Had a friend make me 4 matching wooden arm rests for my car. I drilled and installed them and now need to remove the front 2 arm rests because they interfere with the front seat. I also installed the front and rear seats and a temporary carpet. I got a seat backing/separator for the trunk. I did not think it would fit but it slid in really nice. I also noticed 2 bolt holes for the top of the back seat. It is behind the seats' arm rest. My upholstery shop covered it but I'm not sure how it is supposed to be covered.

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Found out the hard way that there is a difference between the Senoir and Junior transmission rear flange where it hooks up to the drive shaft. I bought a used transmission out of a Junior Packard and it bolted right up to my Patrician motor and I thought all was well. Today I tried to bolt on the driveshaft and it did not fit. I pulled the flange off the original transmission and put it next to the Junior transmission flange and I can see the difference. It was easy to change out and made bolting the driveshaft up easy. The Senior flange is on the left and the Junior flange is on the right on the 1st picture.
Fixed the water pump leak by tightening all the bolts on the water pump. I need to go around and see what else needs tightening.
I thought I'd put the back bumper on with it's apron. Then I added a little chrome. It's far from done. I need to get to the interior.
After I put the back bumper on. I then moved the car forward. The tail pipe was up against the wall when I was first starting it. I now have a black mark on the wall where the tail pipe was. I was looking for trouble at the front of the car and did not bother to watch the back end.

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I just rebuilt my 1953 I8 327 9 main bearings. After an easy valve job by a friend I found a stuck hydraulic lifter and some teeth ground off my camshaft. I got a camshaft free. Bought main and rod bearings. New oil pump parts and a few hydraulic lifters that you will not have to worry about. Parts cost about $900 and labor was $750. I put the oil pump, head and distributor back on. I just started it up this week, it only took 6 months.
good luck and have fun.

Some guys from the local Packard Club came over and helped me start the engine for the 1st time. It did take a few cranks but it runs. I tried to remove an oil galley plug to fill it with oil, but ended up cranking the engine around with no spark plugs. The engine was a little smoky but it sounded good to get the car running. Now I noticed the water pump leaks. Well at least it will be easy to get to.
I also had the guys look at my 1940 160 Sedan. It has an engine noise and they determined it was a leaky exhaust manifold. But that's another blog.
This car won't be ready for the National Tour in Gold Canyon, AZ next week so I'll have to sacrifice and drive either the 55 Clipper or the 40 160 Sedan.

Got back into the garage today. The engine and transmission are back together and in the car. I switched the bolts that were in the wrong place and all is good. I am putting the parts back onto the engine and called it quits. I had to go buy some washers and bolts. The lock washers are worn out and I am missing some bolts even though I bagged and labeled everything. I had to buy some spacers for the fuel pump, I didn't know I needed them until I tried to put the fuel pump back in and noticed the hole was larger than the screw. Do we still need the plastic(?) washers that go on the bolts that hold the fuel pump on? It looks like they will wear and the fuel pump will get loose. The bolts I got from Kanter have holes in the head. Is that so I can wire the bolts so they don't move?
I'll try to line up and time the engine when I put the distributor and wires back in.
I heard that I should remove a screw near the oil pump and fill the galley with oil before I try and start the newly rebuilt engine up. Any thoughts?

Not to steal the thunder from Craigslist.com but have you checked out

http://www.countryclassiccars.com/ ?

It is a dealership that has a lot of cars and the occaisional Packard. The day I looked there was a 55 400 and a 56 Clipper. The cars are not in too bad shape either. I just go there and drool, uh look at what they have. Heck it would be fun to work there, would it be work if you enjoy yourself at work?

Was working on putting the engine back in, bolted on the transmission mount, motor mounts and others trying to put everyting back on when I saw a loose torque converter bolt. Then I noticed a scratch on the flex plate. Then I noticed the thick bolt head up against the flex plate.....Then I knew I had to pull the engine back out. When I put the flex plate in, I put two bolts in the wrong location. The 1st picture shows the scratch at the arrow, I had to turn the engine over to get to all the screws. The 2nd picture shows the correct way for the bolts, the black arrowed bolts were where the blue arrowed bolts are now and there was not enough room between the bolt head and the flex plate. I am in the process of putting the transmission back on the engine so I can put the engine/transmission back into the car. I am glad I took the front clip off. I should have checked my pictures as I took and saved a lot of them so could go back and look at the way it should go back together.
The hardest part was trying to pull the flex plate off the crankshaft. I pried and banged for 2 hours and nothing. Then I made a few phone calls and one said, "Just a couple of prybars should do it." So I tried that and pop, the flex plate came off real easy. I wish I had done that the first time.

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Thanks Kevin, will keep that in mind when I get to the chrome.
Today's picture is the engine resting in the car. It's not bolted down just sitting there waiting for me to get more time.

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I know the engine stand was not built for this engine, the picture does not show it but there is a 2x4 holding the end of the engine up so its not sagging. The engine is now sitting on my homemade engine stand made out of 2x4s. I put the engine and transmission together tonight and will put the engine stand away back in the shed.
I will try putting in the oil pump first and then the distributor trick. I don't like learning the hard way, which seems to be the norm.
This is not a show car. It will be a good looking car that my wife will want to be seen in and even drive. That's the goal of this exercise. The car has been sitting in my possesion for over 10 years and it was not getting any better. So I thought I'd get it running and fix a few things along the way and never thought of painting it. Then I thought I'd at least put it in primer to get it the same color. Then I thought that primer does not seal out the moisture nor stop it from rusting....so the paint job got a little out of hand.
I was thinking I might get this together in time for the National Tour in Arizona, my backyard. If it is, it will still be in rough shape, but it would be running and together but not done.

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Got the engine back. All the bearing were replaced, the crankshaft was ground down, the cam shaft was replaced due to broken teeth. The Oil pump was rebuilt. I replaced 3 hydrualic lifters and 1 cam follower. The valves were previously ground and the guy took a little off the shaft as well. I am in the process of putting the engine back together. The oil pump is not in so timing will be fun.
I am trying to clean up the interior chrome. The 2nd picture is of the 2 chrome pieces on the dashboard. The top one is the after picture as the bottom is the before I took steel wool to it. I did not use any lube or paste, just steel wool.

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