Thanks for your response. In my search for parts, I looked at two castings for 1928 cars and neither of them has the mystery hole either. However, in defense of it probably not being an aftermarket modification, I will say that when I was scavenging pieces to assemble one complete water pump, I came across two separate bushings with the same hole. The first being the pump that was on the car, and another from a shaft and bushing I purchased from Art Brummer some 30 years ago. The odds of Art and my grandfather colluding to place a hole in factory stamped bushings is probably nil...seeing as how I believe they never met. I digress.

I know for a fact that this water pump was problematic. My father relates how it was the water pump that failed as he was driving my car across the Nevada desert in 1956, when the shaft overheated and broke, sending the fan into the radiator. I wonder if Packard was aware of this design problem and made a "factory floor level" decision to add the hole, and presumably a grease fitting in 1929. Could it have been added simply as a heat sink to dissipate heat from the shaft? I would welcome any thoughts, comments or aspersions on my sanity.

On a separate note, I would agree with your post on the unjustified disparity in perceived value of the closed cars to their open top counterparts. Of course, I own a closed car and being that it has been in the family since 1930, it is an heirloom...and I am biased.

Hello everyone,

I took the excellent advice of this forum and had a local machinist do the re-tooling of the water pump for my 1929 senior car. I have a question that can probably be easily answered by several folks on this site. I have attached a picture of the copper bushing that the shaft runs though in the housing on my water pump. There are two holes in the housing. One is for the "dog" that holds the bushing in place. The second hole is threaded and goes through the housing and aligns with a hole in the bushing. In other words, it goes right down to the shaft. My suspicion is that this hole is for an alemite grease fitting, but I dont recall an alemite fitting that has a quarter inch outer diameter. Does anyone know what goes in this threaded hole?

As usual, any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi Howard,

Thanks for the suggestion. I am not a metallurgist, but this thing has the look and feel of very thin spring steel to my uneducated eyes. The problem is it has a sinusoidal curve in it similar to the circles emanating from a pebble thrown into a pond, that I have no idea how to replicate. So, while the idea of forging one is great, it is intimidating to at least me.

Much Thanks Dave. I am beginning to feel like it takes a village to restore a Packard, with all the help I have received from this website! The original was blued and had some sort of coating on the forward facing surface which oddly resembled 85 years of accumulated engine oil and dirt.

Hello everyone,

I am back to query the fountain of knowledge that is this website. I had a welder fill a couple of holes in my Sparton SOS horn many years ago. This is the big horn with the bullet nose back that was used on the senior cars in the late 20's. Someone had drilled a couple of extra holes to accomodate a non-standard mounting bracket. Unbeknownst to me, the welder did not disassemble the horn before welding it, and long story short...he welded the vibration plate to the steel backing plate. I carefully ground the two plates apart, but of course damaged the wafer thin vibration plate. The horn still emits sound, but I wonder if it is correct. Is anyone aware of who may have an old Sparton SOS, or a broker of old horn parts who I may buy this one part from? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

I have to agree with DavidM. I have a 1929 car with an unmolested interior. Grandpa was a mechanic, not an upholsterer, so he made mechanical changes, not coachwork. My car has the dark green linoleum in the front with aluminum edging and wool carpeting in the back with what looks like horsehair backing. It is held down with large snaps. Please let me know if pictures would help.

John Wogec

Hi Owen,

Thanks for the effort! I know Classic and Exotic makes one for the 12 cylinder cars, but I couldn't find one for the eights. No big deal. I think I have a solution. Thanks again for all your help.

Hi Owen,

I am considering the venture. Please let me know about that brass gland nut if you can locate the information. Thanks for responding.

Hello everyone,

I was speaking to a water pump restoration shop in Arizona and the guy, who sounded pretty knowledgeable, said he thought somebody was reproducing the big brass water pump shaft packing nut for the center mounted water pump used in the late 20's. Is anybody aware of who might be reproducing that nut? Also, does anyone have any recommendations on water pump restoration shops? Thanks in advance.

John Wogec

Hi David,

I am actually more comfortable knowing that your cars have all three holes. As for that third spot, my experience is that every hole in that frame has a reason for being there...seeing as I have stripped my car down to the bare frame, so I know what goes in each of those holes...except that one. I assumed the now non-existing "bracket" had three holes. Maybe some other 1929 era Packard expert can enlighten us both. Thanks for all your help. You have peeled back one more layer of the onion for me!

John Wogec