Very generous of you. Somebody needs to grab this drivetrain. The Super 8 parts are becoming increasingly difficult to source. If I was anywhere near I would take the parts. But I'm all the way across the country.

-Kevin

My dad's '38 Super has the same turn signal lever. I do wish it had self-cancelling when completing a turn. Other than that it works fine.

-Kevin

Tim - we stuck mousetraps under the seat while we were working on the car. Didn't catch any though. But I'll be very aggressive with getting rid of them. I don't want them destroying the nice leather.

How do I remove the ignition switch? I assume I have to unscrew it from the back of the dash? I really can't feel back there, let alone see anything. The A/C stuff is everywhere.

-Kevin

Wow, that repair turned out great! Excellent job.

-Kevin

HPH - The A/C set up takes up a ridiculous amount of real estate. The compressor on the engine is not too bad, but it interferes with the fan now that we are using a '39 water pump. But the entire underside of the dash is taken up with a massive air handler, ducting all over the place, and a stupid amount of wires. It's insane. The reason the engine raced when we started it the second time was the air handler had fallen down onto the gas pedal. I'm so tempted to just remove it all. Our temps here in eastern WA aren't too bad.

Once I get the list of above items sorted out, I will leave the fenders off and drive the car for a while. I'd like to work out any bugs before I put those enormous fenders back on.

Dave - to be honest I'm not even sure how to get the ignition cable off the ignition switch. I can't even see it, let alone reach it, with all the A/C junk in the way. I'm pretty sure the old wire caught fire inside the whole length of cable. Not sure how I'm going to clean that out and get a new wire in there.

The car is already 12V, so should be easy to do the electric fan swap. The 12V conversion and A/C was all done by the previous owner down in Texas. I can see how A/C would be helpful down there, but it's just not needed much up here.

Good call on Terrell Machine. I'll get in touch with them.

-Kevin

Over 2 years after our last failed engine, we were at it again today. Our good friend has been diligently plugging away at getting the engine put back together in between health problems and other unexpected issues.

We had it towed to his shop, then dropped the engine into place. During the course of pulling the battery, we noticed that mice had somehow gotten into the car and started to make a mess. In fact when we lifted the seat, several of them scattered. Ugh.

We spent some time getting everything hooked up to the engine in preparation for starting. Drained the old gas, new oil (10W-30), and adjusted the distributor. The engine started right up first time. It definitely needs timing dialed in and to be tuned.

Once we confirmed the engine started, we installed the radiator and filled with coolant. On the second start try the ignition wire shorted out somewhere and caught fire. Quickly shutting the ignition off stopped it. We removed the ignition from the circuit and started the car without it. The engine immediately raced (not good) because the throttle was stuck. We killed it immediately.

Third time was a charm with normal starting, idle, and running. We took it up to operating temp, lots of smoke out the back initially, and smoke off the newly painted exhaust manifold. Confirmed the '39 water pump works and no leaks. Let the engine cool down and will retorque the head nuts after.

Video:

Problems:
1.) Fuel pump leaks all over the place. It works, but the gaskets are likely shot.
2.) Carb needs a rebuild. Runs a bit rough, and accelerator pump is no good.
3.) Need to replace the ignition wire. It's going to be a nightmare. Under the dash is packed with air conditioning equipment and wires. I'm seriously considering tearing out all the A/C stuff. It is very frustrating to work around.
4.) Need to figure out a fan solution. The '39 water pump is much shorter than the '38, which leaves the fan about 6" from the radiator. I'm thinking it may be best to ditch the belt-driven fan and do dual electric fans. It's not original, but options are very limited with the situation we have.
5.) Need to find the right fan belt. 3/4" and about 49" long. We threw a temporary one on there. It works but not well.

-Kevin

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The '55 400 in WA also comes with a replacement windshield and new wiring harness. The price is fair for what you are getting. Definitely going to be some rust issues, but that can be addressed. For the right person that car would make a great project.

-Kevin

'37, '38, and '39 Super 8 engines are very hard to find. From what we've had to deal with on my dad's '38 Super we found that 1938 was the year that had the most problems with cracked blocks. Something about the metallurgy of that year, or poor water circulation. And the '39 engine is different enough that some parts can't be easily swapped between the years.

On the second engine that we rebuilt for my dad's car, we found that corrosion was the killer. The donor block had been fully disassembled, dipped and cleaned, and machined. The pistons had to be slightly bored. The corrosion inside the water jacket left thin spots that couldn't be seen. On the first start after installing the engine those thin spots blew open. #2 cylinder had a leak in the wall, and there was a leak under one of the valve seats on #6.

Our third block was in much better shape. We'll be installing the engine again this weekend, and we are hoping for the best.

I agree with what was said earlier about considering putting in a 288. They are much easier to find, plenty of parts, and still maintains the original feel.

As a side note, I'm pretty sure the rods on my dad's car were restored with babbit. The engine had previously been opened, prior to us having the car. But no idea when that was. If these engines were supposed to have bearings, then someone in the past apparently had to do babbit instead. No idea why.

-Kevin

Thanks Joe, I'll check and see what colors of nail polish my wife already has. That may be an easy solution.

Today my replacement bezels came in the mail. Gerry at Packards Southwest reached out to me letting me know that he had some nice ones in stock. He had two NOS and one used in good condition. The price was great and communication was excellent. This is the first time I have bought from Packards Southwest and I'm sure I will do it again. Everyone in the Packard world has been so awesome to deal with. We are really blessed to have so many great suppliers of parts out there.

I completely disassembled the old bezels, glass, and black surrounds. I sanded down and painted the surrounds semi-gloss black (all had some rust and flaking paint). The glass was polished and metal shards removed (I was an idiot way back when I was cutting metal to fix my rusted header....didn't protect the dash like I should have). The glass cleaned up much better than I thought it would. The new bezels were also polished.

I did a quick test fit to see how it looks and I'm very happy. I still need to address the faded indicators, but the difference in overall looks of the cluster so far is striking. I can't wait to get it all wrapped up and installed back in the car.

-Kevin

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Quote:

I may end up doing something like this if I have to back the clear plastic with white. Some sanding on the white can thin it out and I should be able to dial in an appropriate light output.

-Kevin