Remember, these cars started every day, winter and summer when they were new, and properly maintained they should continue to do so on 6 volts. Battery cables should be O gauge at a minimum.

I suspect I'm going to take a lot of flak from some on this forum over this answer, but that unit was, in addition to Packard, used on millions of GM and Ford products in its time, and was not failure or problem prone then. There have been some failures in collector cars which I sometimes think might be related to rebuilds by unknowledgeable folks, or using old,dried out NOS rebuild kits instead of modern kits. My own experience with 3 cars with Bendix TreadleVacs over 30 years is that I've never had a problem. I know others will present horror stories.

Thanks! Got it.

Totally dis-assembled now.

Has anyone done a conversion on these things? In my searches I've read that these are failure prone, and will leave you without any brakes at all.

Anyone have a excellent history with these?

Turbopackman is absolutely correct re: battery cable gauge (size). If that car came with a braided ground cable make sure it has a good one now. You can still buy braided groud cables from NAPA, Tractor supply, etc. in many different lengths.
Make absolutely certain that someone before you did not put 12V cables on the car--they won't do the trick.
You might also consider getting an Optima 6V battery after the one you have dies. They put out a lot more amps than the lead acid 6 volters we're getting these days.

What gauge are the battery cables? Anything smaller than what was stock will cause it to crank hard. Also, did you put fresh fuel in it recently, or is the old stuff from November still in there? It's possible that the gas has went bad, this newer stuff can go bad rather quickly as compared to 20 years ago.

Here are the basics:

1940 120 sedan
Rebuilt starter, brand new battery, new solenoid, good grounds, good cables. Engine has a new head gasket, and the car was just running in November. It stays garaged, as it is being restored.

We are considering the idea of a 12v conversion, but would rather keep the car pure and original. Any ideas out there?

Also, when it does run, once it warms up, it stalls and dies, like it starves for fuel. Has a new gas tank with electric fuel pump. It gets plenty of fuel. The climatic control was one notch rich (stock setting), I adjusted it to about three. It seemed to do okay after it got up to operating temp. But once it cooled down and we tested it again, we had the same issue. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Once we get it to stay running, and we drive it around the block, the car falls on its face in second gear. It has a slight miss at idle, very noticeable while driving, especially in second. The wires are OEM style, but they are arcing to the block. My experience says this isn't normal.

And finally, the Aero-Drive is jammed, luckily not in gear. How is this repaired?

IF you have disassembled the unit per the factory shop manual (which was the first thing that BigKev uploaded to the site, under "Packard Articles"), the seals could just be stuck after decades of co-mingling in the master cylinder bore.

Soak 'em down with some WD-40 and let sit overnight. I bet that will loosen 'em up just enough. If not, try a good penetrating oil, and wait about 15-20 minutes.

P.S. - Thanx for the nice pic of your '53 - and taking time to add it to the Owner Registry here.

Nick--Loyd put it correctly, Lycoming was part of E.L.Cord's conglomerate during the period the ACD cars were manufactured. Packard was a centralized manufacturing entity, they manufactured their own engines, transmissions and rear axles (until the 1956 models, which used purchased Dana rear axles) in a central plant beginning in 1899 in Warren Ohio, then moving to Detroit in 1903, through 1954. The 1955-56 models were assembled in a plant leased from Chrysler, the former Briggs manufacturing plant on Conner ave. that had been suppling all of Packard's post-war bodies. For the 1955-56 model years the (V-8) engines and transmissions were built at Packard's Utica, Michigan plant, a very modern, state-of-the-art facility, and shipped to the Conner plant for assembly into the cars.
ACD at their peak was operating plants in Auburn IN, Connersville IN, Indianapolis, and the Lycoming engine plant in Pennsylvania. The combined size of all those facilities may well have excceded the size of Packard's East Grand Boulevard plant(s)

Hi all,

I'm a new owner of a 52 Packard 300 Sedan. In pretty nice shape I might add. I have obtained a manual and have removed my Power Brake unit. Wheel Cyls are next.

I have removed the large Nut/valve in the reservoir and the circlip retaining the pushrod. According to the manual the rod should slide out. It doesn't and I don't want to apply too much force to do it. Feels like something still needs to be removed somewhere for it to come out.

Any help appreciated.

Also, are there any other forums/discussion groups on Packards?

I'm in Arizona.

Chuck

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If my memory serves E. L. Cord's corporate empire included Cord-Auburn-Duesenberg, Eastern Airlines and Lycoming - possibly others of which I am unaware.