Thanks both of you. That was my assumption as well. Testing with the temperature gun last night showed me similar to what you are seeing JWL.

The guy who rebuilt the engine left the thermostat out on purpose, but I will likely put it back in. I prefer to have the cooling system operating as designed (as much as possible given that I will have to use an electric fan).

Does anyone have a picture of the bracket for the air cleaner? I think I'm going to have to fabricate one up, but I'm not sure what it looks like or how it attaches to the air cleaner.

-Kevin

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What's your plan for cleaning/painting inside the doors? I'm getting ready to do that on the Panama right now, and I'm thinking clean off as much rust as I can, POR-15 then Dynamat on the outer skins.

-Kevin

Thanks guys! I try to keep it as clean as possible....makes working in it less stressful. The floor coating helps because it keeps dust to almost zero, and makes fluid spills easy to clean up. It's not totally impervious, but better than bare concrete. I also haven't built a workbench and some other storage areas yet. Those will fill it up more. But I will keep the floor space as open and clear as possible. Working in my neighbor's shop back when I first got the Panama made me a clean freak for my own shop. Over there every square inch of floor space had some random junk on it, making it impossible to move around and find any sort of tools.

I had a few minutes to look deeper in the Super 8 tonight. A quick check of the radiator showed it was dry inside, though I had filled it up a month ago. Also, the rubber gasket on the cap had folded over last time it was installed.

I found a few coolant leaks. One around the gasket for the oil cooler, and a few loose hose clamps. I tightened all those up and refilled the coolant to the correct level.

I started it and let it warm up. No other coolant leaks noted. The water pump is pushing water as expected. The temp gauge on the dash is reading higher than with the temp gun on different parts of the engine. When it says 180 on the dash, it's closer to 160 on the engine.

There is an electric fan installed on the front of the radiator. I turned it on, and it does indeed cool the water as it passes through the radiator, but it is crazy loud. I will have to find a better solution.

The engine is not totally smooth yet. It has a random stumble at idle and is not smooth at all when accelerating. I will begin by verifying timing and dialing it in. The carb will likely need a rebuild and maybe that will help. Any other advice would be appreciated.

-Kevin

Got up early this morning and worked on getting the ignition switch back in the car. As expected, it was a difficult task. Most of it was working blind, and getting the screws in by feel. Took a solid hour of laying upside down to get it done. I left it as a normal wire for now. I plan to clean out the armored cable and will run the wire through that. The armored cable will not go all the way to the ignition switch....it will be cut just inside the firewall.

The battery was totally dead, so after charging and trying a few times the car fired up and ran fine. It needs some tuning, but overall smooth and quiet. I took it for a quick drive around the street....clutch was okay but loose, brakes were not amazing. Both are on my list to address.

The temp gauge was showing over 200 in the car, the louvers didn't open at that point. Steam was coming out of the radiator cap. The mechanical fan is not installed, but I hooked up the existing electrical fan. I don't know that it did much. I'm not sure I can trust what the gauge says. The radiator cap may be bad also, letting pressure out. I will have a lot of diagnosing to do.

The louvers opened after I shut the car down, and closed slowly as the car cooled. I will read up in the manual on adjustments and see what I can do.

A friend of mine made the 2 hour drive down to the where the car was, and we loaded it into his enclosed trailer. He drove it back to my place and we just finished unloading it and putting it in the shop. With the car in the shop I will have plenty of room to work, and the lift will make it easy to get underneath and adjust things as needed.

For now, at least, my shop is fully dedicated to Packards and my Panama has a stable mate.

-Kevin

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I think I may have the ignition switch figured out, I hope. I was unable to get the brass grommet/connector tapped as it would just spin around.

I ended up drilling away some of the bakelite so I could get a pair of hemostats to clamp and hold the brass grommet in place. Then I was able to use a #4 machine screw to self-tap and hold a connector in place. It holds fine, but the whole assembly spins because the grommet does. I can't think of a way to keep it from spinning.

So I cut out the back plate enough to allow for some movement without it contacting and shorting. For good measure I put some heat shrink on.

I guess we'll see how it does. I'm going back to where the car is on Monday and will get it installed. I need to get the car started so that we can load it up on a friend's trailer and get it back to my place. Then the finishing can start in earnest.

-Kevin

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Quote:

Thanks Bob. I need to find one of those adapter plates. Any idea where the other end of the line connects? I assume it goes to the vacuum pump, but does it go on the front or the back?

-Kevin

Looks great! And you'll never have to do it again.

-Kevin

Now that the Audi is "fixed" I can turn my attention back to the Panama. German cars are the worst.

My driver's window has been cracked since I bought the car. Not a huge deal, since I drive with the windows down nearly 100% of the time. But the window run channels are completely shot, so the glass rattles around quite a bit.

I pulled the glass out and decided it would be best if a pro replaced the glass. I'm not even sure where to begin on it.

The rear window run channel and the front are different dimensions. I think the rear is just pressed into the metal guide. Steele has it (https://www.steelerubber.com/rigid-run-channel-30-0302-57) but I can probably find something the right size from Restoration Specialties. I'm not sure on the front. I know people have replaced the run channels on their cars, and was hoping they had the part number they ordered from Restoration Specialties. If it worked for others it will work for me.

Lastly, I scraped off all the old sound deadener from the inside of the door. It came right off. I will clean up the metal as best I can, then likely go through the POR-15 regimen (since I have some sitting unopened) to prevent further rust, then put the same sound deadening mats in there that I used for the rest of the car.

-Kevin

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One from Hemmings.

1956 400, black and white Tuxedo. Original interior in red leather and black cloth looks great. Besides the sagging dash padding, everything else looks great. Looks like original paint, some wear, chrome overall pretty good.

Sounds like it needs some work to the torsion suspension. I'd say for the price, this is an excellent car. $9500.

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/packard/400/2656692.html

Looking good! Transmissions scare me. I've never messed with one before and have no idea what's involved. Seems yours is coming along nicely.

-Kevin