Yes the bushings are generally too tight to be slide-hammered out. Many of the bushings can be pressed out using a hydraulic press. I have turned up different size slugs on the lathe to accommodate the various bushings. Frankly don't recommend any other method.

Fortunately you can use your new bushings as models of what needs to be turned up.

A friend has been helping me to make some videos about Packard service. https://youtu.be/B2_mDqJhIZw This one has a bit about pushing in bushings.

Finally dragged my samples out of the shed. You have a 56 front pump in your 55. 55 pumps have 16 holes through the plate (counting the screw holes), 56 has 15. The critical hole is at the 12 o'clock position in my photo. Direct pressure comes in the hole marked "D" and in 55 comes back out the hole at 12 o'clock to fill the space at the back of the stub shaft on the convertor and thence to the direct clutch.

While you have your trans that far apart I would check your shafts and bushings. Factory clearance was .003", I find you can go to about .006, but after that you do not get much satisfaction.

Attach file:

---

  IMG_0033.JPG (577.73 KB)

Looking for a windshield visor for a 53-54 sedan. Please PM me.

Napa 7384

Found an interesting parts bag up at the old Fanelli dealership in Shenandoah PA. Sadly, nothing in it.

Attach file:

---

  IMG_1855.JPG (101.22 KB)

Reasonably sure 1952 was the first year for tinted glass for everyone.

Many people ask "what good is it". It is just as useful as the filter on a swimming pool and most of us wouldn't swim in a public pool without one. Sure, it doesn't help if someone or something is throwing in chunks (the floating pickup helps keep them out), but it keeps the oil free of all manner of abrasive fines and sludge. Pm me if you still need the lower tube.

Yes, do the whole top of the engine and while you are at it, clean up your studs with a flick of the wrist.

The piston rings wear thin --especially in long stroke engines and start to rattle up and down in the groove. After a while they break from flexing in trying to seal up a heavily tapered cylinder The individual pieces really rattle in the groove and sometime wear a path right up through the top of the piston. Chances are your lands on #2 are already toast.

See if you can borrow some tools to measure your bores top and bottom.

In a quick review I can see that #2 has a broken top ring in that the wear pattern does not continue up to the top land. #3 has been rusty in the past as the tiny pits are still visible. My experience is that rings wear quickly in cylinders like that.

None of this is a huge surprise; the broken top ring is fairly common in engines that are overdue for a ring job. Many somewhat smokey , anemic, and difficult to start Packards are running around in similar state. Sadly, there was a reason that your car was "put up" long ago--it was tired and not worth fixing at the time. You have inherited problems from long ago. Still don't see a reason for the noise. Did you perchance have the filler tube out of the block?

Looks like a thousand other slightly tired Packard eights, so you can rest easy on that. Your compression readings are not bad at all except for cylinder 2 and I suggest pulling the valves out of that one for a look. Could be the the exhaust valve is starting to leak.

Sadly I don't see anything that would account for the sudden appearance of noise. No grooves in the cylinder walls?

When the car overheated, how hot did it get? Boil-over is not normally going to cause damage. Did the oil light ever come on?

A memory from oh 44 years ago is that when the head gasket on my '50 Super gave way between two cylinders it actually chirped sharply under load. Scared me to death.

Think I would recommend cleaning the top of the engine really well with a wire wheel on a right angle grinder, likewise the head. Clean it all out really well and put some oil around the pistons. Turn it over with the starter and listen if possible. Observe valve action.

Then clean up your old gasket with some scotchbrite and spray a heavy coat of aluminum paint on both sides. Slap everything back together and try it.

Yes, do the oxalic acid. Those calk and rust flakes love to lay on top to your radiator tubes and plug them.