1951 Standard Transmission / Overdrive oil change

Posted by 51PackardJack On 2009/2/15 14:25:12

Hello All,
First I would like to say that I am a new member of this forum, although I have been using its valuable resources for several months now. I would really like to thank everyone for their participation in sharing such a great wealth of information.

I don't currently have any digital pics or time to give the full story of me and my packard, but I will give the readers digest version.

I basically have a "one owner?" 1951 all original Packard 200 hardtop coupe with a straight eight and standard/overdrive transmission. My full name is John Joseph Renaud IV (yes, that is 4) but I go by Jack. I am 38 yrs old and this Packard was purchased new in Lakeland, FL by my great grandpa John Joseph Renaud Sr. This car has been garaged kept its entire life. JJ Sr. passed away when I was a young teenager around 84-85. (I learned to drive standard on this Packard when I was 15) Up until he passed away my great grandpa had a Dodge workvan, and the Packard. He still drove the Packard on a regular basis, to the grocery store, church every Sunday, etc. My dad (JJ III) and grandfather (JJ JR) took over the Packard and rented a storage unit in Lakeland to keep it in. My grandfather would go out on a semi monthly basis and start it up and run it a bit. My dad and I lived 90 miles away on the East Coast of FL in a town called Titusville (across the river from the shuttle launchpads). Yearly, we would drive it to the Spring Packard meet in/around Sarasota,FL. In 1988 we built a new house in Titusville that included a 3 1/2 car garage and the Packard was moved from Lakeland to Titusville to its own stall in the new garage. Although I have always been a part of it, mostly my dad and granfather took care of the car and took it to Packard shows around the state. I went to a few of them. Several years ago my grandfather passed away and my dad just lost his interest in the Packard and wanted his garage back. He told me that either I needed to find a home with a garage to keep the Packard (was living in apartment) or he was going to sell it off. I moved into a house with a two car garage and for the last 14 months I have been the new sole caregiver of the ol girl. The car has been repainted once about 3 yrs ago due to an unfortunate but funny accident involving my dad and an automatic car wash (I will eloborate some other time) and the front door panels were recoverd around 5-7 yrs ago. Other than that, the car is all original with 96,000 miles.

My dad always drove the car on a semi occassional basis until the car wash accident and then it sat stationery for about 3 yrs before the door was fixed and car painted. When I took it over 14 months ago, she had several issues because of sitting for so long. The gas tank got rusty and clogged and also clogged up the fuel pump and carb. The tires got rotted and bubbles and the brake master cylinder crapped out. I have basically just now got it back road worthy and still have a few minor and 1 major things to work out.

Currently I am in the middle of changing fluids, which leads me to the actual reason for this post. I have a question of draining and refilling the transmission/overdrive oil.

First, I don't want to put any new fangled oil that could eat away at any old bearings or seals in the tranny. All the old Packard manuals call for a good quality 90w transmission "mineral" oil with no special additives. When they say "mineral" oil does that just mean regular 90w transmission oil that I can buy in the regular auto parts store? Are there any specific brand that I should use or stay away from?

Second, I sort of got up under the car today to drain the tranny oil. The car sits so low that even with jacking it up I find it hard to get my fat ass under there. I have read that after draining, I should fill the overdrive first, and then the transmission. My question is: Is there a drain plug for both the trans and overdrive? From my quick peek this morning, I think I found the drain plug near the front of the tranny, and I see what looks to be the fill plug higher up on the tranny, and a fill plug on the overdrive. I don't seem to see a drain plug for the overdrive. So do I just drain both from the tranny drain plug or does the overdrive unit have a drain plug as well that I just didn't see?

Thanks so much in advance for your help.

--51packardjack