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

Howard - thanks for that info, that's good to know. The ignition switch is not original. It was replaced by the previous owner with something that is not Packard as far as I can tell. So hopefully not an issue within the switch itself. Possibly combination of wiring, worn brushes, poor connections.

Don - I couldn't figure out a better way to access that spot. It was awkward any way I tried. But at least the bolt wasn't seized and there was room behind the upper block and firewall to squeeze a wrench and my hand in there. I'm not looking forward to putting it back in.

-Kevin

Vinyl shipped yesterday, so I should have all the upholstery materials I need to get the seats done. I'm booked with the upholstery shop for the end of the month. Then the seats go back in and the interior should be "done". There will still be a few other things to address here and there, but not much.

While I wait for that to happen I'm moving down the list of other projects. First up is the starter. The car was getting much more difficult to start towards the end of last year. More than half the time I would get a single 'click' when turning the key, then nothing. Pulling the inspection band off the starter and physically moving the armature to a different spot normally got me going again. I couldn't tell if I was dealing with brush problems, solenoid problems, or wiring problems (the wiring by the previous owner to the starter was all messed up....I already corrected that). So the starter needed to come off to investigate, and it looked ugly anyways so I plan to freshen it up.

This upper bolt is the devil's work. The solenoid is massive and makes getting to this bolt a real pain. I got it eventually, but involved me laying across the fender and engine with my feet in the air.



Once that bolt and lower were out the starter lifted out easily. It's much lighter than the starter out of my dad's '38 Super.



Armature looks okay from what I can tell. Looks like some oil got in somehow, so I will clean that off. The magnets on the housing also look okay, just dirty.



The commutator is worn and the mica undercuts seem to be filled in with copper shavings. Am I good to clean out the undercuts and leave the rest as is? Or do I need to have it all turned on a lathe?



The brushes are worn down to very little. It looks as if they were barely touching the commutator. Some of them have odd curls on the edges of them. I'll be replacing all these as well as the bushing.






Lastly, there is copper dust everywhere. I don't know if that means anything or not, but it's messy.

It's great to see you getting close to hitting your goal. Lots of work, and it shows.

-Kevin

Nice work on the engine rebuild. A freshly painted engine is always nice to look at. Car looks great overall. I love the coupes and the maroon color is classy.

-Kevin

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There could have been misfiring, but to my knowledge that shouldn't damage the valves at all. You just have junk on the valve stems.

Probably stuck valves. Do like Kev said and remove the valve cover to see which ones are stuck. I've had success with putting Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders and letting it soak for several days. At the same time I sprayed the valve stems from the side with penetrating oil. Over the course of several days I turned the engine by hand to work the valves up and down. Over a few days the valves started to move slowly. Eventually they moved enough to feel comfortable to start the engine.

Once the engine warmed up the valves freed on their own and the engine ran smoothly. I did this with two cars and they have been running fine since. Stale gas is your enemy.

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That was my thought also. My quick look didn't show much rubber left, if any. I'll put the car on stands so I have more room to work and pull it off for refurbishment.

I took a quick look under the car before work today. Found the snubber on the driver's side of the transmission. Looks to be intact, but I will need to lift the car and go through all the bolts on the tranny to be sure they are tight. I've been reading through other threads, and I'm not getting any shuddering in 1st gear so it doesn't seem to be the clutch. Just feels like something is out of balance.

TxGoat - I'll also check the u-joint to see if anything obvious shows up. I don't remember the car shuddering like this when I last drove it (close to 10 yrs ago) and nothing has been done to the drivetrain since then. And it hasn't driven any more than maybe 100 miles (that's being very generous) since then as well. So I'm not sure what would've happened with a u-joint that has sat dormant.