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Board index » All Posts (Speedwell)




Re: Packard versus the Rest
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Ross
It comes down to what you are looking for--for something cool-looking for top down motoring a 48 Convertible would be hard to beat. For driving pleasure, get the sedan or coupe. Those hydraulic windows will make you weep, the car is heavy feeling and still somewhat, uh, limber on rough roads. Packard was not alone in that.

I have historical reasons for cringing a bit when convertibles come in--they have very often had really rough lives in their cheap-used-car days. And we even have a special song we sing when Caribbeans come in "for a little work".

When sorted, any Packard will provide a comfortable reliable ride.

By the way, really enjoy hearing people's takes on various competitors.

Posted on: 2010/12/7 13:04
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Re: noisy differential
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Ross
The ratio is stamped on the pumpkin, but you will need a good wire brush to find it. Look at the circle of bolts that holds the pumpkin in the housing. Its usually near the ten or eleven o'clock position.

Posted on: 2010/12/7 12:37
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Re: noisy differential
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Ross
Another point about installing a 3.54 rear is that in overdrive, you will have a final drive of about 2.5 to 1. Had that in my 50 Super years ago and had to kick down on many hills. 4.1 or even 3.9 work OK, especially with the 327.

Posted on: 2010/12/7 5:23
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Re: Packard versus the Rest
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Ross
Oh, what a fun topic!

Being in the old car service business I've had the opportunity to drive a lot of different old cars and observe:

Era for era, the Packards are often more fun to drive than the competition. The others had some strong points but...

1950 Windsor Newport: excellent build quality and unbeatable dash treatment. Awkward, slow shifting transmission and very "heavy on its feet".

49 Buick: Suspension only worked well on boulevards as a result of incredible unsprung weight. Hopeless in corners on the backroads.

49 Lincoln Cosmo--where did all the gasoline go?

41 Cad: Where's the overdrive?

I like to drive my cars hard and meet or beat traffic. The Packards do this with no stress. Many cars of the pre-55 era could not manage a sustained high speed as they were geared for secondary roads and lacked the option of overdrive.

Having said all that, here are two oddball picks that won my respect the hard way: 50 Ambassador--snappy, smooth, quiet, and surprisingly light on its feet. 49 Frazer Manhattan: Astonishingly comfortable seats(so many seat springs it would make a Custom Eight blush), great ride, easy handling, a bit slow but turned in 20 mpg.

Posted on: 2010/12/6 22:28
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Re: 1949 Steering Column
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Ross
Remove the wheel, as described. Remove the toe-board plate around the pedals, and take out the screws that hold the rubber collar at the base of the column to the firewall.
Take out the two long screws that hold the column to the dashboard bracket.

Undo the shift rods, and unplug your turn signals. At the steering gear loosen the clamp that clamps the column to the neck of the steering gear.
Seat yourself comfortably in the driver's seat and wiggle turn and tug on the column till it comes sliding up the steering shaft. You may have to loosen the steering gear-to-frame bolts so the column angles down a bit for more clearance. Getting the shift lever through the toe-board is often a pain. Enjoy.

Posted on: 2010/12/5 7:35
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Re: Overheating
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Ross
OK, that is a new one. In my 35 years of owning/ being around 55 Packards, plus another twenty-odd years of experience of my late friend Don Boger, V-8 overheating has been a non-issue, excepting standard neglect issues.

Don bought perhaps more than a dozen V-8s, predominantly 55,s from the early sixties through the early seventies. They were among the cheapest used cars available at the time and, they were driven by the whole family to work, shopping, and his daughters took a pair to college.

I believe some journalist was trying to fill an empty page.

Posted on: 2010/12/5 7:14
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Re: 1st time startup
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Ross
I just installed a set in the Balboa's 327. Fired it for the first time this evening, as a matter of fact. After about 3 minutes of clatter all was quiet on the western front. Big smiles in Parkton this evening.

I used to painstakingly clean those darn lifters and pressure test them with a rig I built, but more often than I care to recall would still have one tap at a hot slow idle. The $275 seems quite the bargain.

Interesting factoid about those lifters: if you have an engine with a valve stuck down and ram it open with the starter or even by hand, that lifter will be ruined. That's because the barrels of those lifters are quite thin and will actually expand from the hydraulic pressure within as it attempts to lift the stuck valve. Sometimes it expands enough that its hard to get the lifter to come out of the tappet. That's a dead giveaway as to its health. Once the barrel is big it will never hold quiet at an idle--on a running engine look for a stream of oil coming around the top of the lifter. That's another giveaway.

Posted on: 2010/12/2 19:39
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Re: Packard 374 Engine Colors
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Ross
One thing for sure, engine "detailing" was a lot less important to the folks at Packard, epecially in the junior and postwar eras, than it is to us. I agree, the colors were all over the map, and many parts got hardly more than a vapor of paint on them--with no primer. This was just standard industrial practice. My customers would be irritated if I detailed their engine compartments EXACTLY as original. Would save a lot of paint and materials tho.

Posted on: 2010/12/1 7:57
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Re: BigKev's 1954 Packard Clipper Deluxe Sedan
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Ross
Fantastic progress! Really makes me want to run out and strip something.

The bottom and side moldings on the windshield and on the rear window come off with nuts on the inside. The top of the rear window is set in the rubber, and I can't remember about the top of the windshield.

Posted on: 2010/11/29 14:05
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Re: Locked Rear end
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Ross
I've never encountered an early style Ultra being terminally stuck in park--but there is a first time for everything. What I rather think has happened is that the detent plunger has ridden somehow off the end of the cam.

I suggest unscrewing the detent housing out of the side of the trans, extract its spring and plunger, and see if you can get things to move. That would be the approx 1-1/8 hex fitting that is mounted just above the shift lever on the trans, the one without the wires.

If the shifter still won't move, try unscrewing the neutral safety switch. Perchance its guts have somehow popped out.

In any event, at some point you will have to methodically go through your linkage from the column right through to inside the pan to check the adjustments.

On third thought, after reading the beginning of the post, I wonder if the car was put away with a bit of water or other nasty stuff in the trans. What's the dipstick look like when you pull it out?

I have had a car rollbacked here with the trans filled with rancid brake fluid. That was special

Posted on: 2010/11/28 20:01
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