The tires on my Series 526 are at least twenty years old - so are the tubes. I suspect the weak points are the valve stems for the tubes. They have developed small cracks in the rubber, similar to those in the tires. Like you, I am worried about a blowout, and I am saving for new tires this fall.

I find that, in my car, 35 psi makes the steering heavy, especially at low speeds. At 40 psi, the steering is acceptable, and the ride is still not a bit harsh. I am looking forward to see how the ride and handling will be with new tires this fall.

I agree with 32model 901. It does look like galvanic corrosion. I don't think it is from a leak. I would guess it is a result of something that got on the aluminum some time ago. I would wash it off well and just keep an eye on it. Once you have cleaned the area, it probably will not occur again.

The manual for my 1928 526 suggests 40 psi. However, it has 600 x 20 tires. The 1931 manual for the 826 - 833 cars and the 840 - 845 cars says that tires should be kept at 40 psi also. I don't have access to a 1929 manual, but I guess the magic number is 40 psi.

Humanpotatohybrid: In the 1920s and 1930s many makes included wheel balancing weights. My Packard has disk wheels, so the weight units are not visible. Here is a Dunlop wire wheel showing one of the units. There are three units on this wheel, each filled with lead washers. The Packards of the period had six units per wheel.

One balances the wheel by spinning it, letting it come to rest, finding the heavy spot , and adjusting the balance by moving lead washers appropriately. A balanced wheel will come to rest in a random position. For speeds typical of cars of the 1920 and early 1930s, that works fine. Of course the wheel must spin freely. The advantage is that both the wheel and the brake drum are balanced. I remember cars being statically balanced well into the 1959s.

Big Kev; Thanks for the tractor lead. I will probably go that way. The ID is too small, but I can buy the washers and pick up on Humanpotatohybrid’s suggestion by using the washers as templates and adding solder or lead to adjust the inner diameter.

32model901, thanks for the suggestion. I found several sites like nuclead. I’m going to contact them, but I bet they will give me a quote for 1000 or more. Worth a try. If I spin my story of an old car’s requirements, who knows? Anyway, thanks for the input.

My Series 526 Packard uses lead washers on wheel studs to allow the wheels to be statically balanced. I'm guessing all Packards of the 1920s (and probably early 1930s) used them. Is there a current source of supply?
Thanks.

Chris, Beautiful cars and beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.

I couldn't tell a whole lot from your pictures, but it looks to me as if you will have to remove the two small hairpin clips to get that cover plate off. There is a great link on the AACA forum on how to set and synchronize the points, should you need to do so. Here is a link:

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/155582-setting-up-dual-points/

Good Luck

Thanks to each of you for your responses. My car is a 5th Series coupe. I think it is quite sporty but I will guess that it has the 4.69 gear ratio. The “sport” designation was probably reserved for the roadsters and speedsters. Anyway, I think top road speed will be influenced more by ride and braking characteristics than engine rpm limitations.

My car has Stabilators rather than more modern hydraulic shocks. The stabilators provide a slightly springier feel to the ride than what I am used to. To my surprise, the combination of leaf springs and Stabilators makes the car handle speed bumps and potholes very well - better than a lot of modern cars. However, at speed, I am reminded that this is indeed an old car.

I have inspected the brakes and adjusted them to correct for a tendency to pull to the left. The linings show very little wear. The linings are of a woven design (see picture) which might be period-authentic, but which provides a very spongy brake pedal. I suspect using modern design brake lining material would greatly improve braking behavior.

Anyway, thanks again for the responses.

Phil

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Hi Mike,

Can you post a picture of the distributor showing the points?

Thanks,

Phil

The late 1920s cars underwent tremendous developmental changes. For Packards, I'm guessing gear ratios were in the 4.5 to 5.0 range, giving them rather modest cursing speeds. I haven't been able to find the actual ratios and how they changed over those three series. Also, what were the engine compression ratios?

Thanks for the help.

Phil