One of my old mechanic friends stopped by this Morning. I showed him my projects. He was particularly interested in the Packard. I told him about the rear seal leak and he took a look. He used to work on these a lot and has rebuilt the exact engine that is in my Packard. He then asked me how long it has been sitting. I told him that I wasn't sure but probably at least a year or two. He told me that the rear seals in these are made of jute or hemp, I forget which he said, and graphite. He thought that if I would run it off and on for a month or so, the seal may absorb the oil and start to expand and seal again. Come to think of it, when I went through the trunk there were some newer 10w-30 empty oil bottles. I use Brad Penn 30w in my classics. I will do an oil and filter change, then do like Glenn said and run the engine off, with a catch pan under the engine off and on for a month and see what happens.

That's what I was thinking Howard. I have never lifted an engine for clearance and left the mounting bolts intact.

Thanks Howard and Jerome. I have done these before and I agree with everyone that said it is NOT A FUN JOB! I read in the Motor Repair manual that I will need to hook up a hoist to the engine to lift slightly, but won't need to take bolts out of motor mounts. Anyone do this? I tired to look up the utube video but it was gone.

I bought a 51 Packard 200 Deluxe and have replaced the fuel tank and pump to get it to run. Then adjusted the carburetor (still in pretty good shape) to get it to idle smooth. After I did this I noticed that there was an oil leak from the bottom somewhere. When I bought the car I found an oil pan gasket set in the trunk. When I replaced the fuel pump I found that the someone had put the fuel pump gasket on upside down-no gasket mating surface on the top 1/3 of the pump to engine. I was hoping that after I replaced it correctly that would solve the problem. It did solve that leak. The leak that remains is coming from the lower clutch pan drain hole. That is what I didn't want to see. I have never done a rear main seal on a flat head Packard-or any flat head engine for that matter. I have done many on V-8s & 6s. Are these the 2 part rope seal that can be accessed by dropping the oil pan? If I have to pull the tranny I may as well do a clutch set as well, although the clutch seems to be good so far.

I will post a picture of the 51 sometime in the next 2 weeks. The fuel system is done, the tune up is done, and it's undercoated. Waiting for the exhaust system. Then I'll lower it and take pictures. The body is pretty solid-some old patches that are coming through. The interior is ok for now. I restore these old cars to drive-I like driving them!

More trouble than it's worth! I may try it on my 52 if I decide to keep it and rebuild it. The only thing that makes rebuilding the 52 questionable is the windshield. The only one I was able to find is at Merritt's and they want $1250 + shipping. I just can't do that.

I actually have a kit from ebay for a 12v conversion. I hadn't done it yet on my 52. The 51 has an electric fuel pump that would have to be changed. Also would that have any effect on the overdrive unit?

I noticed that this car has a negative ground. Will that affect the kickdown and fuel gage?

Very good and detailed explanation! In todays automotive world it would take a computer to figure all of this out in a split second. It just amazes me that they came up with such a detailed but basically simple method 70+ years ago as I'm sure they used something similar in the previous overdrives as well.

Thanks again Howard.

It looks like the wire to the distributor is missing. If I read correctly, that wire is the "interruptor" wire that momentarily stops current to the engine to drop the unit out of overdrive. Would a 14 GA wire work?