My dad and I spent some time on the car this weekend and finished the brake job. The car now has good brakes. We replaced the master cylinder, all wheel cylinders, lines, and new brake shoes from Napa. I was happy to find that brake shoes for a 1963 International pickup fit just fine with some very minor modifications. They cost $19.99 at the local Napa store! Also put on a new brake light switch, so the brake lights work now. After bleeding and adjusting the brakes, I took it out for it's longest drive yet. I put about 40 miles on the car. It drove great! It needs a little adjustment on the choke yet, it didn't want to come down off high idle like it should. The transmission seems to work just fine. I didn't notice any oil, coolant, or transmission leaks. So it looks like the major mechanical things are pretty well ironed out. So now we get to start on all the little things. I think our next project is the heater. We need to flush the system out real good, put on some new hoses, new vent tubes. I think the blower is okay. The lever for the heater control is frozen up, so I need to figure that out. I did notice while driving the car, that the headlights don't work. They will come on for about 15 to 20 seconds, then go dim, then cycle on and off about every 2 seconds. When they are cycling on and off I can hear a click under the dash. I'm assuming that's the relay. Anyone have any ideas about the problem? Is the relay bad, or could it be a short somewhere? I'm not really sure what would cause the relay to cycle on and off. I also have to come up with a 6 volt flasher as mine is missing. Anyway, I am ecstatic that the car drives now!

I finally got the filter apart. There was a cork gasket in there that was really stuck. Got it all cleaned and reinstalled.

Ok. I guess I'll just have to be a little more agressive trying to get the sucker apart. Thanks guys!

Thanks for the reply Owen. The problem I am having is with the mesh element. I cant seem to get it to separate from the pan. I have tried turning it, prying on it, yelling at it lol. I can't seem to get it out. Is there something I'm missing?

I want to clean and reinstall the air filter on my 1951 200. Can anyone tell me if and how the actual filter element comes out? I've read through the owner's manual and the shop manual and perused the forum, but can't seem to find anything. Basically everything I've seen just says to clean it with gas then reoil. But does the actual element come out of the housing? Sorry if this question has been asked a million time, but I can't seem to find the answer. I am attaching a picture of my filter.

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This weekend my dad and I spent a good amount of time working on the Packard. We got the gas tank flushed, put in an inline filter and hooked it back up. Flushed the coolant system and hooked everything back up. Changed the oil again. Retorqued the head bolts. Checked and topped off the transmission fluid. I started and ran the engine for about 45 minutes with no visible oil or coolant leaks, so I decided to get in and drive it slowly in circles around his large Morton shed. Everything seemed to work fine and it was at this point that I noticed that the brakes "sort of worked". They'll stop ya if you plan it out ahead of time! LOL! Anyway, I decided "what the heck" and took it out for a road test. BTW, my dad lives out in the boondocks or else I would've never considered this. Anyway I drove the car about 5 miles down to the end of his road, got it up to about 50 mph and other than the brakes, it drove great. The transmission worked great, I could feel it lock in to direct drive about 30mph, no noises from trans or rear end, the car tracks straight and steering is tight. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't help but have a big grin on my face while driving. So we decided to start on the brakes. What a mess. We took the cap off the master cylinder and the brake fluid had turned to the consistency of Vaseline. Pulled off one of the front hubs and the brake shoes are almost down to metal. So I ordered a new master cylinder, wheel cylinders, brake shoes, and hoses. I'll check the metal lines as we get farther along. So with the brake job waiting for parts, we started looking at electrical. The car at some point is going to need a completely new harness put in, but we decided to try to patch things up so we could see what was working and what wasn't. So far these things are working, charging system works, oil sending unit and light works, temp sending unit and gauge works, headlights, parking lights work, dash lights, and interior lights work, gas gauge works, horn works. Things that don't work are the brake lights, turn signals, and radio. But so far I am ecstatic with the progress we have made. I was so relieved to find out the transmission seems to be working, that was my biggest fear. So, we need to do the complete brake job, get some tires on her, and some new exhaust, and I think I might be ready for the road!

My Dad rocks! Today he took my rotted out oil cooler and cleaned it up and brazed some new inlet/outlet pipes onto it. It looks great and I think it's gonna work fine. My dad is a 68 year-old retired mechanic and has been helping me with the Packard since I brought it home. I don't think I would try to tackle this project without him. It sure has brought back some fond memories. As a kid, I was always out in the garage with dad while he was working on someone's car. Anyway, I just wanted to say "Thanks Dad!" Here are a couple before and after pictures of the oil cooler.

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Yeah, that was my thought too. I think there is enouh good metal there that I can braze a new pipe onto it. I hate to shell out the money for a replacement when I haven't even had the car out on the road yet.

I reinstalled the radiator today after flushing and pressure testing it. While hooking the hoses back up I realized the transmission cooler was in pretty rough shape. The outlet where the hose goes on is almost completely rusted away, so im gonna have to try ro patch that up.

We finally got everything back together today. Put the rest of the valves back in, put the manifolds back on, cleaned and remounted the carburetor. took out the points to clean them up. Checked to see if we were getting spark and we were, so we rigged up a small auxiliary gas tank and guess what? The engine fired right up! Sounds pretty good too. Idles smooth and throttles up smooth. Didn't want to run it too long as I have the radiator out so no cooling. I did get in and put the transmission in drive and reverse and the transmission does engage forward and reverse so I am hopeful that the transmission might be okay. Next step is to get the radiator back in, clean out gas tank, go through the brakes, then ROAD TEST!

On a side note, I did do some wire brushing on the motor on the '54 parts car and it is definitely H400 on the block. I took a better look at the motor mounts and only then realized that the motor isn't even mounted in the car. It's just sitting in there on the frame. So apparently at some point the original motor got pulled and this '49 motor and trans just got set in there.