Every once in a great while I have had an Ultramatic apparently air lock on the initial startup; by that I mean that the front pump does not pick up the fluid and consequently fill the convertor.

Now that the car has had a chance to sit a while with the fluid level high in the case, the fluid has likely found its way into the front pump and will start pumping through the trans and into the convertor when you start the engine.

If still no luck, then I would have them check the convertor valve for freedom of motion.

It is no problem to remove the tailshaft. Remove the crossmember, speedo cable, and six bolts. Notice the locaton of the two special ones. Pull the tailshaft straight back, and do your best to have the parking gear and governors stay behind.

That seal is very deep and with a thick shell. I almost always have to heat the end of the tailshaft housing with a propane torch to get them out. As it is aluminum it expands nicely and lets the thing go. You might want to try that before even taking the tailshaft out.

Hey Garrett: Great to hear from you and that you are having fun. Its been a while and I feared you were discouraged. Hope you get some plates on that thing soon. Let the adventure begin.

Hans, on your 54 the fresh air enters the exhaust manifold cast passage at the bottom of that little square box cast on the manifold. It is important that the cover plate on the manifold be present and fit.

Now on to the carb: to have the vacuum bring up the warm air to the choke thermostatic coil there are a couple of things to check: on the WGD the the choke housing casting is often a little loose on the body of the carb--be sure the 3 screws are snug. There is a sheet metal disc, that fits into a recess in the choke housing that separates the mechanism side of the housing from the thermostatic side. This helps to direct the warm air over the coil. It is often missing. Lastly, the black thermostat housing must seal to the choke housing.

I am amused that you suppossed that they never worked. How then did granma get to the store, or granpa to work in February? Anyway, if your carb is too worn I would be happy to sell you a core.

The float in the control valve (Bendix 4-hose system, not Monroe)can be easily checked and minimized: just take off the little sheet metal cover on the outer end of the contol valve. Tighten the nut you find there til it is only snug, then back it off just a hair, maybe 1/8 turn, til the bolt that nut is on will move side to side a tad. After many years and many hands diddling it might be a lot looser than that and translates directly into lost motion. It should be a self locking nut. If any question about its integrity, replace it or double nut it.

A good working Bendix system is almost indistiguishable from very light manual steering.

There was no 288 aluminum head that I have heard tell of. Fairly sure Edmonds sold one head which would fit 288, 327, 356. One would have to cc the thing and do a little calculation to find the actual compression ratio.

When I had the chance to examine one of those heads, I was surprised at the very plain combustion chamber shape. Particularly by the end of the flathead era the combustion chambers on Packards and others were highly finessed for turbulence and flow over the tops of the valves. My personal favorite when I have the option is to install a 54 327 head. It was the latest and best at the time and has profiles unlike any preceeding head. It is sadly lacking in gee whizz eye appeal, but you could always paint it matte aluminum and lie to the bystanders.

Most of the Packards I encounter would gain far more performance from a valve and ring job than from any cylinder head and carb combination.

Pat, be careful which gods of Ultrauma you consult. If your D position works OK, then missing H is caused by mispositioning of the shifter motor or slop in the internal trans linkage--both easy fixes and inexpensive unless someone is trying to rape you.

Pete Fitch is the owner of Ultramatic Dynamics in Virginia and I would be shocked to find he had died as we shared an Ultramatic tech session in Williamsburg in September. He was quite hale and hearty then and I?ve no news of his death but have been out of the country since Jan. I sincerely hope rumors of his demise are greatly exagerated.

Of course, I would also be happy to do your Ultra if it actually needs it. My price is $2700 unless there is unusual damage, but I must have the car so I can test and adjust. Price includes removal and installation.

I love it. It appears to be a Clipper Custom, judging by the door panels. I can still see the angled sculpturing on the bottom of the rear door, and the two tiered rear bumper. Roof does seem especially well done.

Ross doesn,t need a donor car--I?m sure I could find two or three by the end of the month. Ross needs a customer with deeeep pockets cause its going to take a lot of hours!

Back before our standard of living was so high and people had to scrape for a dollar much more than we do now, closing off the oil holes on the rods was a fairly normal practice on engines that were known as "oil pumpers". They rightly assumed that the worn rod bearing were going to let plenty enough oil splash up onto the cylinder walls. And who was going pony up for an engine job on some old $150 back row of the used car lot Packard. By the early sixties the only thing cheaper on a used car lot was a Nash.

A tired 356 can use a jaw dropping quantity of oil on a 100 mile trip. Folks were just getting by.

I?ll be happy to sell you a block or two or three. Am located just north of Baltimore. As noted, any 51-54 five main block will do. I'm in Kenya til the end of February, but will be happy to help you after that.