Kev, As far as the paint goes unless you are going to attend a judged Packard meet I would just buy a high temp paint that looks close if price is a concern. Very few Packard enthusiasts including me would know the difference anyway and in time a short time any colour you paint it will change shades due to the heat. I bought paint from Bill Hirsch which while expensive is competitively priced with Kanter etc. It was the correct colour and has a good reputation. It hasn't flaked but has lost some of its gloss but I am very satisfied. I wax the cylinder head and it gleams! No paint will adhere properly if the metal beneath it is not properly cleaned as you no doubt already know.

Thanks for the advice guys. I just wanted to make sure that the Lye in the over cleaner wouldn't cause any damage to the cast iron, or aluminum parts. I want to strip the grease off my engine, and then start the derusting process so I can paint it.

So it sounds like it shouldn't cause any harm to the block itself.

I wish there was still some paint left on the block to use for a match to regularly available high-temp paint. But the block is mostly rust, and what does have paint on it was painted body color at some point in it's past.

I wonder if any of these colors are close enough to the Packard engine gray.

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/colors/highheat.html

BigKevin: Iam sure that oven cleaner makes a good parts cleaner, as I know it does one hell of job when I have clean our oven. The only advice I would give you is use is a well ventulated space.

As far as the color paint you are looking for, rather than paying $ 14.00 for a spray can from Bill Hirsch. Why not take a trip the local commercial parts store, such as Auto Zone. Go to the paint section a see if you can find a color close to what you are looking for. I bet you can find some shade of paint hat is real close, for a heck of alot less money. If Hirsch is selling spray cans for $14.00 a pop, that means that he is getting them from some commercial source.


John F. Shireman

Kev, I did try oven cleaner once when I was cleaning the engine block for painting. It did a reasonable job of removing grease but not really worth the effort compared to plain old varsol. I felt that washing the stuff down the drain afterwards was probably not very sound environmental practice so never used it again. Be sure to wear heavy rubber gloves!

Has any of you guys ever tried using Lye based oven cleaner to strip parts with?

Just curious how well it works and if it causes any damage to the parts or not?

Well I struck out with Napa, they didnt show having any kits for a Carter WGD 2102. I guess I will have to source it from Kanter or Max Merrit. I was hoping to save a few bucks with Napa.

Napa did have a rotor and cap in stock. So I did pick those up, and I used my AAA discount.

That's the same one I own!!! Hey, you stole a pic of my car in my garage!!

Well fast forward a year and now we have bought our first house, and my wife let me have the entire garage to myself.

4 new tires were bought to turn the car into a roller, and the car was towed over to its new home.

With more room to work, and places for the parts, I tore into the front end and removed all the sheet metal.

Here is what I have done since then:

Refinished the Starter
Installed a 12volt solenoid
Added a Ballast Resistor (needed due to the 12v conversion)
New 12v coil
Refinished the trans cooler
Refinished the fan and pulley
Installed new plug wires
Refinished the Oil Filter canister
Rebuilt the fuel pump
Cleaned the fuel filter, and replaced the element
Pulled the oil pan, cleaned out the sludge, and refinished the pan.
Fabbed up the bracketry and installed a GM alternator
Converted the regulator housing into a master fuse holder.
Refinished the air filter housing
Refinished the Heater Blower housing, and swapped the motor for a 12volt one from a 55/56 model

Getting settled in the new house and the expense that goes with it really put a pinch on the resto budget. Also the crazy heat this summer had temps regularly above 115 in the garage. So all of that slowed down the amount of progress I was able to make.

Santa was good to me this year a brought new tools to make everything easier moving forward.

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Well not much happened to the car the first year. After getting the car towed home and pushed into our 2 car garage, I had only about 8" of space around the entire car when my wifes car was in there. Our garage at that house was in the front, and in a way was our main entrance to the house.

That first year was spend tracking down missing trim parts, and doing lots of research. I found some major pieces like a new grille, a trunk lock, the rear door trim and a few other missing pieces.

I also managed to make a pass at sanding down the major surface rust on the drivers side of the car. I only did this side as it was the only side of the car I had room to work on (when the wife's car was not in the garage).

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BigKev: I am very suprised that included in your poll how many Packard People might own a 1965 V12 Packard. Every time in the AACA forum if that subject was brought up, the webmaster seemed to get very upset about that. They seemed to think that was only bringing up things from the past, which they thought shouldn't be done. When that happened or less than kind comments were made about some national clubs, those things got deleted very fast.

I am the joker who claimed ownership of a 1965 Packard V12. You stated tat if any person claiming ownership of a 1965 Packard you wanted to see photos. I do have a few photos of the two 1965 V12 Packards that I claim to own. If you would be interested I could post a couple of photos. One of the photos is of the foor door sedan parked out in public, the toerh is of a two door coupe parked in local garage in Jersey Shore getting serviced by my local mechanic.

Paul McKeehan who claimed to be incharge of the 1965 Packard Revival project in South Bend, and who wrote the story about the secret things that went on under his direction, might have one in storage out there in your state., being he claims to reside there. Maybe if you contacted him he might provide some exclusive pictures for your website, and fellow Pakard lovers.


John F. Shireman

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