The bracket that Kevin showed was clearly either homemade or modified from some other application but the one I showed was stock Packard. You’re right that based on its shape, I know of no Packard air cleaner that would have worked with it. It was mentioned that the carburetor might not be original but was apparently determined later that it was the proper one that had been converted to a manual choke.

P.S., I had tweaked and appended to my earlier comments before yours appeared!

BDeB - I found the brass tag. It's on a different screw and is completely caked in grime so I can't read anything. I'm out of town and haven't had time to clean it off. I'll do so when I get home.

Joe (Tinman) - Yes, at some point it was converted to manual choke. The bracket holds the line, which passes through the firewall to a choke pull under the dash. I will likely keep it for now if I keep this carb.

Don and Howard - The more I look at it the more I see that he had some sort of other air cleaner on there. The bracket is obviously homemade. I'm not sure whether or not the Panama came with an oil bath cleaner, or if it came with the smaller "UFO" looking one. I've seen both on pictures of engines that I've been able to find (restored). Of course, those may or may not be correct.

JoeSantana has an old carb and oil bath filter off a '47 356 that is available. I have no idea if these would fit this car or not. My current carb apparently works, but I haven't tested it much. I don't know if it needs a rebuild. It would seem easier and more correct to keep the carb I have (assuming it's the correct one) and then find an air cleaner to mate to it. I don't really want to get the car started back up without a filter on there.

-Kevin

It’s best to keep the carburetor that was engineered for the car and I agree that should probably have the round air cleaner. That’s what my 1953 Clipper Deluxe had with the 327 5-main engine. The small air cleaner is also oil bath and can be attached and removed easily without the need of tools as it has a built-in lock handle, or at least several of mine did.

The first order of business is to rebuild the carburetor (it’s very easy) and obtain the proper automatic choke parts. I might have them but not sure if I’ll have time before I close up my shop to find and ship them.

Got the tag cleaned up. Looks like the carburetor is original. At some point I'll look into the manual choke and get it back to automatic.

So since it looks like my car did not have the longer oil bath air cleaner, I'm now on the hunt for the round type. So far no luck online. I will need to call a couple of places on Monday to see what they have.

Gaskets came in yesterday from Olson's Gaskets for the oil pan and the transmission. Once I get the fuel tank back and I get the car started, I'll take it over to my neighbor's lift to get under it and change all the fluids.

Still waiting on the header from Tucson Packards.

-Kevin

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Don't lose that tag! I have carburetors with missing tags and it's hard telling what you have without it, also those punches in the tag I believe tell the jet and needle size.
Wes

Wes - It's safely back on the carb. I was wondering what those punches were for, so thanks for enlightening me!

-Kevin

Here's what I found on the web about Carter tags

The basic model number - that would establish the parts list - I still don't know if one of the leaner metering robs is locally installed how that is indicated . . . perhaps it never was.

Revision status is the first digit below the model number - I know a lot of models have an 'A' revision

Second digit is a date of manufacture code.

The holes indicate 'in process' inspection steps - I suspect if the carburetor doesn't pass inspection one it doesn't get a stamp until something is done to correct the malfunction.

See photo.

dp

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Parts book helps with identification as well, used on 5401-11.

http://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html ... ist4854/48-54_Group_9.pdf

So the air cleaner could be dry or oil bath?

According to the parts book, the 5411 is listed either as dry or oil bath and I seem to recall reading somewhere that there were choices on some models. The round type that several of mine had were oil bath.

I have a call in to Tucson Packard to see if they have an air cleaner assembly. We'll see.

I need some guidance here. I have a guy coming to blast the inside of the car this week (roof and floor pan including trunk) to get them down to bare metal. What would you recommend I use to seal/protect the metal after the blasting? POR-15 for the floor? Primer for the roof? Something else?

I just don't have the time to sit and grind out the entire floor pan to bare metal. Between work, family, and many other responsibilities, I only have a limited amount of time I can work on the car.

-Kevin