Any opinions or experience on the necessity of installing the fuel pump heat shield on a 1940 Super Eight? I have one but installing it will make it really difficult to service the car's fuel pump.

Looking for the driver side swing down trunk rack arm for a 1940 Packard 120 car. Refer to attached photo of rack with missing arm. Thanks for looking.

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How to repair the door latch safety tang. Both of my front door latch plates had broken safety tangs. These were a new safety feature for 1940-1942 and were designed to prevent unlatched doors from swinging open on turns. The door would only open 5/8" without turning the handle. John Ulrich Packard Parts remanufactured the safety tangs for $20/each. To replace them you need to remove the latch, turn it over and pry up on one end of the bottom plate holding the safety tang on. There is a peened over part of the latch that holds this bottom plate on. You can bend this bottom plate enough to remove and replace the safety tang. Note that on my latch I had to file the new tang a bit so that it popped out on the latch face like it should. If you are missing the spring I found that a spring from a retractable ball point pen cut down to 1/2" worked pretty well as a replacement. To reassemble just lightly tap the bottom plate back into place. Once mounted on the door frame it should stay in place so no need for any extra securing.

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Any one have an extra vent window escutcheon? These appear to be hard to find since they only appeared on some but not all senior cars. Naturally I am missing one on my car.

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[b]Repairing front vent window crank gear box[/b]. Both of the front vent windows on the 1940 senior cars have cranks and both of mine were not working due to stripped gears. New gears can be bought from John Ulrich Packard Parts for $40/each and they work very well. The key steps to replacing the gears are as follows:
1) drill and tap a hole through both sides of the bracket - I used a #10x32TPI screw (#21 tap drill).
2) bend open the retaining tabs which will break off (hence the screws for later reassembly)
3) grind off the bottom of the pivot shaft just enough so you can pry off the bottom washer
4) mark the top side of the crank worm gear bearing (it only goes in one way). take pictures of how the gear is mounted on the shaft before removing.
5) take the unit apart so you can drive out the retaining pin on the stripped gear
6) reassembly. You will need to do some light filing to remove flashing on the new gear to make sure it fits on the shaft. I recommend greasing and oiling this after assembly as it is almost impossible to assemble the unit when filled with grease. Before tack welding the washer back on the bottom of the pivot post make sure the gear box works correctly. You will be glad you added the screws in step one.

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Here is a picture of the Ulrich battery access cover reproduction. A pretty straight forward item.

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Here are some useful tools for prying off the panel clips without busting the panel in the process. Also shown is an original panel clip.

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The Optima battery box from John Ulrich is a gem. I thought about making my own but John's battery box really holds the battery nice and secure. $65 is a bargain for a nice part like this.

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Need to fix the vent window crank - the gear got stripped after the vent window got stuck in the old rubber gasket. I am starting the process of replacing the stripped gear with a new part from John Ulrich. Here are some pictures of the door panel after I pulled it off. These are originals if anyone wants to get a look at exactly how they were put together and held on.

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I had dropped the oil pan and cleaned it along with the sump screen but I should have taken off the valve covers at the same time. There 92K worth of sludge built up around the valves and lifters. Fortunately, I had been soaking the cylinders with oil before taking off the valve covers and the sludge was soft and easy to remove.

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