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?

Get yourself a big 'ol fender washer at the hardwars store and weld it the bottom of that mount,

No, you are not alone, I am a rabid fan of 51-56 Juniors. I find them genuinely fun to drive.

If you plan to use hydraulic lifters in that 288 block you will of course need the correct cam and lifters, but the thing to not overlook is that the plug at the front end of the lifter oil gallery, the one that it just behind the timing gear, will need to be changed to one with a smaller hole so the lifters won't starve. I'll have to rummage a bit to find what size it should be.

Better yet, just keep the solid lifters for a worry-free future.

It is so easy to paint the stripe and the top, I think I would go ahead and do it sooner rather than later.