Gooday guys
I believe my 54 clipper super 2 door sedan is the only 54 model in Australia
and I'm wondering how many are left in the world . The model info section has
a production number of around 890 making them rare little beasties indeed

regards chris

Greetings fellow Packard addicts

I have a 54 clipper with ultramatic drive and oil is leaking out of the speedo cable , I have checked the level according to the service manual which is " run the engine in neutral for 2 minutes at 800 rpm , then stop the engine and check within a minute " and it reads low of the mark . The box is performing well apart from the leak but given the leak is via the speedo cable , I'm thinking the oil level is to high . Have I missed something or done something wrong ?

Regards Chris

To Packard V8

Thanks I will look him up and my starliner is a 53 Stude hardtop .

Regards Chris

To Fred Kanter

Obviously I do not have the the faith in the law that you do

regards Chris

To packard v8

I ended up using the original 1954 valve which was the best of the 3 valves I now had , the replacement valve sent by the supplier was ok but in my view not as good as the original ( this car shows only 41,000 miles and I reckon its a true reading and the valve like most of the rest of the car reflects that low mileage . The BTV has now been back in the car for over a month and I have been starting the car and checking the pedal every couple of days with no sign of pedal pressure loss . Meanwhile I have finally got the car registered for road use to-day and will be seriously testing everything especially the brakes . If there are any problems I'll let you know

Regards Chris

Gday packaddicts

Sorry guys in this litigious age I can not name the supplier in a public forum . However I will write to the supplier and suggest they inform all those people who have purchased BTV rebuild kits from them in recent times , that they check the compensator valve and maybe send out a new one for the sake of PR if they have not already done so .

Meanwhile it's not rocket science to check this valve - if you are losing pedal pressure when your foots on the pedal , remove the filler cap from the BTV , shine a torch into the reservoir while your wife presses down on the pedal . If you notice any swirling or disturbance in the reservoir fluid the comp valve is faulty

Good luck
Regards Chris

The supplier is in USA and I reckon all the suppliers have the same kit and would they be manufactured in Mexico ?

Chris

Gday my fellow Packard addicts

I recently rebuilt my bendix power booster in a 54 clipper and used a rebuild kit from one of the major suppliers , I noticed a small degree of pedal pressure loss which became worse every time I started the car . After a couple of weeks the pedal was going to the floor , fortunately the car was not registered for road use so I did'nt kill or injure anyone.
Looking at the system I found fluid swirling back into the reservoir while pedal pressure was applied . I dismantled the unit and found the compensator valve was the problem , this valve stops fluid from returning to the reservoir when the piston pressurizes the system . It was a new valve that came with the kit and I had'nt noticed how badly made it was , its a 2$ part that could kill and I had assumed that because it was new it was good , in the words of funny man Benny Hill
" when you assume you make an ass out of you " . The design fault was in the sealing shoulder of the valve , it had almost no raised section to seal against the return port , in fact it was almost metal to metal .

I don't know if I was just unlucky with this particular kit but when I told the supplier about the he problem he apologized and said they'd had problems with these valves recently and sent me another one . I ended up using the original 54 year old valve because it was still soft , looked in perfect condition and looked the best of the 3 valves that I now had .

The photos show the differences between valves

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Thanks guys for your advise , this car is not going to be a show car so the Kanter option should suit me just fine

Regards Chris

Gooday fellow Packard addicts

Has anyone out there had experience with the reproduction based on original patterns upholstery kits offered by Kanter products ?

Regards Chris