This may or may not apply to the Marsden nuts, but working on my Cavalier I have found that most original Packard Parts, even though they are 72 years old, are still better quality than reproduced parts.

Only $10 each, a bargain!

I reused mine, haven't fallen off yet!

My 53 Cavalier and 53 Patrician parts car use only the wire style on the door cards. I cleaned mine up and reused them as well.

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I got these blankets off Amazon.a.co/d/bQhPYlh They seem to be okay, but I might test them just to make sure.

Princess Auto has welding blankets that burn?!?! Why am I not surprised!

How's your project going??

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Thank you! This is my first project, so I'm learning as I go! Once I'm done the wheelhouse patches everything else should be relatively simple. Fingers crossed!

Welding the fenders is pretty much done.





Got started on the wheelhouse patch for the passenger side. LOTS of cutting and trimming to get it to the right size and shape. It's going to be awkward to weld these in, but at least they don't need to look pretty.





I picked up these welding blankets to protect my interior. I was using cardboard, but that's crazy!

Good job! Keep having fun!

I'm running Lucas Classic Car oil as well. There are LOTS of opinions about oil, sooooo many opinions, but I think the best thing we can do for our engines is more frequent changes. The oil in these engines becomes contaminated much quicker than it does in modern engines.

I could not get my valve guides to budge using the threaded rod method, which is the point where I got a bit nervous. But I had our local machine shop build up the driver and that did the trick! I had them all out in an hour! Because I was driving mine out, and because cylinder 8's guides were very close to spec, I left them alone. #4 & #5 had very worn guides.

I too noticed stem wear on my valves, primarily on one side of the stem. I suppose this is typical, but this is the only engine I've worked on, so not sure.

Here's a picture of a piston with the rings is did have on it when I pulled my engine apart. The oil ring looks similar to the new one, but my engine had been worked on sometime in the past, so has probably had one new set of rings. I'm guessing the engine work was done in the 80's, and then I think it was parked for a long time. Probably because of a tapping sound that the engine was making.

The engine builder that I know, and would go to for advice, generally uses Hasting rings, but I showed him the set of Grant rings I got for the car and he was impressed with design.




Take lots and lots of pictures! They are good for future reference.

I love driving my '53 Cavalier! I'm sure your '50 rides and handles much the same.

Your engine will be purring soon!

First start up is fun! Do you know how long it's been since the car ran?

Ultramatics do not modern ATF's, they're too slippery. Type F is still available and works well. I've heard some use trick shift ATF as well, haven't tried it myself.

While you have your engine's oil pan off you might want to pull a couple of caps and have a look at your crank, just so you know what you're starting with. How do your cylinders look?

Might be a good idea to run it off a jerry can unless you already know the tank is nice and clean.

Probably all stuff you already know owning a few old cars, and sounds like you're going about things in the right way. I'm just thinking about things I learned with my car. Can't stop ol' guys from talking about ol' cars! LOL

It was only a couple of years ago I was rolling around on my garage floor working on my engine.




Good luck and keep us posted!

Before hunting for a reamer, maybe replace your guides and check to see if your clearances are within spec?

Of all of the projects that I've done on my car, replacing valve guides was the one where I found myself over my head. Truth be told I'm in over my head on most of my Packard projects, but with the valve guides I was having visions of hauling my car to someone that could bail me out, but all's well that ends well. It was a happy day when I finally got my old guides out and the new ones installed. (My engine work was all done in-car.)

To be clear, I am not a mechanic, only mechanically inclined. Thankfully my car is very patient and responds well to my persistent need to repair and rebuild it.

Here are a few pictures. I started pulling my engine apart to find the source of a tapping sound on the May long weekend 2023. I didn't get it put back together and running until August, just in time for the Packard/Studebaker annual picnic.