Welcome, Rob!

You found the right place. You'll be glad you are here.

Please share pictures with us, and if you can, the story of your rebuild process in the "Project Blogs" forum. You can find that by going to the "Packard Forums" on the left, scrolling down to "Project Blogs" and create a new thread. You may want to read one or two to get the drift. BigKev's 54 is a great one.

Welcome!

A 56 Pat is a terrific car and it sounds like you got it for a great price almost regardless of condition.

Some pix and description would be cool

Craig

Hello all,
I posted a rather long comment on the latest status of my book project yesterday 5,8,09 and when I came back today to see if there were any comments my yesterday's entry was nowhere to be found. Is there a secrete to getting posts to work/

I try again. Thanks to all for their expressions of sympathy for my loss. I have recovered well from bypass and back surgery and plan to be at the PAC national meet in Branson in June.

I just purchased a 1950 Custom 8 sedan to keep the 1954 Cavalier company. Besides, even though I have owned several 22nd-23rd Series cars in the past I currently did not have one and if you are going to write a book on them I guess you should own one.

Before I put more time into this note I am going to post this and see if it also goes down the tube. Then I will return and add more information.

hi

just joined your fantastic site,i recently purchased a 56 patrician with only 24,000 original miles on it for $800 as the guy needed the room so i will be asking questions soon as the car has been sitting for 20 years and needs some tlc. rob

I belive it's the one on the other end. 15.502? Is this availible by itself?

Obviously both sides new replacing but that one in particular is metal to metal.

HH56 why manual did that pic come from?
I can't find it in mine.

And last for now since I have T/L I'll need a special tool or two. Does anyone find them these days or are they all scooped up by now?
.

Boy, after the investment in plating (never inexpensive) I am pretty reticent about distrubing the plating or risking cracks in the pot metal. I use good ol' JB weld on things like that. I abrade the plating with a little Dremel wire wheel attachment to insure a good bond, and clean with laquer thinner before the join-up. I have drilled and tapped holes as in Howard's description, but done so before sending out for plating.

It's all according.

To do a real nice job, take all the valves out, clean them, check for wear, then lap them in with fine compound and reassemble. If none of them are burnt or badly worn. And if the valve stem is not too wobbly in the guide.

While you are at it check the cylinders for wear. If there is little or no ridge at the top of the cylinders, and all cylinders have a smooth mirror polish chances are the rings are fine.

.010 thou taper in the cylinders indicates bad wear. Scratches indicate broken rings. Pistons that look chewed, or have a hole in the middle, are bad too.

On the other hand if the valves are not badly rusted or gummed up there is a simpler way. Spray some oil around the valve stem. Make sure the cam is in the "valve closed" position. Give the valve a light tap with a small ball peen hammer right in the middle. Do not tap on the edge and you will not bend the valve.

The valve spring should pull the valve closed with a snap.

Turn the engine over a few times and if the valves are opening and closing normally, put the head back on and you are done.

By the way this all assumes that when the engine was running it had good oil pressure, there were no bangs raps or knocks, and it did not burn more than 1 quart of oil per 500 miles.

If it had no oil pressure, no power, there was a cloud of blue smoke out the back every place you went, and the engine sounded like a washing machine full of tin cans then all bets are off.

The usual way to remove a rusty leaky frost plug is to drive a punch through it and pry it out.

Could the dent have been made by such a punch?

The dent does not look deep enough to have any effect on water flow. It looks like some kind of accidental damage but is not serious enough to impair the use of the tube. I would ignore it if I were you. Put the tube back in and it will be fine.

I had removed the head and have 3 stuck valves, I soaked everything in Marvel oil and placed the head back on 3 months ago. I just assumed a valve job was in order, is there a trick to freeing the stuck valve without damaging it?

see my blog for lost of pics to help you.