Thanks for the guidance everyone. Now we've racked this car several times and the front end looks healthy. I will check on the fluid in the shocks but I'm convinced tires are the next step. Makes sense that my current tires are much too wide; it was a bear getting the passenger rear off & on. Had to darn near deflate it. Looks like I'll be placing an order with Diamond Back soon...

Michal

Howdy Packard Fans,

Pretty sure new tires are in order soon. I currently have "Coker Classic" 4-Ply WWW L78-15 on my 2272 and spent a little time on the Diamond Back site as they seem to have nothing but satisfied customers. Using their nifty size chart, I get the idea that my current tires are about an inch taller than stock.

I thought I'd call on the collective wisdom here on whether to stick with what would now be a 235-75R15 or return to a 225-etc. Anyone able to double-check my understanding of these tire sizes off the top of their head?

Heck, anyone want to just point me to the right Diamond Backs for my car? I gotta say all the family talk on their website and the chatter about why their tires are the best... well I just ate that right up.

I'm looking forward to being able to track a straight line with this beast of a car.

Michal

Short update: I pulled the fuel pump and sent it off to Feltz in TX. We spoke a few times by phone; very nice guy and highly recommended. A week later I had a gorgeous rebuilt pump installed. I decided to run an experiment (and make life a little easier for myself) by plumbing with rubber hose. I do like the appearance of hardline but was eager to get on the road. I also figured if I was suffering from vapor lock, rubber would be a better insulator for my fuel than metal.

Well, I remain convinced sticking to the mechanical fuel pump is the way to go if there was one there in the first place and you're not making big modifications. That motor just seems quieter, happier, and has been much more reliable in hot starting than before. Haven't hit a warm enough day for a true test but I have made a few 70+ mph runs at close to a 1/2 hour each without complaint from the motor.

Now, handling is another story and it's pretty bad. Who wants to offer up an opinion on where to start? A good bump in the road causes a bad swing L & R as well as up & down. I'm thinking my shocks are unevenly worn and my stiff old tires aren't helping. What's the hot ticket on shocks and rubber for this car?

Thanks as always for everyone's help,

Michal

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Okay BigKev, you've now set a standard for my motor to shoot for as I work my way through this car. Here's where it was when I found it but don't judge a book by its cover; a day later it was running smooth as silk...

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Uh oh... that second pic has a heat shield, which I don't have. Maybe I'll be fine as I have the double-stage pump. I'm also missing any hard lines from the pump to the carb... you guys think I should break out my tube bender and toss the current rubber hose?

Hey Cortcomp, terrific! Now, maybe my dome is 180? off as a result of a previous rebuild? I noticed missing bolts all around the upper half (vacuum) of the pump. I hear Feltz is the man to make it right... or one of them at least.

Michal

Ah, great clarification. I had the image that the dome was on the vacuum portion, not the fuel. I'm right-side up on it now... thanks much. I do have the glass filter which is how I traced the delivery problem to vapor-lock. With a full tank of gas and the electric pump running, I wasn't spilling gas when I loosened that glass bowl. I read a bit about electric pumps preferring to push than pull but didn't want to bother relocating it to see for myself.

I'm a believer that this car came from an era of high levels of engineering, parts production, and assembly. Cost cutting was much more mild then than now, eh?

Michal

Thanks Howard, makes sense. Now, I've got a vacuum line going directly from the intake manifold to the wiper motor, which I'll move from the manifold to the pump barb with the dome... now where would the inlet-side lead to? Some sort of filter?

Michal

Hello All,

Since straightening out my rear end problems, I've been making test runs and working on sorting out a handful of other issues. Ones that keep popping up are random stalls that make me think of vapor lock. She'll be a no start, no how but let her sit 30 mins or so and she fires right up.

I'm going to go backwards and return to the mechanical pump the PO bypassed when he installed an electric. Got Feltz working on a rebuild and thought I'd see if anyone could ID that funny bulb on the vacuum side. (It's just to the L of the upper hose barb in the pic.) Could it be a micro-mini vacuum canister for buffering or collecting vacuum?

Anyone have any tips on installing the rebuild to minimize vapor lock? Wrapping the lines, installing a heat shield, rigid v. hose, etc...

Thanks, Michal

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Just a final update to wrap this thread: I tracked down a decent used drum, slipped it on the axle, and it tightened up as expected. So, looks like my original drum had a worn hub center after all. I still need to top up the gear oil and button up a few more things before going out for a proper test drive but it's looking good.

Thanks again to everyone's help. Now it's on to the next item to be sorted so I'm sure I'll be posting again soon... probably regarding the R9 OD control unit.

Happy New Year PackardInfo, Michal