Thanks everybody for the input. I decided to take the safest route and go electric. I just received my electric wiper motor in the mail and will install it soon. It cost about the same as rebuilding the vacuum motor. I'll put the original vacuum motor on the shelf. Thanks again. Brian

Thanks for the information. It was very educational. I went ahead and ordered one of the sending units mentioned at the begining of this topic and am very curious to see the condition of my original when it comes out of the tank. Thanks again.

Will this sending unit work with both Pos and Neg ground? The reason I ask is, Dan Yocum told me once that if you convert from Pos ground to Negative ground, the fuel gage will not read correctly. I converted my 55 400 to Neg ground as soon as I got it, and when my gage reads empty I still have about 8 gallons in the tank. I don't know if it was accurate as a Pos ground car.

I'll give that a try and let you know how it worked. Just curious, if the motor sucks oil in on each stroke of the wipers, where will the oil exit the motor once it fills up?

Thanks for the 3rd option. If your wipers work fine off manifold vacuum without a supplemental vacuum source, then mine should also. Did you install a vacuum resevoir for the wipers? I would like to keep the car as original as possible but want a safe car I can drive a couple hundred miles each way for a car show. Having just moved to Oregon, working wipers is a must. It looks like a rebuild is in the works. I like doing things myself, so maybe breaking the motor down and replacing the old grease with new will do the trick. Any "do's and dont's" I should know about?

Hello everybody,I replaced the stock engine oil/vacuum pump with the Oldsmobile oil pump and now I don't have the vacuum to run my wipers (unless I'm decelerating down-hill). The way I see it I have two options, 1. replace the vacuum wipers with electric or 2. install and plumb a 12V vacuum pump to supply the vacuum. Both ways cost about the same. Has anyone out ther done either of these conversions and be willing to give me some advice? I'm also looking for opinions on both methods. (Be gentle)
Thanks, Brian

Hello everybody,
Does anybody have a Napa part number for the power steering filter element and does it come with a new cover gasket? Your help will be greatly appreciated.
Brian

Hello everybody,
I'm getting ready to paint the car and refinish the script for my '55 400. I'm assuming the script should be gold in color. How shiny should the gold be? Highly polished or slightly matted? Does anybody have a paint cross reference for paint codes NK?(Agate and Topaz Metallic). Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Brian

Thank you all for your help. Durring all the trouble shooting to find out why my brake pedal was hard as a brick and slow to apply the brakes I found 2 problems. One, the brake hoses were restricted internally. The rear hose was completely restricted and the front hoses were about 40% restricted. Two, the internal vaccuum line in the boost chamber had come off. Now I have power brakes. I bought the hoses at Autozone and replaced them as well as all 4 wheel cylinders. I've put the Autozone part numbers for the front and rear brake hoses and the wheel cylinders on the parts cross reference list. Thanks again. Brian

Thanks Kevin. I will remove my hoses and take them to NAPA to match them with your part numbers. My only concern is that there are different part numbers in the Packard parts catalogue for the front and rear hoses. Maybe it is only the length that makes them different. I will know soon enough. Thanks again.