If your getting a lot of play then I would suppect the center steering arm is bad and needs attention.

The thing about the 1941/2 gas tanks is that the neck is attached to the tank. Packard put the tanks in the car and then put the body on the car. There was a service bulletin telling how to get the tank out. Basically they said to bend the frame at the point where the neck touches the frame and this will get it out easier.

The service bulletins discuss this and talk about cleaning and adjusting the points on the 6-pole relay. Also, after 1941 they no longer used the throttle guard and is not listed in the parts books.

have you tried John Ulrich at 510 223 9587 as he has a lot of parts and may have what you need

What I always do is to "fit" the spacer so that it is in correct location and mark the bottom. I use a jumper wire and give the governor a ground. Then you put a jumper wire to the boas of the solenoid. USE RUBBER GLOVES so you don't get shocked. This will push the plunger out and then with the spacer in the right location you can install the solenoid. Needless to say you have to have the wires onteh solonoid to do this.

Somethimes you might get lucky and pull up the seat cushions and look at the tags on the actual springs and find the numbers, I have only seen it once. It would be a paper tag.

I remember a friend had one on his 160 clupe coupe. It had way too much stopping power and put you through the windshield. The original brakes are best and you don't need the power booster. We took it off.

One more thing to check on the 160 is the pil pick up. It is pot metal and can warp where it is bolted to the block. Make sure that it is flat and has a gasket there.

Packard had a service bulletin that changed the oil routing on the oil filter. Basically they put a restrictor in the line to the oil filter and then dumped the oil into the crankcase by the oil filler tube. Check to see what your oil routing is and if you have the restrictor.

In 1948 they had the R-9 overdrive in the first part of the year but they went to the R-11 also that year so which tranny do you have. 23rd have the R-11. Also, when the factory ran out of the R-9 they shipped the R-11 as a replacement tranny snd provided the information to install that one. Or even thru the years someone coul dhav einstalle dthe R-11 when you have the R-9 to start with. SO do you have the 6-pole relay on the firewall or the 4 pole relay?