I've bought many of Kanter Bros. rebuild kits for Ultramatics with good success.

According to the Feb 55 "Finish" magazine article on the new Connor Avenue plant, fenders, hoods, and skirts were all "flow-coated" with black enamel and then baked. Afterwards they were mounted on a finishing conveyor line with the fenders draped in pairs over something akin to sawhorses about a foot apart from each other and canted slightly outward at the bottom. In this position they were sprayed, finish sanded, and buffed before going to assembly. That is why all 55-56 unscrewed with cars have body color on the inner fender portion. It is a natural result of the way they were fixtured for painting. That is also why the paint fades away to black towards the bottom of the air duct as there was no way or desire to spray there. The hoods were laid flat on the same carriage, along with the skirts. That is why the hood and skirts are black on the "off" side, but with plenty of overspray.

No one at Connor had the time or inclination to mask off the inner fenders in any way.

A quick and dirty calculation on the back of a napkin tells me that if you nail your V8 at a light and the engine rises to the torque converter stall speed, about 2500 IIRC, the fluid velocity in the torque convertor should be well over 100 mph. The smallest piece of shrapnel will start tearing hunks out of the vanes making more shrapnel and the cascade of disaster has begun. One of the first TUs I did was from an Executive. The whole transmission was full of something like tiny aluminum pebbles the size of a ball point pen ball. They used to be to torque convertor vanes.

The best money you will spend is to buy the best car you can afford. That is much cheaper than fixing a pig. Oftentimes for a mere thousand more than a pushmobile, you might get something you could drive home. Of course this theory is modified by the search for one particular model, or if one is looking for a project to do.

All that said, a 51 Patti is a very nice car, delightful to drive. If the rest of the car is nice, its no particular problem to get a usable engine. Be aware that very many Packard owners are getting to the age where they are letting cars, and especially project cars, go. I genuinely expect to see way more cars for sale in the next ten years than there will be folks to buy them. The selection is good now, and will only get better.

Rolling through the hills of central Pennsylvania in a 51 200 in overdrive. 288 engine. Pedal to spare. This is my definitive statement about how upset to be that you don't have a 327.

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Yes, it can be done although it is difficult to fish it out. But before you do that, why don't you just unplug the governor at the connector and provide a ground with a jumper wire (ignition switch on). The overdrive solenoid should click in. If it does, the governor is at fault, if not, the trouble is elsewhere.

Don't forget that the signal for the relay also passes through the lockout switch located at the back of the lockout cable under the dash. The wires so love to fall off of these, and the switch itself is also a bit fiddly--be certain the knob is pushed all the way in.

I have installed a 7/16-20 helicoil many times in Packard blocks with perfect success to date. I have even done it without removing the head as the hole through the head is a great oversize to guide the drill bit for a nice straight shot. Its a little painful to buy the Helicoil set to do one, but rather necessary. Helicoils were good enough for instruments undergoing the rigors of launch on the spaceshuttle--they are good enough for me. But do use some sealer!

The dimension is 2.75 inches, or about 7 cm. In my experience, this is not life and death important compared with the adjustment of the lever at the transmission. Based on several cases I have now seen, make sure the lever on the trans. is pointing up and not down. Check out 51packard's blog from about a month ago for more discussion and pictures of this issue.

Hearty congrats and well done. The fun is just beginning. I'm a little surprised that the steering is heavy and the brakes fuzzy. With radials they usually steer light and the pedal should be quite firm. Maybe your kingpin thrust bearings are stopped up with fossilized grease. Try warming them gently with a torch and while still hot grease the bejeebers out of the kingpins. Rude, crude, but effective.

Pattern for the trunk divider is coming as soon as I get home in a few weeks.

Had that same problem on a 51 20 years ago. Turned out to be a short in the armature of the generator and the voltage would drop at speed. Its easy enough to check: hook a voltmeter to the A terminal of the generator, and the other lead to ground. As you rev the engine, the voltage should come up to at least 7.2 and stay there throughout.