That is easily adjusted at the turnbuckle that connects the torsion bar to the control box. Loosen the locknuts and turn it ccw, as viewed from the outside of the car.

Its not the easiest to do with the car on the ground but otherwise you'll end up jacking the car ten times before you get the adjustment just right.

Please provide a reference for the "bigger gaudier Ford" statement you have entertained us with on so very many occasions. I labor under the impression the quote pertained to early fifties Lincolns.

Mr. Allison was a competent and innovative engineer and also a very gracious man. He developed a unique solution to a complicated engineering problem and presented it to several firms. Packard found it a feature worth the expense of development. Was it somehow less worthy because it wasn't developed by an engineer already on the payroll? The gee-whizz factor of automatic leveling was a fraction of the genuine benefits of this innovation.

Whether we agree with them or not, annual style changes were the norm in the automobile business and all-steel bodies were hideously expensive to retool. Amortization was difficult for the small firms--hence 7 years of step down Hudsons, 6 years of Farina-styled Nashes, Studebaker was stuck with some styling cues from 53 through 66, and of course our favorite firm ran the contour body for 6 years. People genuinely looked forward to new models every year and the ability to bring out something new-or at least lie about it convincingly-was viewed not only as innovative and up-to-date, but also a sign of corporate health.

Can guarantee you a replacement will not be necessary; cleaning will do the trick. Just to save you some research: the governor is under the round cover at the rear of the trans on the passenger side. There is no need to drain the trans. The governor body itself is held on with two screws. Hold the governor with one hand to keep it from turning as you remove the screws to prevent stressing the drive gear. Take it apart and clean it with lots of carb cleaner and compressed air, and maybe give a little polish with a scuffy pad on the pistons.

Chances are you will never even see what was making it stick.

If for some bizarre reason you need a governor I have about a half dozen I will sell you cheap.

Don't feel apologetic for using spray cans of Rustoleum. It is one of the few products that has actually improved in quality over the years and I use it all the time with good results and tremendous cost savings over firing up the spray gun for modest sized parts.

On nice clean metal I use their self etching primer; rusty metal primer for all the rest. Let the primer dry a loooooong time. Even days. The industrial cans of black, (larger) available at Home Depot etc will flow out over the dry primer beautifully and dry to something just a bit off gloss that looks very suitable. Over time it will dry quite hard and stick well.

Urethane it ain't, but it is still miles ahead of the micro-thin layer of cheap black enamel manufacturers used in the day and will still look good on undercar components long after we are dead.

A bypass oil filter gets around to filtering all the oil about every five to ten minutes--have been meaning to time how long it takes for a hot quart to go through one, but haven't gotten to that yet. That's to remove fines, little carbon bits and what have you.

If an engine is not throwing chunks internally that seems quite OK to me. The idea is to keep the oil from slowly transforming into grinding paste. Of course, a bypass filter is no help if chunks are introduced by some accident or sloppiness at assembly or oil change.

But once things are up and running an engine that is not already in its death throws is not going to introduce such a quantity of fines into the oil during any given mile that can't wait to be filtered within the next five. In addition, Packard used floating pickups so if chunks did somehow get in, there was a good chance they would sink and not get sucked up.

All that said, I will sell you a filter with the rather fiddly to make lines and fittings included for $45 delivered to your door.

There is probably no one in the world who likes 51-52 200s as much as I do (probably a rare genetic flaw), but I will have to tell you to be prepared for complete indifference to your car at shows, and in particular Packard shows. All but a few folk will walk right by on their way to examine the tapered door gaps on the Caribbeans. You will have to enjoy your car's many virtues in relative isolation. My own 51 just completed a 340 mile circuit through PA yesterday finishing with a 75 mph dash across the Turnpike scattering Priuses and hydrocarbons left and right. A very satisfying car.

Riki--looks like the left branch of your arm is bent out. If that is the case, you will never be able to get the caster into spec.

There are washers between the center portion of the shaft and the bushings. The ID is large compared to the OD so you might not notice them. Yes, the inner portion of the bushing must clamp tight to the shaft. All of the rotation of the arm takes place in the rubber. Otherwise you have soft steel turning on soft steel--and you can imagine how long that would last.

From other sources, they seemed to do quite OK--good enough that Jean Trevoux switched to Packard for 51, and later had his Motto bodied Packard built. Probably the prejudices of a Cadillac driver.

Ran across this fascinating video from the 1950 Carrera with some short bits of bathtub Packards careening about. Original private footage gives a nice feel of what it was like.http://youtu.be/sXk1jQU7Kxg

It looks a bit like an older body mounted on the 41 chassis + a vee windshield from????? Like the older dash cluster, but why mount it in a slab of oak?