Hey, guys

I just want to say a big thank you for the nice welcome. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions to ask over the next few years as I restore this beauty. My hope is to eventually have something I can drive fairly regularly during the summer.

Ian

Keith, It DOES mean something in the context of discussing the replacement of the Packard oil pump. Everyone interested in this problem knows what it means. Talking about different pumps and which one we are referring to only muddies the waters. When I say 56 400 everyone knows what I mean - I don't have to say model 5687 Packard 400 hardtop which is missing the B pillar every time I refer to my car. Whoops, I called it a car and everyone who knows me knows that I always refer to it as an automobile. It is not just a car. My Caribbean was supposed to be delivered this evening - they haven't gotten here and now my cellphone has gone on the fritz. I knew all my good luck couldn't last.

Joel -

The sample of material arrived in today's mail. It is even more telling than the pic. The original vinyl covering on the Caribbean Hardtop must have been a real thing of beauty - nothing I have seen on other Hardtops comes close.

While the grain of the material currently installed on my Hardtop shares some similarity, it is much larger/coarse - clearly not authentic (including the underpadding).

While I feel better about displaying the car with its current leather-grained top, I do intend as part of the "rolling restoration" of this car.

With this sample, perhaps I can find a closer match, and will report back here when I do.

Not the dip stick tube but rather the dip stick ITSELF. If i remeber rite i had to cut off only 1/2 inch (not 1-1/2) from the STICK only. HOWEVER, that also needs to be done with the PACKARD FACTORY STOCK pump as well.

Some confusion appears to have arisen from the comment that someone did not have to shave or rework the oil pan.

When I purchased my pump, I was also advised that:

Quote:
Perhaps no changes have been made WRT to pan interference, but grinding of the pump body may simply not be needed in every case.

Not to drift off-subject, but I turned to the aftermarket, today, for a high-volume pump for a Chevy 4.3L V6. Sealed Power was their supplier, but while the part number on the box was of their own convention, the pump body had a casting number that appeared to follow the same general format as Melling's high-vloume pump for the Olds V8 - that is M...HV.

As such, I suspect that Melling manufacturers and sell their pumps under their own label, but also wholesales them to other suppliers for resale under their own brand names.

However, anyone installing this conversion should compare the pump they acquire (locally) to the image that Eric provided above to ensure they hav the right thing.

Randy. The M22FHV pump and 22FHVS screeen is correct. That is exactly what i am runing.
BE SURE to look at the BOTTOM PLATE of the pump. U should see the shaft turning in the bottom plate when u turn the shaft from the top.

My emphasis on refereing to this pump as an OLDS HEAVY DUTY pump is FOR clarity. Simply refering to it as a "Melling pump" means nothing other than it is something that Melling produced.

I'm kinda waiting to install the Olds pump when I rebuild the 374, since I plan on using Craig's full flow conversion idea, utilizing the original oil filter placed on the rear passenger side head.

Keith, I didn't understand your original question. The conversion says to buy a Melling M22FHV pump and 22FHVS screen oil pickup. I did that, so why are you questioning whether I bought the proper pump? I may install it in the Caribbean after I plastigauge the bearings. That's why I initially asked for comments on this pump. I didn't want this thread to wander off discussing some other pump someone might have bought. Is anyone else running this conversion and do you have an opinion to express?

i found the 55-56 x-ref at AACA and floated it to the top.