Hey folks, does anyone know of a service bulletin pertaining to the replacement of the fabric top insert on closed cars though 1939?

Thanks,

Okay Green dragon:

How about a bone stock 71 Vega with 80hp base engine and 3 speed stick shift?

Oh, and no rust either.

As already stated, Dexron has a friction modifier (creates slip) that is of no use to Ultramatic. Type A is straight mineral oil (10w) and is still available. Type F contains detergents plus ZDDP which (according to one patent I was looking at) can corrode copper alloys (great news for the Packard 12) under certain conditions involving heat when not balanced by a neutralizing additive. So if the Borg Warner Simpson transmission does not contain any bronze parts that may be a warning sign.

However, with Type A you need to pay close attention to the maintenance schedule.

Hi Roger

I checked some figures on these oils and 5w-30 actually comes closest to 20w in terms of viscosity at running temperature. So in a rebuilt motor I would use 5w-30 providing the oil pump is new or rebuilt.

These diesel oils are 1/3 thicker at running temperature than 30w which is probably helping to raise the oil pressure in worn out pumps. If the oil pump is shot then heavy oil is not harmful. Obviously, if oil pressure at 35 mph is well below spec than something has to be done to prevent rod bearing failure.

Packard only authorized heavier oils for temperatures over 100F and to control oil consumption. If the motor has excessive blow-by then piston lubrication will be reduced and wear accelerated. Too heavy an oil will cause starvation below operating temperatures. 15w-40 isn't that much heavier than 30w at lower temperatures and so using it old motors is not a crime.

One thing that is important here is that heavier oils reduce settlement rates. These are very important without full flow filtration. So lighter oils run cooler and cleaner than heavy oils. That's good for any motor.

Hi Roger:

Pulling and cleaning the oil pan is sound advice and also is part of Packard scheduled maintenance. Once a year in 1948 (I don't have a '51 manual handy).

If the motor is heavily sludged then detergent motor oil will simply use up all the additives real fast and become like dirty oil. However, good non-detergent motor oils are hard to find. Castrol has a full line of ND for which they claim is state of the art sans detergent, but I'll be darned if I can get a hold of it. Most other ND is just not very suitable for Packard motors unless is it changed every 500 miles.

Packard didn't like heavy motor oils because they run hotter and strain the oil pump. Single grade detergent motor oils are generally recommended as being heavy duty and intended for severe usage like trailering.
Again Castrol has a full line of these that may be available through NAPA.

The heaviest I would run is 10w-30 although I would prefer what the book says 20w. These multi-grades can run heavier or thinner base stocks.

The most important thing here is to change the oil regularly as the manual says and avoid short period running.

I'm not sold on these heavy multi-grade oils because this zinc stuff is directly opposed to what the petroleum engineers say about SM rated oils. I think these problems are likely the result of neglected oil changes and dirty oil pans.

Good luck.

Aw come on. Who cares if they scrap every Ford Taurus, Winstar, Explorer, Expedtion, and Excursion on the planet?

You know what is a really rare car? Chevy Vega. Harder to find than a Custom Packard. It would be fun to take one to a show and listen to everyone say "I had one of these. It was Junk."

I had a 1983 Dodge that is virtually non-existent today. It was a good little car provided you had an ASE certification.

Today I was working on a 1994 Ford Truck handbrake. The dealer couldn't help me because they said Ford listed 27 different cables for the thing. So I'm stuck repairing what is on the vehicle. I told them "What?!!!, Cars have had handbrakes since 1910 and now they can't make one that works?" Send this stuff to the junkyard where it belongs.

I did quite a few of these things using an overhead gantry and dropping the motor and trans assembly out the bottom is the fastest and safest. Especially for a show car. The flat rate was something like an hour for two workers. However, there is a catch. They used to have a pit into which the assembly was lowered. One place I worked actually had a bay with an old engine pit out back.

I used to raise the car high enough off the floor to lower the power pack onto a dolly and then wheel the thing out from under the car.

The big advantage here is that the motor is removed as a unit assembly (great for a show car), and because the trans is attached potential damage to the marcel plate is minimized.

I never tried it, but I think this method also works for the twelve.

The oldtimers were doing this for valve jobs and timing chains as well. The junior series engineers did a good job in having unit front ends and power packs because this was terrific for service profits as well. If you were in a collision just put a whole new nose on the car. Great profit margins in that.

Theoretically, the hardness of the bearing material should not matter in a properly designed motor. Rolls-Royce used a very soft babbitt with high longevity. It was softer than plastic. Packard bearing technology followed the research published by Wright and Taylor in 1925 by which bearing characteristics technology became fully developed. Not all manufacturers followed this technology - most notably Lycoming - and suffered from poor connecting rod bearing life. The Packard V-12 was not designed following Wright and Taylor and thus had more rod bearing problems than Packard eights.

To determine which bearing method works best requires a teardown. Even on these motors with new parts the results may be pretty surprising. I did some repair work on a V-12 and found the condition of the inserts downright shocking. I attribute this problem to infrequent oil changes and lousy filtration.

The principal advantage of the insert bearing is superior heat transfer and cooling especially at high RPMs. This is achieved via the pre-loaded nature of the bearing insert.

Well I'm glad for you that you straightened out the provenance for your car. Maybe you could sell it to the guy that has the late judge's 1940 Sport Sedan.

I am surprised how much vitriol my comparisons with the Lincoln Continental seem to bring on. Is this possibility any less remote than Bill Mitchell supposedly being inspired to do the 63 Riviera after a trip to Europe, or the new Sting Ray after a shark attack in the Bahamas? The Riviera looks a lot less like a Ferrari than the Continental looks like that Packard. And good designers don't go home for the day just because they don't happen to be full of original ideas.

Once when I was in the middle of nowhere Africa I stumbled upon a Custom Packard Town Car. "What the hell is this doing here?" El Baldrige was driving around rural France and spotted a Custom Packard under a tree next to a chicken shack. Once in Florida I found a Packard sitting unused outside a bar. It had six super rare wire wheels.

Sometimes strange things happen.

"You (Tim Cole) should get your facts straight"

I like that. Very funny.

My entire participation here is moderated via "vaugely remember", "realm of possibility", and "stranger things have happened". Also that the true story might be surprising.

Anyway, as to E.T. Gregorie and Puerto Rico, the facts are that he like boats, sailing, and the Caribbean. I don't remember where I first read this, but I vaugely recall it being in a book about the Ford Company.

As far as this car is concerned, the true story may come from an unexpected place.

Now for those fenders I recall once an order for a fender from Rolls-Royce. The part number was xxxxx and the fender was made up for us by hand at the factory. That's how custom fenders work except that unlike Rolls-Royce Packard would provide the fender fully finished and ready to mount. Pretty nice service.

Let's suppose this car is just another custom job. As long as it was done during the period it is legitimate. If you don't like the pontoons you can take them off and throw them away and it won't affect the value of the car. However, why bother? Just buy a different Custom Dietrich.

I just find the resemblance of this car to the Lincoln Continental uncanny as is the only period photograph of the car coming from Detroit.

Perhaps there are some more pictures floating around in Puerto Rico.

Se hable espanole?