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Re: 55 caribbean antenna mast
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Almost all of the V-8 rear-mounted antenna mast replacements I have seen over the past 20-25 years have been wrong. Most use masts for a front-mounted antenna which of course are incorrect and different from a rear-mounted and V-8 Caribbean antenna mast. The only accurate masts were being sold years ago by the Antenna Masters operation which I understand no longer exists. Anyway, rear mount masts had one (1) pressed ring on the lower mast section. Front antenna masts have two (2) pressed rings, different cap nut, different rack rope inside (front type is flat... rear is round). Of course the antenna instructions that have been posted in another tread are not for mast replacement, but rather for the entire rear assemblies (including motor, rack rope case and mast assembly). And yes, I have replaced at least two mast assemblies in the past with accurate masts. It is not a particularly easy job, but certainly can be done. The messy part comes with getting the nylon rack rope (which is quite greasy and slippery) back into the case, wound right and no kinks. Above all, make absolutely sure your masts are completely retracted prior to even thinking about removing the assemblies out of your rear fenders.
Posted on: 2016/5/23 20:54
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Re: Packard in the auto industry news - back when it was news!
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Actually, this was a very, very good prediction. No matter what the naysayers had to groan about. Eventually all of these issues were overcome. AND... had Packard remained in business, I guarantee you, they would have been one of the first car companies in production with a gas turbine car. Many forget or never knew that Packard was producing J-47 jet aircraft engines after WWII. The technology that went into design and production of these engines was very closely related to gas turbines. Folks who talk about gas turbines and high heat apparently never were aware of a regenerative system developed by George Huebner and Chrysler. And high speeds of turning parts? Turbochargers that are in many of our conventional cars since the 1980s sometimes spin faster or as fast as gas turbines were in those days... and they do it on bearings of oil! And their spin rates are not calculated in minutes (RPM) but in seconds (RPS). A turbine made today would be incredible... and run on anything that could flow through a pipe and combust with air. AND... when Chrysler stepped up and got into automotive gas turbines in the flesh in 1954, they made (actually Ghia-the same folks who built Predictor did) 55 test cars in the early 1960s and were going to go limited production in 1966 with a car that ultimately became the Dodge Charger (it was originally goring to be called "Turbinecharger"). There will be a bit about this in the upcoming book on Creative Industries of Detroit. Now. Jump back to Packard who essentially went out of business (with all due respect to Studebaker) at the end of 1956. Guess where some of those Packard jet engine people went when this happened? You can rest assured that IF Packard had the financial resources and had continued as a strong company, you can bet there would have been Packard gas turbine cars. And they would have been every bit as magnificent as the original Twin-6 Packards.
Posted on: 2016/5/23 19:50
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Re: "moto-wheel" (not sure of the spelling) on American Pickers
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Yes... but the original issue was about a motorized bicycle. And that's a far cry from a motorcycle. While terminologies today have been hopelessly blurred and almost rendered meaningless, in North America-at least up until the 1960s, there were numerous very clear designations for motor-driven 2-wheelers: ? Motorized bicycle ? Motorbike ? Motor scooter ? Mo-ped ? Motorcycle These categories/definitions were once clearly understood and marketed in such fashion. And while there are folks today who might argue endlessly that early motorcycles were based on bicycles (indeed they were-but only at their inceptions) the categories and definitions used to be very, very clear. As for the "monocycle" there were several of these over the years. One is pictured in an old Smithsonian publication I have (was once a consultant for them). However, the most recent "monocycles" were in the 3rd edition of "Men In Black" movie. Yes. Finally... it is an unknown fact among today's people, but Creative Industries of Detroit (yes the same folks who made the Panthers and Request) also attempted to get into the motorscooter and lightweight motorcycle business. They built several prototypes including a 3-passenger model that used components from fabulous Salsbury motor scooters. The brand would have been known as "Viking." Do I have pics and all the info? Why, of course! Fact. Watch for it in the upcoming book about Creative Industries.
Posted on: 2016/5/10 13:06
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Re: Col. Jesse Vincent Home - Grosse Pointe Park
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You can tell that whoever did all this must have been born after the Apollo Moon Landing and has been watching too much HGTV or whatever the TV show is.
Knocking out walls and shoving in modern garbage is horrific. Who had art-moderne-rococco glass-top tables in 1927? AND what is so terrible about having old things in an old house! Describing things as "dated"... OMG!!! The whole house is "dated"!!!! What is happening to the world?? And by golly, let's cut down all those nasty old trees while we're knocking out the walls of four rooms and making them into one! Somebody actually sat down and wrote all this morphing all up as if it is wonnnnnnnderful. That poor house. It's a showplace alright. Someday people will be looking back at the present era of granite-top counters, stainless steel knobs and appliances and knocked-out walls and you know what they'll be calling it all? DATED.
Posted on: 2016/5/9 21:56
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Re: Mounting Factory A/C Compressor
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Packard V-8s didn't merely use a Lehigh compressor. They used a Lehigh V-4 compressor. There were several different versions of Lehigh compressors, not one.
Also, the flat-top Lehigh wasn't just ARA and aftermarket. These were also used on Lincoln and Continental factory air up to 1960... and other cars. I had these in my 1958 and 1959 Continentals. Also remember on Packard V-8 factory air, you need an extra pulley on the front of the lower existing pulleys...AND you need a longer bolt to fasten it. Up until a few years ago when I last checked, ARA in downtown Los Angeles had Lehigh parts. There used to be a place near Frost & French that had rebuild kits and seal kits. There was another location out in Ontario (California) that had a big parts warehouse with lots of old parts. But again, it has been a few years since I last checked. This stuff may all be gone now. Most of the ARA operations are no longer in business.
Posted on: 2016/5/9 17:19
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Re: "moto-wheel" (not sure of the spelling) on American Pickers
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You are talking about a Smith Motor Wheel... later known as Briggs & Stratton Motor Wheel. These were made for several years starting in the teens. The were motorizing attachments for any full-sized bicycle. They also used another version of the Motor Wheel on a lightweight 4-wheel buckboard that was known as Smith Flyer then Briggs & Stratton Flyer. There was one featured in a recent Hemmings blog. Have the catalogues for all years and models. None of this stuff was around in the 1950s. The motorizing kits from the 1950s were many, but the most popular and prolific was known as Whizzer. It was a motor kit for any balloon tire bicycle, but for some weird reason, people today keep trying to spread the idea that this was a Schwinn thing: it wasn't. All Whizzers were belt driven except for the first two series which were prewar and friction drive. The only fairly known friction drive motor kit for bicycles in the 1950s was known as "Travis"... named after a movie starlet. Of course this stuff was all made in the USA. None of it would have worked on European lightweight bicycles with skinny tires and very light frames. Or perhaps the wording should be, "were not intended for use with lightweight skinny-tire bicycles as were prominent in Europe." There were some Whizzer kits and full motorbikes made in Luxembourg and Belgium, but this was an American company.
Posted on: 2016/5/9 16:37
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Re: Disassembly of convertible top
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The framework on your top broke at the point where it broke due to uneven pressure against it-not because of a design flaw. It also appears that all hinge pins have been painted over. If a topstack frame has been painted as an assembly and then allowed to dry, then yes, it could also compound any potential issues with binding up. Frames were not originally painted after assembly. Otherwise, okay, but it would seem you have done your diagnosis here and it would appear to be in your electro-hydraulics and not in the topstack frame. Why? If you disconnected the top from the rams and it goes up and down without binding, then obviously the binding does not appear to be in the framework or top fabric, but rather in the electro-hydraulics. (HINT: raising and lowering one of these tops by one person-by hand can cause additional damage. These tops were engineered to be raised or lowered under even pressure from both sides. So get a friend to balance pressure on both sides before raising/lowering). New or not, rams can still operate unevenly. They can be damaged, have internal or external leaks, bent rods, dented housings, etc. Or the rams can simply be mis-matched (hint, both shiny rods have to extend exactly the same length). Pump motors likewise can have issues, new or not. If you are using ATF fluid, then your deeper diagnosis should begin with examining the electro-hydraulic system.
Posted on: 2016/5/1 7:23
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Re: '55 Patrician with Carter Carb, Houston TX
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Clippers had red engine paint and Carter carbs. A 1955 Patrician should have had an Ivory color engine with a Rochester carb. Even if it is an engine out of a Four Hundred, it ought to be Ivory, not red. And there are other odd and home-grown things going on here in the engine compartment.
Posted on: 2016/4/30 18:18
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Re: Disassembly of convertible top
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Ahhh. Another subject that keeps coming back over and over and over. There is no particular inherent flaw in V-8 Packard convertible top mechanisms. On the contrary, they were engineered at state-of-the-art for their time.
Anyway, a few points to remember if you have one of these cars... ? The frame rails on these convertibles (and most convertibles of the era) were made of cast aluminum which tends to age harden and thus becomes very brittle. The LAST thing you want to do is apply ANY uneven pressure on these components. Or... they snap. AND no... they are not easily welded-except by a very expert welder and even then the results are not strong-at best. ? The hinges and attachments indeed are held in position with tubular spring pins or just pins. These are not good DIY items to play with unless one knows very well what one is doing. Otherwise, "snap-crackle-pop" and you've got a broken topstack frame once again. ? While it is rare that the hinges would bind, it is very, very, very easily possible for one side of a lowered convertible top (to a lesser extent a raised one) to operate unevenly. Most common reasons are: 1.) Air in electro-hydraulic system 2.) Leak in ram cylinder 3.) Leak in hose 4.) Blockage in ram cylinder 5.) Blockage in hoses 6.) Bad pump motor 7.) Bent ram rod 8.) Dented ram casing 9.) Crystalized or dried-out brake fluid ? Smartest thing to do: stop using brake fluid (at least for V-8 Packard convertibles)... and switch completely over to automatic transmission fluid in the top hydraulics. ? Don't leave your car sitting forever with the top down. Leave the top UP. Keeping the top down is hard on the fabric and the mechanisms. ? Keep your ram rods clean, shiny and always check them prior to lowering the top. ? If you've got old dried-out brake fluid in your power top system (at worst the stuff turns into something the looks like bluish rock salt) you will need to either thoroughly clean your hoses and replace the rest or replace the whole electro-hydraulic system before even dreaming of raising or lowering your top. NOT doing so is at the risk of snapping a frame component. ? Do NOT allow people to sit on your top (as in parades, etc.) when lowered... it can bend or snap a component and do other damage. ? Always check the fluid level in your electro-hydraulic pump reservoir before operation after sitting unused for extended periods. Remember... it's machinery and whatever can go wrong, may go wrong.
Posted on: 2016/4/30 17:51
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Re: 1956 Patrician push button tranny slelctor
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I see the stories of stuck parking pawls still go on decade after decade after decade.
The pushbuttons really have nothing to do directly with this issue, but they are often blamed. And I still see people struggling with selector-lever Ultramatics too...1955-56. Locked in Park. I've seen selector levers bent around in the shape of a "J" by someone trying to King-Kong the durned thing into submission. HINT:if your selector lever seems locked in Park, it is a very simple matter to reach under the vehicle and push upward on the linkage... which usually pops it right out of what seems to be a locked-up condition. Packard issued remedial fixes for stuck V8 parking pawls... for both the selector lever shifter and the pushbutton gear selector. These were clearly listed in Service Bulletins. And regarding pushbuttons-especially when the mechanisms are old, worn and tired- the smartest thing to do is NOT to shift directly out of Park into Drive... but rather get into the habit of punching (from Park) to Neutral... then Drive. The possibility of over-travel and bent contact fingers is hugely reduced. In all the years I used pushbutton Ultramatics... I never had one lock up or over-travel. But I always used this method. And I always did the factory retro-fits on my Ultramatics and linkages.
Posted on: 2016/4/30 17:35
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