I'm pretty sure the same coil base will work on a '38 Super Eight, and probably a '37 also. What you have looks exactly like the one on my dad's '38.

-Kevin

Well, I will be picking up that '53 Sportster in the next few weeks. The guy made me an offer I can't refuse. I'll bring it back, evaluate and go from there. Likely just a parts car at this point so I'll strip what I need. Might talk to David Moe at Seattle Packards to see if he wants the rest of the car. If there's anything useful on it I would hate to see it go to the crusher.

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That's a good idea. I'm not sure my drill will open that much, but I'll try. Otherwise, I might know a guy with a lathe. I'll check with him and see.

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I polished the commutator again after clearing out the grooves. I don't have a lathe, so I'm just using fine sandpaper. That's not going to take down the ridges that have been worn into it by the brushes. If you're talking about the grooves with the mica, I'm pretty sure those grooves are supposed to be there. They were pretty obviously there before.

Thanks for the tip Ross. Always good to add more tools to the toolbox. The wobble extension will make my life much easier!

Just waiting on parts from Max Merritt now. New brushes and bushing will be replaced. Currently cleaning up and painting the housing.

Also polished the commutator and cleaned out the grooves and mica. They were completely filled with copper. Much better now.

That 400 with the orchid cloth is not too far from me. Never seen that cloth pattern before, looks nice. Nice color combo and wire wheels are a bonus.

Two others near me that are interesting for different reasons.

1941 120 Business Coupe project. This one was posted here not long ago, but the guy has now dropped the price twice. Started at $17,500, now at $11,000 which is much more reasonable. Was a frame-off restoration that either stalled or the guy doing it is unable due to health. Lots of newly chromed parts, engine is apart and ready to reassemble. No interior that I can see in the pictures. But it looks like it's close to the point of primer and paint, then reassembly. This would be a super fun project. Tempting.

1953 Clipper Sportster. I remember this car being for sale a few years ago. The guy had re-chromed a bunch of stuff (bumper, grille, headlight rings, etc) and had reupholstered the seats and door cards (in incorrect cloth and color). But the floors were completely shot. This car popped up again a month or so ago in the middle of Oregon, and now it's up for sale again in the different city for only $500. Sounds like the guys that bought it realized it was worse than they thought. But I'm halfway tempted to get it, just so I can swap all the good chrome pieces for the crap that's on my car. Plus a spare engine (if it can be salvaged), transmission, and other spare parts. Heck, I might even see about repairing the floors, paint the body dark gray, the wheels red, new whitewalls, and put a glasspack on the exhaust.

My understanding is that from the factory the wheel wells were painted body color. Later many cars had undercoating applied that would cover that paint with black. My '54 Panama showed body color under areas where the undercoat had flaked off. I'm not an expert on this, so take my words with a grain of salt.

-Kevin

Don - Yes, it is the mechanical lever type. It's gigantic. Almost half the size of the starter itself (more like 1/4 but half sounds better).



David - That's exactly how it went. Small turn, flip the wrench, over and over for about 15 minutes. I don't want to do that again in the future if I can avoid it.

How do I check the solenoid contacts? I haven't looked closely to see if I can open it up or not.

-Kevin

John - thank you, great info. I'll do those things.

Don - Yes, that's the correct part number. Looks like it was found only on the 54th series....5402-06-11-13-26-31.



BigKev - from what I can find, the '54 Clippers used the much smaller electronic solenoid. I would have to change starters in order to use a different relay.

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There's no access to the upper bolt from underneath. I also could not fit a socket with extension in there. The solenoid is massive. From what I've seen on other '54 Panama's it is the right solenoid. The Panama's don't seem to follow the typical Clipper equipment. They seem to be a mishmash of junior and senior parts.

-Kevin