So, where does one get new tires for their 28 Packard these days? (Mine is a 443) I don’t know just how old mine are but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve been on there since the car was restored in the late 80s.

Yes, I remember reading that in the manual (I assume it’s similar for my 443) and thinking it’s really high. I’ve kept mine slightly under that (around 35 psi) as I’m a bit terrified of a blowout. I don’t know just how old the tires on mine are but I cannot seem to find a max psi indication on them.

Thanks for the follow-ups, su8 and Fish’n Jim. I’m going to reconnect things in the next couple of days, run some Evaporust through the system and see where I can get with things, and then once that is done add some RO water and no-Rosion to run the system. I may be back with more questions as issues arise. I appreciate all the time taken to educate me on these things, I would be completely lost without help from all the people willing to share their experience.

Thanks for the kind words su8overdrive. I love the look of my runabout. What I’ve been told is that when it was being restored in the 80s these are the colors they found under a repaint, or in other words it was restored to its original paint scheme. It actually has a lot of bright work for a 443. I like the look of the stone guard and the woodlites. The chromed sidemount covers are a bit much for my taste, I may at some point replace them with something a little less flashy. Someday, but not today. Thanks for the recommendation on the motor oil source!

29-640, thanks for the explanation. For now I think I’m comfortable with where I am oil pressure wise, but I appreciate the advice if the time comes when I do need to make the adjustment.

Mike (su8overdrive), thanks for the further detail on this. There is no such drain plug on my 443’s engine block. I currently have the water jacket off and have given that area a thorough cleaning. If my only real method for draining things after your flushing method is via the draincock do you think the method you described will be effective? I’m going to swallow my pride here to admit a mistake I made last year in that I used tap water rather than reverse osmosis water, so I am concerned there may be scaly mineral buildup on my radiator fins. (I was sure to use No-rosion at least to prevent rusting). (Also I do know Mike G at Max Merritt and have talked to him several times, Mike C at Tucson Packard too - they are both great. I’ll be sure to reach out to the others you mention.)

I also do see some rust throughout my system and so think a flush with Evaporust might also be productive for getting stuff out of the system. The thing I’m discovering with this car is that, while it was generally well-restored and well maintained, it seems maintenance did slip some in the later years of the former owner and so I’m just trying to get systems back into top operating condition.

Fish’n Jim I have been checking a number fo the things you mention. Water pump seems pretty good, fan blows well. One area of concern is that a small dripping leak seems to occasionally occur in the radiator (about 2/3 of the way to the top) after longer periods of driving in hot conditions. I’m not sure what to make of that. I’m also not sure how to check for rusted air dams or what a rusted Impellor is (is this part of the water pump?). I appreciate all the detail you provide, I hope you’ll excuse my very limited knowledge on all this.

No problem, 1929Packardguy. I think I’ve come to the same conclusion. Seeing the needle nearly pegged - especially while the engine was still warming up - caused an inexperienced owner like me to feel no small anxiety. I’ve always been conditioned to think that the gauges should stick nice and close to the middle of their range.. But enough people have told me along the lines of what you’re saying with regards to this that I’ve gotten comfortable with the issue. I appreciate you chiming in on the question.

Thanks for the responses.

TxGoat: I do have a bit of a somewhat persistent overheating problem. It consistently runs on the verge of overheating, turning to overheating on occasion in the hot weather and persistent traffic that Denver has to offer much of the year. So I’m looking for ways I might address it. I will be sure to look for a leak at the seal before going further but I’ve never noticed this before.

Su8overdrive: thank you for the VERY detailed explanation of this process. Living in Denver I do need antifreeze in the winter, although I like to switch out to water with some no-rosion in the summer and it gives me decent results, although the problem does persist. Also a question: when you specifically say “to ream around when the block drain plug out” — pardon a possibly dumb question but I’m not sure what the block drain plug is. Also, I will be sure to mention your name, too, if I have a chance to talk to the guys at No-rosion. I have ordered from them in the past. And will also check out write up.

Also looking into timing issues, all hoping to get it running a little cooler before the summer weather really starts to put stress on it.

I hope you enjoyed eclipse yesterday - there wasn’t too much to see here in Denver, it just felt like the sun going partly behind the clouds for few minutes.

Does anybody have a favorite fluid they use to flush their radiator? It occurs to me that the products for today’s cars may not be optimized for cleaning out the old honeycomb radiator on my ‘28 443. In the past I’ve just used the Prestone stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/Prestone-AS105-Radiator-Flush-Cleaner/dp/B00B99U088/?tag=drive09e6-20&asc_source=browser&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Freviews%2F27899%2Fbest-radiator-flush&ascsubtag=0000TD0000027899D1180071320240408020720

A follow-on question to this topic: reading my materials indicates that if I did need to adjust oil pressure, I could do so adjusting the relief valve located within the fuel pump. My question is how to access the adjusting screw. Below are the instructions from the service manual (instructions for this operation are the same for the 6 and 8), and a sectional cross drawing from the same.

I do not read this to indicate that you need to drop the whole oil pan to access this piece. However when I remove the cover below the oil pump at the bottom of the crankcase, there remains a casing covering fuel pump mechanisms which can be seen in the illustration. None of the materials I’ve consulted suggest to me how to remove this casing, and examining it myself I cannot see any obvious way to do this. Is this a job that would require me to drop the oil pan to access the full fuel pump (not a job I want to do if it can be avoided) or is there something I’m missing here in how to remove this casing? Thanks.

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