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I sure hope you are right! I'll pick up a long putty knife at the hardware store. It will probably be a week before I can get back to the garage, and this is going to be bothering me the whole time.
Thanks for the "voice of reason" advice. That is easier than tearing into trans and clutch again.

I have had a clutch freeze up on the splines of the transmission input shaft. Before a verdict of the face and flywheel being bonded, get some penetrating oil on the spline at the disk center and snake a punch in there. Give it a few smacks while someone holds the pedal down. It can save a lot of work.
Bernie

Been away from the packard for a while, working on the porsche and am now happily married! Finally pulled the transmission this evening, and will check out the clutch soon. Slowly getting back on track here. Even with a transmission jack, removal was a pain.

OK, a little progress over the weekend. I removed the clutch, and there was some, but only a little rust on the face of the flywheel. I re-installed the clutch disk and pressure plate. -rotating the engine and only tightening the pressure plate bolts 1.5 turns with each rotation so that I did not warp the pressure plate.
The clutch disk only fits in one way, if I face it the other way, the springs of the clutch hang on the bolts that attach the flywheel to the crankshaft. That must be correct, but I have not found a "smoking gun" for why the clutch was not properly dis-engaging.
Is there a minimum thickness for the flywheel? I had it re-surfaced.
I may install the clutch pedal linkage and check that the disk relases fully before installing the trans. This way I can be certain that it is releasing without the trans attached.
-Clutch disk also slides back and forth on the trans input slpines, that must be ok.
I also measured the OD of trans input shaft, and the ID of the pilot bearing/bushing, and that fit looks good, and not too tight. -I thought the pilot bushing might be turning the trans input shaft when I release the clutch....
Any thing else I should check or be careful of during trans install to be certain that my clutch properly releases?
-Hope to be back in the garage on Wed...
-Mike

If you install and actuate the clutch release linkage to it's fullest and can simultaneously insert a thin feeler gauge on both sides of the friction disc I think you can be confident the clutch is released. You don't need to install the transmission to perform this test.

I'll try that Dave. I have a plastic clutch alignment tool that is like a transmission input shaft. I can leave that in while releasing the clutch via the pedal before I install the trans and see if everything opens up properly.

I connected the clutch pedal to the throw out lever, and am able to release the clutch disk when there is no transmission installed, so everything there checks out fine. I was able to open the clutch, and spin the disk freely on my clutch disk alignment tool. I hope on the weekend to get the transmissino back in with the help of a friend. I couldn't get the input shaft to align by myself. One other thing I may check, is that I installed the pilot bearing deep enough into the back end of the crankshaft. It will mean one more removal of the clutch, but then I can install the trans with no clutch, and see if everthing on the input shaft to flywheel interfaec is good....Good things take time, especially when I do them!
On a paralel note, I got back my drivers side fender. Claus a friend of mine welded in the patch panel I got a while back. It looks very good if not perfect. It will still need a light touch of filler, but that is acceptable. Much better than what I tried with hammer and dolly!

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Well, it was a good day in the garage. First I removed the clutch, then installed the transmission to check that the pilot bearing and trans input shaft were in harmony, and that all checked out. Flywheel and tranny input are spinning freely. Then I took the tranny back out, put the clutch disk and pressure plate back in, followed by the transmission, as usual. With everything back together the clutch opens properly, and everything seems ok! If it really was rust that held the clutch closed, it was not much. Anyway, everything looks good now!
One thing I would like to ask: Before removing, I drained the trans, but not the OD. On removal/install, I made a bit of mess since some of the oil drained out the tail of the OD. So I had an unknown amount of oil in the OD. I refilled the trans first untill it started to run out the oil fill, then did the same thing on the OD unit. This should be OK for the fill levels right?
Excited that things are coming together again, and that the car might move soon!

Oops, reading the BorgWarner_OD manual that is available as pdf on the website here, you first fill the OD unit, and then the transmission....Guess I will drain and fill once again.
Anybody have a picture of how to bend the clip that retains the boot on the throw out lever? I haven't been able to find a good picture. I'd like to make my own out of welding rod.
Happy packarding.
Mike

I am planning to do some media blasting on my front fenders and perhaps around the edges of the hood and trunk lids this weekend. The main surfaces I have already stripped with sanding disks or paint remover.
The media is 0.2 to 0.5mm slag. Should I be worried about deforming anything by sandblasting? I will stay away from the flat surfaces so I don't make waves in anything, but I figure the inner fenders and such should be no problem to sandblast. My compressor goes up to 9 bar (130psi) but I can reduce to something like 6 (90psi) so I am not using too much pressure to blast...
I want to take care of any remaining rust before primer.

Instead of a full drain and refil on the trans and OD, I just openend the fill port on the trans and let a little oil out. That should make things at the correct fill level.