Since we spoke last, Clippy is on the road with all new brakes and fuel system, overdrive sorted and working swell, all manner of new hoses, belt and coolant and and and about a thousand small details tweaked, adjusted and set back to standard condition. Power steering has been changed to manual many small electrical gremlins vanquished. It is a hoot to drive and starts instantly hot or cold (more on that topic soon under "that worked well" Just Sunday afternoon it took a a load of bikes to a nearby trail head; not a long drive but by far the longest in the past 3o years or more. Did have to sacrifice an old baking dish to create the license nacelle.

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$200 with convertor. Come and get it, just north of Baltimore.

It is spring loaded to provide a low ( 5-7 psi) residual pressure in the lines when the pedal is released. Disc brake cars don't usually have this, though the above procedure works well for for them also if the master has been bench bled.

In 30 years of Packard service have not bothered with one yet. We are talking a 15 minute job on your own, perhaps longer if someone helps you.

Find a piece of rubber tubing that fits snuggly over the bleeder screw. Submerge the other end of it in a bit of brake fluid--I use an old peanut butter jar (crunchy, of course) with a little wire hook I can hang onto the suspension.

Fill the reservoir, open the furthest bleeder, and pump the pedal no more than 8 times without refilling. If the system is empty the right rear will need 12 strokes or so to bleed out. The others much less. There is no need to open and close bleeders whilst pumping; there is a built in check valve on the MC to take care of that. After I'm done I like to press the pedal several strokes firmly to check for leaks and also to collect any stray bubbles. I finish up by going around and "burping" each of the cylinders about a half stroke.

The first reduction in the compensator is a worm drive and the worm is supported by a ball bearing that is lurking behind a freeze plug that points straight forward at the top of the unit. The "mandrel" you mentioned is actually the worm. In damp climates condensation will collect in the top of the housing and that bearing will be the first to seize. If you wish to thoroughgoing, you'll want to replace that $7 bearing. Levelers that are noisy or howl invariably have damage to that bearing and often a rusty flaky worm.

I have drilled a hole into the freeze plug and squirted oil in. Even if you grease the unit as specified, there is a good chance the grease simply won't get there.

Yes.

I have installed two sets of wheel vintiques for customers and have found that although the spokes and hubs seem OK the chrome on the rims holds up about as well as the fenders on the $30 Wizard bicycle I got for my 7th birthday. Oh, and don't hit a pothole.

There is a little piston on the end of that piece and it is stuck in its bore. Shoot carb cleaner down the slot and then tap the piston down to break it loose. The pry it back up. Good luck.

Back to original question: I'm pretty sure what you mean by 3d gear is convertor lockup.

There is low which is gears plus convertor
There is high which is just convertor
There is direct, which is convertor locked up like a modern car.

Anyway, if you are not getting convertor lockup there are a whole raft of possible reasons. In my experience, the least likely is that the governor is stuck or one of the valves in the valve body is stuck. Far more likely is that a number of bushings in the trans have worn to the point that the fluid necessary to activate the direct clutch simply doesn't make it there anymore. Often in that case when the unit is dead cold the clutch might operate softly but then goes away when the fluid heats up.

Best bet would be to install a pressure gauge on the direct drive port on the bottom of the bell housing and see if the pressure ever tries to rise as the car accelerates.

As to the throttle linkage adjustment: for a first whack make sure the carb is off the fast idle cam and is idling slowly. Turn it off, get under and loosen the clamp screw on the throttle link on the trans. With a right angle screwdriver turn the throttle shaft ccw til it stops, then bring it cw just a hair so it is not resting on its stop. Tighten the clamp and try it.

Here is how we arc shoes at Speedwell garage. A press, a block of softwood and two dowel pins so the ends of the shoe can scootch outward. A rather gentle pressure expands the arc, most of which springs back. Sneak up on it a little at a time till the shoe lays nicely in the drum. Takes a couple of minutes. If you go too far, stand the shoe up in a vise and smack the end with a hammer. Goes right back.

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