Re: KPack's 1954 Panama
Posted by kevinpackard On 2020/7/25 23:44:59
Well today was productive, but took much, much longer than I had anticipated.
Started off by finishing the new shock install. Somebody previous to me had broken the driver's shock in half. It looks like the lower bump stop is missing, which likely caused the shock to blow through the lower shock mount, hit the pavement, and shear off. It was a bit of work getting it out because the shocks had their own add-on coils. Weird.
Ross sent me a new lower shock mount (thanks Ross!) and I got it cleaned up, painted and installed. Suspension is done. Maybe. More on that later.
Next was tackling the oil pan and transmission pan. I removed the steering idler arm on the passenger frame rail, and that allowed the steering assembly to drop down a bit. I then spent the next hour cleaning grease off of everything. It was caked up to 1/2" in places, making it impossible to see bolts, grease zerks, or really anything.
Once I could see what I was doing I removed the torque converter cover so I could get to all the oil pan bolts. Removing all the bolts took the better part of two hours. Getting to those bolts up above the cross member is quite possibly the worst thing ever. I did find out though that a ratcheting box end wrench makes the job at least slightly less terrible.
Once the pan was out (I had to turn the engine to raise the front crankshaft counterweight), I took a good look at everything. The oil pump pickup screen wasn't too bad. I removed the cover over it and cleaned everything up the best I could.
The oil pan had a solid 1/2"-3/4" of sludge at the bottom of the pan. I scraped all that off, cleaned everything the best I could (quite the job), then cleaned all the caked on grime, grease, and old oil off the outside. I used a stripper disk and wire wheel.
Once clean, I degreased the whole pan, then primed it and painted it. I foolishly didn't order correct Packard engine gray paint, so I grabbed whatever engine paint looked close at NAPA. This is Ford engine gray. Better than black I guess.
Next I dropped the trans pan and took a look. The ATF that I drained was a great color, no burning. The pan had a very slight layer of sludge at the bottom. Not much at all. Internals on the trans looked nice and clean, and the pickup screen had nothing on it. I'm guessing those are all good things. Cleaned up the trans pan, didn't paint it. I think they are supposed to be left bare metal?
I drained the torque converter as directed in the manual. I replaced both drain plugs because the threads on both were damaged (soft brass). The new ones seemed to go in alright. Hopefully they don't leak.
I then put the gaskets on from Olson's Gaskets, using some gasket sealer on both sides for good measure. The oil pan went in well enough, all things considered. The transmission pan also went pretty straightforward. Got everything buttoned back up and then totally ran out of time. I have not put in new fluids yet. That will hopefully happen on Monday.
I hope to never have to remove that oil pan again. What a job.
-Kevin
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Started off by finishing the new shock install. Somebody previous to me had broken the driver's shock in half. It looks like the lower bump stop is missing, which likely caused the shock to blow through the lower shock mount, hit the pavement, and shear off. It was a bit of work getting it out because the shocks had their own add-on coils. Weird.
Ross sent me a new lower shock mount (thanks Ross!) and I got it cleaned up, painted and installed. Suspension is done. Maybe. More on that later.
Next was tackling the oil pan and transmission pan. I removed the steering idler arm on the passenger frame rail, and that allowed the steering assembly to drop down a bit. I then spent the next hour cleaning grease off of everything. It was caked up to 1/2" in places, making it impossible to see bolts, grease zerks, or really anything.
Once I could see what I was doing I removed the torque converter cover so I could get to all the oil pan bolts. Removing all the bolts took the better part of two hours. Getting to those bolts up above the cross member is quite possibly the worst thing ever. I did find out though that a ratcheting box end wrench makes the job at least slightly less terrible.
Once the pan was out (I had to turn the engine to raise the front crankshaft counterweight), I took a good look at everything. The oil pump pickup screen wasn't too bad. I removed the cover over it and cleaned everything up the best I could.
The oil pan had a solid 1/2"-3/4" of sludge at the bottom of the pan. I scraped all that off, cleaned everything the best I could (quite the job), then cleaned all the caked on grime, grease, and old oil off the outside. I used a stripper disk and wire wheel.
Once clean, I degreased the whole pan, then primed it and painted it. I foolishly didn't order correct Packard engine gray paint, so I grabbed whatever engine paint looked close at NAPA. This is Ford engine gray. Better than black I guess.
Next I dropped the trans pan and took a look. The ATF that I drained was a great color, no burning. The pan had a very slight layer of sludge at the bottom. Not much at all. Internals on the trans looked nice and clean, and the pickup screen had nothing on it. I'm guessing those are all good things. Cleaned up the trans pan, didn't paint it. I think they are supposed to be left bare metal?
I drained the torque converter as directed in the manual. I replaced both drain plugs because the threads on both were damaged (soft brass). The new ones seemed to go in alright. Hopefully they don't leak.
I then put the gaskets on from Olson's Gaskets, using some gasket sealer on both sides for good measure. The oil pan went in well enough, all things considered. The transmission pan also went pretty straightforward. Got everything buttoned back up and then totally ran out of time. I have not put in new fluids yet. That will hopefully happen on Monday.
I hope to never have to remove that oil pan again. What a job.
-Kevin
Attach file:
(80.42 KB) (67.53 KB)
(94.04 KB)
(71.30 KB) (86.94 KB)
(84.94 KB) (189.83 KB)
(199.12 KB)
(76.27 KB)
(127.76 KB) (102.35 KB)
(109.06 KB)
(105.25 KB)This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=225002