I don't think that brake pedal, or the linkage behind it, is from a BTV or a manual brake setup.

Obviously you can rebuild it yourself. However, if for one reason or the other you prefer not to, Ross Miller of Speedwell Garage (who posts here frequently) is one trustworthy rebuilder:

Speedwell Garage
206 Dairy RdParktonMD21120
(410) 357-4561

Kanter Auto Products as well (also a source for rebuild kits) and they provide an exchange service, so your car does not need to be off the road. Their rebuild kit also has the option of a new stainless steel plunger.

Kanter Auto Products 1948-54 Packard Parts, Power Brakes is Group 1.322

Max Merritt has rebuild kits and also has treadle vac units available on an exchange basis

Max Merrit Power Brake Units

Finally, three more more vendors of note, though I have no experience with them:

Karps Power Brake in Chino, California:
KARPS Power Brake

Harmon Classic Brake, has units for exchange and kits.

Harmon Classic Brakes

Finally, these guys recently started advertising in the Packard Club newsletter:

Tiger Treadle Vac Repair

Since you have a 12V car, your choices for radio restoration are better, though note that your car was 12V positive ground originally.

Here is a thread with a lot of information about radio repair and folks who do that. There is also someone who advertises in the Packard Club newsletter.

Radio Repair Thread

Another option might be to get some helper springs to tide you over until you can get new ones:

Helper Springs

It worked for me.

Hi Folks,

Randomly, I have been thinking about the 1941-47 Clippers.

Largely considered to be a beautiful design, there is something about them that just bothers me. And I finally figured out what it is: the grille design.

Whereas most classic-era Packards have some variation of the waterfall grille, with vertically-oriented bars, the Clipper (and the 1948-50 cars which succeeded it) has horizontally-oriented bars which are just not very impressive.

It seems to me the 1941 Clippers, primarily because of the very toned-down grille, just don't have the little bit of specialness, that even a 1941 110 has, because of the grille. It's the grille of a taxicab, not a limousine.

To me, it's the beginning of the end. But what puzzles me is "why"? Why is the 1941 Clipper markedly less grand in it's grille design, even compared to the 110 and 120, which it was supposed to be at least slightly senior to.

Your thoughts are welcome

Max Merrit has the rebuild kits available for $50 it looks like, probably Kanter too.

Max Merrit 1948-54 Carburetor Parts

I agree, get a tune-up kit (plugs, points, condenser), maybe new spark plug wires. No major wrenching necessary. Tune-Up Kit from Merrit is $75 and Kanter has them as well.

This is just a 2-barrel carb, right? You could get the parts and rebuild it on your kitchen table, it's not very complicated. The worst part is cleaning it, and, well, basically the best way to do that is to soak it in something, combined with judicious use of carburetor cleaner with the spray nozzle to make sure the little passages are clean.

Simple Green Carburetor Cleaning

The main thing about the manifolds are that they are heavy, and the nuts to fasten them are sometimes hard to get to (1949 different than a 1953 which is what I have, so cannot comment directly on that) But after the carburetor is removed there is hardly anything else left to take off, just have to disattach the exhaust pipe from the exhaust manifold. The intake/exhaust manifold gaskets are $50 from Max Merritt, the exhaust manifold to exhaust pipe "donut" is $20 from Max Merritt, if you have a custom 8 it is an actual gasket that is $5.

This post seems to also have the appropriate transmission for your car:

R6 junior transmission (originally misidentified as 1948-54 R11) $650

Hi There,

In terms of my math, I was rounding up:

8.0*14.7 = 117.6

I rounded up because the formula is not exact for all kinds of reasons, the biggest (three) are that 14.7 is atmospheric pressure, so it would read 0 on the gage.

So one might want to calculate

8.0*14.7 - 14.7 = 102.9

But, when you are doing a compression test dynamically (e.g. using the starter or perhaps with the engine at idle) the air is being compressed largely adiabatically, so it heats up and that increases the pressure reading.

And finally, how long the intake valve stays open will also effect this value.

Here's a chart that "Owen Dyneto" posted, don't know the provenance, but it has higher values than the "rule of thumb", and it doesn't go up to 8.0 values of compression ratio or above, so from an earlier era.

Compression reading versus compression ratio and altitude

Here is what Isky Cams says about the effect of cam duration:

Isky Cams: Compression Gage Readings and Cam Duration

Here is a nice summary of how to do initial startup and break in of an engine, from Engine Builder magazine:

Engine Builder Magazine: How to break in your piston rings

I don't have a 359, I have a 327, which has an 8.0 compression ratio. I get about 120 psi compression when running a compression test after having rebuilt my engine, though I didn't bore the cylinders, just new pistons and rings. I only tested the compression after having got the new engine started. Folks say you don't want to run the engine purely at idle for break-in, you want to rev it up and down the rev range some.

I have seen this rule of thumb used - multiply the pressure at your elevation (here I use sea level) by the compression ratio to get an approximate number:

14.7 psi*8 = 120

The 359 has an 8.1:1 compression ratio, IIRC, so you should get about 130 psi.

Compression and Leakdown test

75 psi seems pretty low to me, but the rings do seat with break-in, and I would put a little bit of oil in the cylinders if you are doing this test before running the engine at all.

Other folks should weigh in with more experience than myself, having only done this once.