Got it down. You guys were right, I just had to turn the crank a bit and it came right down. I had the timing cover off anyway for cleaning, inspecting the chain, and installing a new seal. Check out my progress on the AACA projects forum.

http://forums.aaca.org/f190/well-we-drug-another-one-home-350095.html

Thanks again.

Pulling the oil pan off on a 1948 356. All bolts off. Pan is loose, but won't come down however. I already have the timing cover & front motor mount off. I'm guessing I have to also undo the side motor mounts towards the front and use a cherry picker to hoist front of engine up and inch or two so pan will clear the crank and come off. Am I missing anything here?

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/pts/4355705747.html

No, I'm not the one who's butchering a Packard.

Thank you all for your feedback!

General speaking, I view PAC as the East Coast/Midwest Packard Club, and PI as the West Coast/Australian Packard Club. Because I live in the Midwest, I joined PAC. 3 of the last 4 years, their national meet in the summer has been within a one day drive of where I live. I think the only way they could merge would be to agree to have 2 National Meets per year, one in the East, and on in the West. That would not be a bad thing.

What's a good source for a set of spark plug wires for a 1948 356 Packard? The one size fits all set from Kanter?

Thank you!

I have an original 1931 Packard 840/845 owners manual. In it is a piece of paper outlining the tools that came with the car and there is a place for the body type number. This field is stamped 474-5-7. I'm curious what type of body was this?

I thought the proving ground break in ended with the 1934 Twelves, and starting in 1935 they just ran the engines on a dynometer for several hours.

My 1955 400 transmission does the exact same thing as the original posters does. Mine is a 51,000 mile original car that does not appear to have been ever abused either. I dropped the transmission pan (it was very clean) and refilled the unit with B&M trick shift fluid. No improvement.

How hard would it be to drop the transmission and just replace the direct drive clutch plates? I've been thinking about doing this.