Re: Electromatic Trans

Posted by su8overdrive On 2013/5/27 17:29:35

Sheriff Law -- Just a thought, since weight is the enemy in any road car, see if you can find a pair of spare 16-inch tires, and place just those ---no steel wheels-- in your front fender wells, then mount the sheet metal covers over them. Packards are already nose heavy, and sidemounts add considerable weight. So if you like the look of sidemounts, but are going to carry a spare tire and wheel in the trunk anyway, give the above a whirl. Why saddle that beauty with extraneous dead weight? Let her fly.

The Electromatic clutch in my '47 Super Clipper was rebuilt and i drove it engaged a few times before tiring of the robotic aspect. That, and whenever you're at a long light with Electromatic on, your clutch pedal is automatically depressed, something i never do in any manual shift car wanting to preserve the throw out bearing,
which may be inexpensive but replacing it is a major job, esp. in Packards having that cross member which must be unbolted.

Don't forget, Electromatic was only Packard's frantic counter to GM's HydraMatic. IMHO, Packards are first and foremost luxe road cars, so nonsense like automatic or semi-automatic transmissions, air conditioning, which do n o t h i n g for performance tho' may've been necessary in the day to remain competitive in the marketplace, are gewgaws discerning motorists wisely eschew.


As for oil, since your engine was rebuilt and is in good shape, you can't go wrong with any premium brand 10W/30 detergent and again, all major brand motor oils are essentially like aspirin, tho' i use Kendall GT1, and as i and others have explained elsewhere here, don't waste your money on "ZDDP" additives and such nonsense.

Funny you mention your car barreling down the highway like a "Greyhound bus." My old mechanic, who worked on cars like ours after serving as staff sergeant of various motor pools in the War II Pacific, once described a 356 Clipper he roadtested after a tune up in the late '40s as racing along "....like a Greyhound bus."