I haven't looked at it yet. House is being painted, driveway redone, kitchen floors and counters soon. A lot going on. But I will look. Thanks. I've only gone to cars and coffee in Potomac a couple of times.

Yes, I'm all for that. Let me know if one is available. I'll switch it out.
Reliability is very important now that I gave my SUV to my daughter and have delayed buying a sports car.

Thanks, West. I'd really appreciate having a correct spare.
Brillman hasn't responded yet, but I'll call them now. Been busy all morning.

O good. Glad I kept that cover.

I reuse the cover of my oldest voltage regulator, but the main body is the Brillman I bought last November, so I'm hoping it has a year warranty.

Here are pictures of the cover, the VR and a generator brush lit from the opening in the top through the opening on the end with the band off using iPhone.

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I'm posting to the wind, but at least there's a record.

I reconnected the batteries. They appear to be charged to 7.2V but the light on the charger is still Red instead of changing to Green to indicate fully charged.

I made a jumper wire and connected it to the FLD terminal on the voltage regulator and to a grounding stud on the cowl. The ammeter did not show a discharge after starting and showed strong positive flow when I rev'd it. This indicates that the generator is working and the VR is suspect.

I had emailed John Ulrich who rebuilt the generator in 2018 and he thought 5,000 mi and 2 years is too soon for the generator brushes to need changing. The test suggests that, too. When I find some brushes for the GEA-4802-A generator, I'll get them for the future.

So now it looks like the Brillman VR is the problem. I will contact them today to find out what I can do to test it.

For years I just bought my 6V VR from Napa. I think it's spec'd for a Willys Jeep. But last year I sprang for a Brillman made to Packard specs and which cost about 3 times the price of the Napa version. So this VR is a year old. On close inspection of the two VRs, the way are positioned on the body, though the numbers are different, suggest both Vyou have any ideasRs are made by the same manufacturer. We will see. I left my spare parts in Oregon. I didn't take the VR I retired because I ASSUMED the Brillman would last me a while.

If you have any ideas on what else I could check or other advice, or opinion about the Optimas, anything, to explain constant charging during an hour's drive on the freeway, please Reply. Thanks.

The batteries in parallel read 5.84V.

I disconnected them from each other to get individual reading, and they both independently read 5.84V. It could be they won't charge above 5.84 and so the voltage regulator keeps calling on the generator to provide more juice, but the batteries can't retain 6V. So I'm still. suspicious of these 4.5 year-old batteries.

My next step is to attach the trickle charge to each battery independently and see if they can hold a sufficient charge.

I'll check the generator as soon as I have the batteries hooked up to the car again.

TWO ISSUES, Overdrive cable creep and Constant charge on the ammeter

Since moving to the East Coast in July, the Duchess has performed beautifully after some advice from Ross on adjusting the free travel on the clutch pedal. I had 5.5" and it should be 1-1.5", which it is now and shifting is perfect.

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, sunny and 70s, so I took my first extended trip, an hour's drive to Annapolis.

CHARGING
Checking my gauges after getting on the 495 Beltway around Washington, I noticed the ammeter was still charging fully, almost all the way to the right.

Maybe 2 years ago I installed a small trickle charger under the seat and wired it to the batteries (2 Optima 6V). I lift the back of the front seat, pull out the cord and plug it into an extension cord in the garage. I noticed Before I left Portland that the last few times I checked the charger, it hadn't turned Green to indicate Fully Charged. The batteries were purchased in April of 2016, so that's 54 months. The warranty is for 36 months.

I suspected the batteries might be bad, so I tried to find replacements in Annapolis, but no one I could get had them in stock on a Sunday, so I drove back. The ammeter charged all the way.

I'm going to test battery output this morning with a multimeter. I hope I didn't burn up my generator, so I'll check the brushes also. I located 2 Optima batteries close by at Advanced Auto which they can get tomorrow morning.

The voltage regulator is relatively new, installed last year, and it's a Brillman, not cheap.

ANY suggestions or cautions in dealing with this electrical issue. The car did smell a little different when I got home.

CABLE CREEP
The overdrive is working well, but when I'm out of overdrive, the push rod starts creeping inward toward the firewall. I first noticed it driving around the neighborhood and heard this scraping sound. As soon as I pulled the cable knob toward me and fully out of overdrive, it stopped. But I have to watch it on the road because it wants to inch forward. I've been driving a lot in OD so I don't have to keep watching it to prevent anything destructive from happening.

HEARD of this before?

Great work on the emblem, Kevin. It will be so satisfying to see it on the car when you're done.

Another great source for this kind of project is the nail polish counter at Walgreens. You can get just the right color and it's lacquer. I see you did your nails with Testor.

In Maryland on a gorgeous day. Sunny, 70s, no humidity!
Decided to drive into DC.

http://www.mktx.com/packard/washdc.mov

Remember to Vote.

Removal of Tire from Side Carrier is the article in this service letter
http://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html ... loads/SC/SL-VOL16NO22.pdf
that tells owners how to compensate for the missing spare and to support the side mount cover, as required by law from Jan 1942.

You were only allowed 5 tires per vehicle. Any extra tires were to be donated to the war effort for the rubber needed.