Re: 1954 Packard Pacific 359 L8 radiator / cradle cushion grommet shim

Posted by HH56 On 2020/12/29 16:17:10

Either the Steele or local rubber will work. The important part is to have the single hard contact at the middle bolt on each side of the cradle and have the other bolt locations cushioned so if there is some flexing and twisting the movement will not break the seams. The steel washer at the center hole both spaces the flange away from the cradle and provides the solid connection while a steel sleeve or spacer is used on the bolts at the rubber cushioned holes so the bolt cannot be tightened so much as to compress the rubber too tightly and make those the same solid connection as the center bolt.

The cradles were identical 51-54. After the modification was made to the early 51 radiators per the bulletin (cutting off the top of the flange and adding the various cushion washers and spacers) the mounting method and parts as described in the bulletin stayed the same thru 54. 55-6 had a different cradle and radiator width but the mounting also stayed essentially the same as the earlier cars.