Re: Frame swap under '49 Custom 8?

Posted by kevinpackard On 2024/8/28 15:36:05

The few body swaps I've seen of Packards looked terrible. The Packard bodies just don't fit on modern frames very well. The wheelbase was off, the car sat too high, etc. Really looked bad.

Regarding the brake drums....what places did you check? There are the major suppliers like Kanter, Max Merritt, etc. Tucson Packards and Packards Southwest are others that have gobs of old parts sitting around. su8overdrive has worked with another fellow, Moose Motors I believe, that has all the brake parts you need. I think you'll be able to find some drums for less than $500.

Most of the other brake parts (lines, hoses, wheel cylinders, shoes) can be sourced from modern suppliers. Napa will have most everything you need there. Or the major suppliers listed earlier will also have them, or rebuild kits. You can easily rebuild the master cylinder and wheel cylinders for cheap. It's not hard to do at all.

Wiring can be done multiple ways. A reproduction harness can be had from Packard Club regions, but they are very expensive. On the plus side they are 100% correct and basically plug and play. The cheaper way is to get a universal harness from Painless Performance and terminate the wires yourself. More work but less expensive.

Carburetor kits are easy to come by and not expensive. You can either rebuild it yourself or hand it off to someone to do it for you.

I would say service the front suspension first before you go about changing it. You may like it after it is working properly. There are disk brake kits (Wilwood) that you can use. They are expensive and quite a bit of work to install. Pretty sure the master cylinder needs to be changed in order to use disc brakes. All things to be aware of....costs add up when you are changing things. Again, maybe get the drum brakes working properly and see how you like it. When everything is functioning as it should the brakes on these cars are actually pretty good.

-Kevin