Wow, some tangible progress! Frame looks pretty good all in satin black. Flipped it over on the horses and painted the second coat from the 'road's point of view' The leaf spring parts from Eaton came with fed ex. Took apart both leaf springs, had my friend Oli help with sandblasting them clean, then cut new delrin liner assembled with a new center bolt, and put on the three clips around the unit. Hope to get the second spring done in a few days, then primer and paint the springs, then they may be the first parts to bolt onto the frame. Wow, things going back together is in sight!
I understand the clips around the spring packet are supposed to be a little bit loose, but I'm not sure exactly how loose. Anybody have experience with putting them on? I also cut the edge/side of the delrin where the spring clip is so it could easily slip over the spring, but perhaps I should cut an extra 1/2 inch off the side so the clips have more freedom of movement (fore and aft)?
Springtime!

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Good Friday was a good Packard day. Washed off the remnants of the rust converter from the frame, blew dry with compressed air and then dried some more with a heat gun, and painted (with a brush) using branto-korrux 'nitrofest' a quality german moisture proof primer. Painting a frame takes a LONG time, lots of corners and crevices....Next time I get to the garage, will flip the frame over and put a second coat on the whole thing...Happy Easter all!

Did you relocate the battery for weight distribution or space restriction or both? Also lightened the front crossmember with holes?
Looks awesome. Sehr sch?n!

Just ordered eveything from Mike at Eaton springs. 4 U bolts, 12 bushings, 6 new clips and isolators for the clips and also 22 feet of the delrin spring liner. He also said that the 1/2 inch arch difference of the 2 springs is nothing to worry about. If the car rode and sat OK before then he wouldn't worry about it!
Guess I will clean, reline and paint my own springs when the goodies get here.

Thanks for the offer Ross, but I am going to try and get everything for the rear springs from eaton springs. I'll help the detroit economy a little bit there. I am now undecided if I rebuild the springs myself or send them via mail to one of the few remaining spring shops in Germany. When I put the springs on a level surface next to eachother, one spring has about 1/2 inch higher arch...The shop could even this out, but will cost me about 200? total. They also don't have the SAE size bushings which leads me to get the delrin liner, bushings, clips and ubolts from eaton.

Sunday was a great day for working on the frame! Did the last bit with the angle grinder, and then used up about 80lbs of slag blasting the frame. Then cleaned off all the sand, washed with marine clean and then treated with Fertan, a rust converter. The converter will stay there for a week or two, then comes paint! Also hooked up a shop vac to my blast booth, and that works well, and used under body coating on the seems of the blast booth to get it better sealed. Long day yesterday!

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Wow, The color almost matches the house! Nice ride.

One method I have used to locate intake manifold leaks was to spray wd40 on the joints while the engine is at idle. Theory is the idle will change when you spray on the spot where the leak is. I did this on a slant 6 years ago that was a 'driver' I don't think it would make too much mess on a clean packard engine since most of the wd40 (or some light spray oil) evaporates pretty quickly. I don't know how else or a better way you can 'KNOW' where your intake is leaking.

Hmm, something to think about doing for the leaf springs. Any idea on the polypropelyne thickness, and a source for the eye inserts? I didn't see them in the steele catalog. Eaton spring or Kanter/Max? Realistically I am still a month or so away from doing the leaf springs looking at my 'schedule'. I still have to finish the frame before I start putting parts back on. But I guess that gives me time to procure parts and material....
POR15'd the spring to axle pads and 2 U bolts for the rear axle this evening...second coat will go on tomorrow.

Also, are the brake lines 3/16 inch? I think I will order a roll of cunifer since the old steel lines were kind of pieced together going to the rear axle. That is 4,76 millimeter here...
Guten Abend!

Ok, thanks for the advice. Sounds like a normal clean and prep procedure for the leaf springs will be in order.

Got the compressor and blast booth running on sunday and got a few parts for the leaf spring mounts blasted and will por 15 them during the week. I'll be getting a descicant air dryer for the sandblaster/compressor and plan to use undercoating on the seams of the sandblast booth to make it leak less dust. Also will try and rig up the shop vac to the booth so I can see better. Still a little bit of learning curve and tuning time ahead of me I guess. Frame is almost all clean, and will do the final sand blast when the weather clears up...Winter came back.

On my 53 clipper I was able to leave the grill in. It was tight getting it out though. If your car is beautiful and you don't want anything scratching the grill remove it, but if it is a driver it should be fine.