Took Amelia out for a spin this evening, dash lights are extraordinarily dim. The switch on the dash to turn them on/off does nothing, it does light up when turning it though. Is this a rheostat? Are the dash lights intended to dim?

Reading light is also fairly dim; the 6v sealed beam headlamps also leave a lot to be desired...

ewrecks,

If the '39 Six Convertible Coupe is this one could you please advise when/if it is 'sold', so the Registry entry can be upated?

Pulled my headers off today. Have a bit of variance, up to 15 thou, which is over what the service guides suggests is acceptable. Hmmmm, maybe time for a trip to the machine shop.




One important thing the service manual doesn't tell you, is to put rocks in your shoes so when you're leaning over your fender and pick up the manifolds you can get your feet back on the ground!

You’ll get nowhere without lots of photos.

I don't know about 1936 but when milling a Packard head in general, one has to be very careful and do so only if absolutely necessary as there is a very little clearance between the valves and the combustion chamber. Was it checked for clearance after the milling?

In a previous post, old Chiang (meaning the father, as his son was often addressed as Chiang the junior)'s limousine in 1920s was posted

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=7884

I was going through the archives and I found his Packard in later years. It cannot be confirmed or denied if it was shipped to Nankin then to Taiwan, or the vehicle ended up in Taiwan directly.

(After Packard was discontinued, Chiang kept using Cadillac for the rest of his life. He was standing on a Cadillac Eldorado in the official Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Song when the lyrics was right at, anti-communist for justice, ironically. I guess Cadillac Eldorado was exactly the opposite of communism)

Later on ROC (Republic of China) Presidents largely kept using large American sedans (Cadillac Fleetwood in the 90s, Lincoln Town Car later) until car sick became too big of a problem, so they switched to BMWs. I started to drive cars in a Lincoln Mark VIII, then it went backwards to Fleetwood, and Packard.

This car in the museum was near the sea so corrosion was a bit bad

I was born and grew up in an era when and where such things became fashionable (KMT memorabilia, Romanov memorabilia such. Many kids around my age and younger had crush on Alexei Romanov and their parents were asking around what to do with it. Those kids back then wore sailor suit or such and insisted going to traditional royalist restaurants, some even begged parents to take them to visit Peterhof Palace. One such kid, after growing up, he laid flower at monument of Kolchak two years ago)

Taking all that into consideration, I guess I am not that bad by having one Packard

























They just wrote a lot of zeros in the value of the car





Photos come from this post,
7car.tw/articles/read/3032

I was reading this article about ROC state car,

zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E4%B8%AD%E8%8F ... E7%B8%BD%E7%B5%B1%E5%BA%A7%E8%BB%8A

lee teng hui's Fleetwood




And convertible for the military parade

Thank you for the tip.

About 5 years ago I replaced all the valves, guides and ground the seats (which were replaced back around 2007 or so). At that time I had a gent that runs one of the best machine shops in my area come out and we placed a straight edge on the block and it checked out ok (which I fully expected since it was milled when rebuilt), then he took the head and milled it as well. I'm looking at the gasket which I got from Olson's gaskets and what they have on their website now looks different than what I have. Maybe they updated their design. I have also contacted Egge and Bestgaskets.com to see if I can possibly get my hands on an NOS one. I followed the torque sequence to a T and re-checked it periodically with favorable results. I'm hoping to either find an NOS gasket or maybe this new design from Olson's (pic attached) will last longer than 5 years. I don't think I have more than 500 miles on the car if that since the last time I replaced the gasket. I do agree that if you look closely at the gasket, it certainly looks like it wasn't 'crushed' enough. I also did not put as many coats of the copper gasket spray as was mentioned in the previous post. I may have put one to two coats per side.

Attach file:

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  gasket.png (128.97 KB)

I have a 39 Convertinle coupe 6 cylinder project that might be of interest if you have some mechanical skills or someone to assist .
I,purchased the car in 2018 from a local gentleman who had owned it for around 25 years. He started dismantling the car for restoration and never got much done.
My friend and body/ paint man was working on a 41 and found the car which he thought would be a fun project.
The car had been restored..sort of…probably 30-40 years ago but the work was not great.
We stripped the car to bare metal and primed it in urethane. The engine was removed and rebuilt.
While waiting for the engine to be rebuilt. Most of the chrome was replated including grill louvers, top latches, rear jump seat brackets and dash chrome. The dash was woodgrained with the door frames .
New floor was secured, installed and treated with POR 15. The gas tank what’s replaced with new fuel,line and electric inline pump.
When the engine was returned, a new wire harness was secured, dash reworked and most of front harness installed with elimination of regulator due to installation of altenator that looks like generator. The carb was rebuilt , brakes redone with new master cylinder. Interior refurbish started with burgundy vinyl.
Work stopped due to loss of my two friends who worked on car
I paid $8000:for,the car and $4000 for the engine rebuild.
Would take that number in hope someone would finish the car rather than parting it out.
Door bottoms need finished and monor work needed on body itself but fenders and rest of metal is solid. I have insulation kit for floors, all new Steele rubber pieces hose,carpeting, and wind lace….even have perfect hood ornament to finish it off.

If interested call me (814) 248-9140
RJRussell

Glad you found the source of the problem. A blown head gasket will mess with the leak down results, as you found. If two adjacent cylinders are zero, or nearly so, on compression then very likely it's a blown gasket.

Now with the head off you can double check the valves you are concerned about. But my guess is a new gasket and proper torquing sequence (multiple times) will solve the problem. The head and block surface must be spotless before a new gasket. An old engine builder friend recommended 8-10 coats of copper gasket spray on both sides of the gasket when we did a recent valve job on a '52. We did not machine the head.

The Pacifica, a wagon, and a very spiffy fastback were all commissioned by Karl Schneider at the turn of this century on contour car chassis. The Pacicfica and the fastback were sectioned, oh about 4" each.

There is a nice story in the Summer 2003 Cormorannt, and possibly in Collectible Automobile as well. Couldn't find that issue.