Re: Stewart's 1955 Packard 400

Posted by HH56 On 2024/5/28 22:42:27

Aside from the noise does the new motor appear to be straining to lift the quarter window like the original motors? Without the stainless and windows rubbing the fuzzy sides the load is considerably less so adding those could change things. How much strain is there on the new couplings? As you may have read, Riki had one of his couplings fail not long ago, I think due to a setscrew breaking or coming loose, but still required a disassembly. Hopefully you have multiple screws on your different design coupling and it doesn't rely on just one or two screws.

With the small movement at the front where the arm slides to pivot and lift the mass of the quarter window and no mechanical advantage to speak of other than the one coiled tension spring in the regulator the motor does need to lift a lot of weight. When I did mine I was thinking of possible ways to help it out but never got around to doing anything.

If the strain is still evident without the stainless the possibly that one end of an extension spring could be fastened to sheetmetal or the floor comes to mind. By attaching a length or wire rope to the other end and the piece of linkage connecting the motor section to regulator perhaps an extra spring could be placed a distance away so it would not interfere with the regulator or window but would still provide a bit more help to better balance the load in the up direction. Another possibility is mounting the spring off to the side and use a pulley to redirect the pull. Do you see any room or possibility of something like that being able to be done or a better linkage to use?

I don't remember how much travel the linkage does at that point to know if the spring could be hooked up directly or if it would need a compound pulley arrangement and stronger spring to reduce the spring extension. Of course, this would all be moot if the new motor is noticeably stronger and doesn't strain like the originals.