I want to thank everyone for the suggestions, I'll try the
compression tests, and running the engine for a couple of hours since I still have to repair the gas tank. The engine burns oil only after it is warm. I can see the blue haze in the garage, it does not burn oil when cold. The Mercury gas tank was emptied and cleaned when my Mercury Mark 10 outboard died, so I know there is no two cycle oil in the tank. Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I'll let you know how everything turns out.

I have a 1951 300 which I haven't had the pleasure of taking on the road since I still have to finish re-sealing the gas tank and bleeding the brakes one last time. I am currently running the engine using a mercury marine outboard gas tank. Anyhow, when I start the car, she runs rich,(my carb rebuilding kit is in transit from Jackson's), when the engine warms up, (the temp. gauge works) I notice the same blue cloud I had when I drove my 1962 Chevy. Is it the rings? or is it the valve guides? or maybe I should finish the gas tank and go for a ride. All your suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Also I want the thank Big Kev for the info on repairing the heater valve with the NAPA part number. I did the same repair, only took a couple of hours with Kev's excellent photos, the valve does not leak, and works. Thanks, a repair for about $11.00, made my week.
Casey Rog
P.S. I did repair the broken wing on my hood ornament, but bought a spare off e-bay just in case.

I was attempting to remove the oil pan on my 1951 300, when
for some reason the hood slammed shut and I Heard a clang.
The clang was the left wing of my cormorant hood ornament.
The wing is whole and there is about 1/8" to 1/4" of the stem that fits into the body. Has anyone had any success fixing one of these? Any and all suggestions would be welcome. (I know, I should have lowered the hood before doing any other work on the car)

Dale,
What I found to be a fairly good substitute is the black
rubber type mat available from Harbor Freight that is used as tool drawer pads. It comes in sheets about 16"x24", is about 1/16" thick and very pliable. It is usually against the left wall as you enter the store where the lathes and drill presses are. For fasteners on the passenger side I had to use regular 5/16" staples. On the driver's side, which originally had steel drive rivets, I used 1/4" x1/2" plastic rivets 7/16" head diameter in black whick came from Ace Hardware.

I just dropped the oil pan on my 1951 300. The inside is nice and clean. Can someone recommend what trans oil I should use?. Should I use the Type A as in the 1951
owners manual? Or should I use Type F as in some of the forums? Or should I use Slick Shift to revitalize the trans
bands? Please help.

Big Kev,
Thank you for all the pictures and info. My best suggestion for when you replace the wires is to blow-up the wiring diagram to about 400% or about the size of a beach towel. I did that when I re-did the wiring on my 1951 300.
all the wires were in place,but the ends were missing the
cotton insulation. Rather than replace all the wires, I untaped the wires, cut out the uninsulated, crinped, and resoldered the bad wires, reinsulated with a lot of the plastic shrink insulation from Harbor Freight.And, all the electrical works. The only problem is getting wires with stripes. I used pin striping to do the striped wires. If you read the colors scheme, the Packard engineers did not place wires of similar colors too close together.

Now is the best time in the world to invest in just about anything. I finally started investing mid July. For some not the best of times. However, I made money.You can make money. I made $700 in one day with Freddie Mac when it dropped to 50 cents a share. If I would have been quicker with my on-line investing I could have made more. As for GM and Ford the US government cannot afford to let them go bancrupt. Their retirement liabilites are too much for the government to want to absorb. Buy GM, a 5.00 it is a real bargain. It will be back to 10.00 (which is my short term
benchmark) within a week. Buy anything. You will make money. This is the time to buy. but, you have to watch the market everyday and sell. or buy when you feel anxious. Do
not fall in love with a stock. This is not a long term market. If you want to make money Buy and sell daily. I had 26 transactions in the last 30 days. But my daughters weeking fund is 2 1/2 times my initial investment.

Thank you everyone.
When the time comes I think I will try that Caswell system.The parts that look the worse are the back lights, a couple of door handles and the hood ornament.

Does anyone know how to clean-up, or fix, or make the corroded chrome plated pot metal metal parts look decent?
I took delivery of my 1951 300 Saturday, 10/4/08. I will have lots more questions as time goes on. Currently I am rebuilding the brakes. I think I got a deal on most of the parts. But, let me recieve same before I discuss where I bought same