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Thanks Henry, I actually recalled your post about making a new line as I watched mine twist apart.
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I spent a couple hours under the car this past week. I cut sections out of the exhaust pipes on both sides so I could easily remove the starter and flywheel cover. Finally got both the transmissions cooling lines disconnected. Those two transmissions lines would have been easier if I had cut the exhaust pipes sooner.

Both the oil pan and transmission each had over a gallon of fluid in them. Had no idea there was that much in there so made a big mess on the floor. All that's left is the motor mounts and the three bolts on top the tranny. I have a friend coming out in a week or two and we will get the engine and trans pulled.

I also spent a little time working on the passenger side door. I had to refer to the service manual several time but I finally got the glass and regulator out. Moved over to the driver's side and found some modifications that a previous owner had made (pictured below). I'm pretty sure that metal strip through the center does not below there but I'll take a closer look this week.

I spent my weekend cutting up cars at a local junk yard as part of my volunteer firefighter training. I barely have enough energy left to type this post so I'm not touching my Packard tonight.

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I have a question regarding the T/L in my 400.
As you know I am getting ready to pull the engine soon. I am planning to strip the car down to the bare frame similer to what Henry did on his Clipper.

Is there anything I should be doing now while the weight of the engine and body are holding the T/L in its "normal" position?

I seen a number of post about working on the T/L and it being complicated by the fact that the weight of the body being off so am just trying to plan ahead.

What would you do at this point?

Thanks

You can get the T-L apart and back together without the weight of the engine/trans or even the body for that matter. So, it's not a problem if you have to service something. The only thing would be if the car is too low (T-L bars sagging equally) or if one side is too low (one T-L bar sagging more than the other). You won't know that until you have the entire car together. If correction is needed, you can use adjustable front struts (links) like these:

http://1956packardpanther.com/Panther/adjLinks.html

Craig

Stewart,

Are you planning to unload and take the TL bars out of the frame?

Not unless I have too.

My plan is to work around the whole T/L.
Get the car on the road.
Drive it real slowly to the South West.
Camp out in one yours front yard like cousin Eddie on Christmas Vacation (you know who I'm talking about) until someone who has the right tools can help me out.

That plan is subject to change between now and then.

We finally got the engine and transmission pulled tonight. I have been waiting for a friend who has done this a couple times to come out and help. I was not expecting to pull the engine and tranny together but we got the monster out. Pictures are below.

The last two images are of the newest member of my family.
Its a 1959 Massey Ferguson TO35 tractor. Its not a project, its a worker I hope. My wife is not real thrilled with the customized hood ornament that came with it.

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I have a question.
I'm trying to remove the front seat. I removed the 8 nuts from the under side of the car tonight but something is still holding on the drivers side. It raises up maybe an inch or two but no further. I can't get my fat head low enough to look under there. Is there something in the power seats bolted down?

Yes, the power seat has a single nut about a foot in toward center -- roughly above the compensator motor rear end. The stud and nut attaches to a large plate which connects to the side and goes toward the center for the fore/aft worm screw anchor point.

Thanks Howard
That does make since. I will look for it this weekend.

The Government shutdown is giving me more time in the shop. Fortunately dis-assembly is cheap.

I've been removing the interior lately and clearing off the firewall. Pulled off the passenger side door and trying to finish stripping it. Working on these doors and windows really suck.

I've only broke 3 bolts so far. 2 were on the fenders but will worry about those later. The third is one of the two bolts holding the wing window on the passenger door. What a nightmare. I can't remove the wing window frame because the broken bolt is still in there. The opening is too narrow a space to fit over the bolt.

Took me a week to drill a hole in the bolt to insert a remover bit. Then I broke it off as well. This morning I drilled it out and the drilled right out the side of the bolt. I know this is probably hard to picture in your head but its a mess right now and there is no way to get vise grips on it.

I think what I am going to have to do cut about 2 inches of the inside door frame, right next to the window frame, so i can pry it back, remove the window an then weld it back up.

I did find a very brittle ticket like item from the Minnesota Mining Manufacturing Co under the rear seat. It only took a minute of Googling to discover that the company goes by a different name now, 3M.

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