

Thanks,
Robert.

Thank you Randy!

Randy,

The new RI wiring on your headlight buckets looks great. My original headlignt wiring is in very poor condition as well and I would like to perform the same upgrade. Would you mind posting the part number and contact information to RI wiring?

Thanks,
Robert.

Randy,

I have that same brace on both my drivers side and passenger side fenders. On the Passenger side the same spot weld is to the left of where the blower motor attaches to the body.

My only thought since it does not appear on your 400 is that it adds extra rigidity to the convertible body since there is not a hardtop to help prevent body twist.

It will be interesting to hear from Brian to know if these braces appear on the inner fenders of his Caribbean hardtop.

Regards,
Robert.

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Brian,

Thanks for the clarification. Good advice as always.

Robert.