Thanks everyone for the advice. I have to acknowledge that being a pensioner means the grey matter ain't what it used to be and, as somebody once said, a little bit of knowledge is dangerous and I guess these days I fall into that camp. In any event, I will provide my distributor mechanic with a copy of the service bulletin kindly suggested by HH56 for the advance curve. I'll then follow Jack V's #3 suggestion and monitor the best initial advance by road testing. Actually, my old man was a motor mechanic and he always said to advance the timing until it pings under load, back-off a little and retest, and repeat until it seems right, which I think is essentially Jack's advice. Cheers, John

G'day All, I too prefer to run NGK plugs in my cars and have never had a problem with them. I note that Randy runs a hotter plug (BP4ES) than mine (BPR5ES), although mine are resistor type which I understand are better at minimising radio interfernce and potential eletronic damage to the Petronix electronic kit I fitted to the distributor. I also note that Jack V suggests a heat range of 5 is about right so I think I will stick with this type for now. At around $4.50, they are a bit dearer over here in good old OZ, but similar to other brands and readily available. Also, I found the NGK part numbering system on the AUS NGK website. Go to ngk.co.au, then to Product Information, then to Part Numbering System. By the way, I might have inferred on the ignition advance curve thread that I was having pinging problems but this is not the case when using mid-range premium unleaded (ie, 95 RON). I was more concerned about reconditioning the distributor to maximise power and mileage, while continuing to avoid pinging. Cheers, John

G'day Jack, funny how topics come along just at the right time.

I've just put my distributor in for reconditioning and was asked about the advance curve. Of course I only knew what is in the Service Manual, so I am very interested in whatever info you have on this topic. I have a '56 Patrician with a 374 and it's distributor is a Delco #1110865 (my spare is a #1110873).

Some time ago I fitted a Pertronix kit (#1183) into it and it has been performing well, with no problems. That is, apart from the timing varying occasionally, which we think might be due to sticking centrifugal advance weights, hence the need for reconditioning. I have also fitted the Pertronix 40K volt coil.

I have also fitted NGK plugs (#BPR5ES) which seem to work fine (I always go for NGK in all cars in the family), although I have never been sure what gap I should use, opting for a "loose" 35 thou. Should it be bigger? The R in the number relates to a resistor which is good for minimising radio interference.

Any info I can get about the advance curve would be greatly appreciated as I want to avoid as much pinging as I can with today's modern unleaded fuel, whilst not sapping power or mileage if I can avoid it.

Cheers, John

Thanks for all the advice guys, especially the excellent one about plonk. Being rather partial to such things, I may just have one or two tonight, and perhaps another for you guys. The brake bleeding was accomplished without too much drama, although I did as requested and turned the radio off in the shed and agreed that it was bloody hot in here today. Maybe that's the secret, keep on agreeing and don't shout! I didn't worry about the bearings as they turn freely without noise or feel and, as we don't do a huge amount of miles each year, decided to leave that job for another day. I did decide to drain the diff and replace the oil in there as I didn't know how long it's been since the last time. Also, I noticed the bushings in the stabiliser bar are in pretty bad shape and need replacing. I'm happy to do that, although it looks like the factory has rivetted the parts together so that probably means grinding and using bolts. Ah well, it is a Packard after all. Cheers, John

PS, I did have those couple of "red's" last night, and quite enjoyable they were too. I've started the search for the vent hole in the diff housing but I mustn't have remove enough crud as I haven't found it yet.

Thanks Owen, that's what I was hoping to hear and, given that they are not noisy, I'll leave well enough alone. Now that's under control, time to refit the rear brakes and bleed the system, not that I'm looking forward to that. She who must be obeyed will have to give me a hand, or foot, and follow my instructions. Even though we've been married for 45 years, there are still occasional communication problems. As someone once said, life wasn't meant to be easy! Cheers, John

G'day Mates, I'm in need of some more expert advice. After reconditioning the front wheel cylinders and fitting new axle bearings to my '56 Patrician, I'm now in the process of reco'ing the rear wheel cylinders, and am wondering whether to tackle the rear axle bearings as well. From my reading of the manual, it seems that the bearings might have to be pressed off the axle for repacking and then pressed back on. Am I on the right tram here or is it possible the bearings fitted are sealed for life (he says hopefully)? I actually have a spare axle complete with bearing and the rollers (or balls?) are covered on both sides - unable to be repacked unless covers are removed, but I am reluctant to try and do this unless that's what I'm supposed to do. Cheers, John

Thanks Mal, there's no hiding from you by the look of it. That photo was taken the week before I decided to repack the wheel bearings, which ultimately led to this thread being started. Just on the anchor issue, the anchors on my car are round (both sides of the backing plate) and fixed, which means no adjustment at this point. Brakes still have to be manually adjusted through the slot in the backing plate though. Oh, and I cleaned the linings before installing the shoes and the composition of the lining material looked the same to me on both shoes, so maybe the issue of colour of the brake springs is not an issue at all. No matter, it's been done by the book now. Cheers, John

Thanks for the info Brian. I can report that everything is now reassembled completely in accordance with Owen's instructions. When I initially disassembled the brakes I noticed the secondary shoes had marginally more meat on them than the primaries so, as the shoes are the same, I was going to reverse them to get more wear out of the set. That is until I noticed the different length linings and then I started to wonder if the way they were set up was correct. I couldn't find anything specific to explain that, hence my inquiry to you learned gentlemen. By the way, these linings were originally fitted in the US (the car came from California). Out here in good old Oz we wouldn't be able to buy complete matching sets off the shelf, we would get a new set made up by a brake specialist using the old ones as templates. Thanks to you both once again, you've been very helpful. Cheers, John

Thanks for the info Owen. On rechecking the diagrams and photo's in the service manual and parts book, there's no indication of whether they are right or left hand side. I've assumed I was looking at the LHS brake assembly but, based on your description, it is obviously the RHS. Accordingly, I'm headed out into the shed to reassemble everything that way, apart from the springs which were reversed at some stage in the dim distant past (orange to primary). Then to be on the safe side, it's start all over again down the back end. Cheers, John

G'day Mates, I'm in need of some expert advice. Some routine maintenance repacking the front wheel bearings on my '56 Patrician has grown into new bearings and reco'd wheel cylinders. Everything is ready for reassembly but I've noticed a couple of problems with the brake springs & shoes. You can see in the attached photo that, according to the service manual, the springs are reversed with the yellow to the primary shoe - easily fixed. However, even though the parts book allocates the same number for both shoes, they are not the same. The primary shoe has a lining length of 9 3/4" and the secondary 12 5/8". Also, the diagram in the parts book (#14) implies the secondary shoe has a shorter lining. Which lining is correct for each shoe? Hope you can help. Kind regards, John (can't get photo to load so hopefully description will do)