Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I recently purchased a 1947 2126 seven passenger sedan. The previous owner had passed away 3 years ago so the family did not have much in depth info on the car. I wanted to know if I'm correct in thinking this is the overdrive lockout.

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Looks to me like it might be that the previous owner added a hand throttle. The OD lockout from the factory is on the right side of steering wheel and is a round knob.

The cable end shown in your second photo which I am assuming is the other end of the knob is attached to the accelerator linkage. The bracket with the round hole seen at the bottom of the photo is where the OD kickdown switch would be mounted. Since it is empty I would suspect there is no OD in that car because I also don't see a relay.

On the chance it is camera angle on the relay and the kickdown switch is just missing, If the car has OD there will be a large black relay mounted below and similar in size to the voltage regulator.

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Thanks Howard you were correct. I crawled into the car and double checked and it is connected to the linkage from my gas pedal. I also don't have the od relay under my voltage regulator as you guessed from my photo. Well that's one mystery solved I know the basic history of my car from the hand written notes that came with it. The addition of that manual throttle is never mentioned. Now I need to go through my electrical schematic to figure out what the two toggle switches I have under the dash to the right of the steering wheel.

William,

From the photo in your Owner's Registry entry, could one switch be for the fog light/s at the front?

No the switch is not for my fog lights. Those are on switch around the radio.

I do have a more important question. My starter stayed stuck on a couple of weeks ago. Before I could do anything the starter stopped but the car was still running. I was able to get it in my garage but after shutting it down I could not restart it. I pulled the starter any the brushes had pulled down and wrapped around the armature. I ordered a new starter, received it today and installed it. I tried starting the car and I can hear what sounds like it clicking but it's not turning over and starting.

Any recommendations on where to start looking?

( the starter is a rebuilt one from Max Merritt with new solenoid)

Depends on where the clicking is coming from. Assuming the 2126 has the proper starter, the 356 engine will have the large Autolite gear reduction with solenoid pinion shift starter.

If it is just a tiny click coming from the solenoid area, that could be the relay which energizes the solenoid. The pinion shift starters actually have a small relay inside the end of the solenoid box which brings in the solenoid. The relay coil is brought out via the two small screw terminals. If the sound is heavier than a single relay it could also be the solenoid but perhaps a bad connection or weak battery is not able to supply enough current to bring the solenoid plunger in far enough to move the contact plate and start the motor turning.

The solenoid has two coil windings fed by the relay. One is a small shunt winding which serves as a hold coil and is not able to bring in the solenoid on its own. The other is a large heavy winding which is in series with the starter motor and does the work of bringing in the solenoid. Once the solenoid is engaged and the contact plate moves enough to complete the circuit to start the motor turning, the large coil is bypassed and no longer active. The small coil holds the plunger in until the start switch is released. Verify the small copper strap between motor and solenoid is connected and tight. Also, even though newly rebuilt, it might be worth removing the brush cover band to check that nothing was jarred and the brushes are tightly in place making good contact with the commutator so you can be sure the series coil is in the circuit.

If the car is stock, the 356 engine cars with a carb starter switch had a safety circuit which has been known to act up. If the relay is coming in, that circuit would not be your issue. Just so you know the operation, that safety circuit consists of the ground to the solenoid relay actually coming from the generator. If it has stock wiring, there is a wire connecting one of the relay coil terminals at the solenoid to the ARM or GEN terminal at the voltage regulator. It uses the ARM wire to connect to the generator and thru the generator armature coils, to ground. Function is, If the engine is off, the generator is not producing voltage so via the internal ground in the generator, the relay is connected to ground and can energize when the starter switch is operated. Once the engine starts, the generator produces voltage out and there is no longer a ground available. If something should fail or be out of adjustment and the carb switch became active, the relay can not operate and bring in the solenoid to energize the starter.

If the generator is out or wiring is disconnected or possibly the generator brushes are faulty the starter may be intermittent or just will not operate. If there was a no start problem in the past sometimes that safety circuit was disconnected and the relay coil was grounded directly rather than thru the generator.

Here is the schematic for the Autolite solenoid and how the ground to relay is provided.

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Thank for the assistance Howard. I tried a few of your suggestions and what finally worked was battery cables. I had s new set made at my local Napa store and even though the old one were 00 I was able to bend it into a pretzel were I couldn't with the new ones.

Now that I am driving the car more I had taken the Packard info my local Buick dealer who had a older tech that works on classics for them. While it was up on the rack I noticed that my differential is leaking around the bolts. I want to replace the gasket and saw that the service manual and service bulletin 20 #9 says to replace the Cooper wire ring #237673, add washer #221009 and "Boots tri-Lock" nuts as needed. I don't see these parts on Kanter or Max Merrit. Does anyone know if they carry them or who I could get them from?

Someone else just went thru this. The copper rings appear to no longer be available from any of the sources.

The rings are very thin and ordinary copper sealing washers readily available are too thick. With todays improved sealants it is debatable if the rings are still needed. I would omit the copper rings but add a relatively thick layer of one of the oil resistant RTVs to the base of the studs right at the gasket so that material is able to work into the space between the studs and carrier holes to fill any gaps just as the rings did.

The mechanic working on the car may have a better suggestion or possibly knows of a GM substitute for the rings.

I'm here to ask for assistance again. I need to remove the rear drivers side door panel to gain access to the door lock. My brother and I were at the opera last week and when he pulled on the door unlock pull the entire shaft came out of the mechanism. I wanted to know if anyone has any recommended way to remove the panel without damaging the fastners?

First get the proper tool. A wide heavy but thin pry bar or tool. You can get a relatively inexpensive set of upholstery panel removal tools having different shapes from Amazon or maybe a local parts place. In a pinch, a nail remover bar will work although it is a bit long for some of the tight spots. I would avoid using a screwdriver as it is much too narrow to avoid damage.

Once the window garnish molding and door and window handles are removed, the clips are located in the rectangular holes around the side and bottom edges of the panel. On some armrests, there may be a screw or two into the door metal that will also need to come out. Other arm rests have a hook like plate which is screwed to the arm rest and is designed so that once the clips are free the panel just lifts up to remove the hook plate from an opening in the door metal.

Most clips are approx 6-8 inches apart so work the pry bar under the edge of the panel and slide it around to find the locations of the clips. Once found try to get the pry bar centered over the clip so the pressure is on the clip and not on the panel at either side of it. The panel is very brittle and prying to either side of the clip could cause the edge of the hole where the clip is fastened to tear out. Some of the clips will come out relatively easy but others could be tight or if rusted, break apart.

Restoration Specialtiesrestorationspecialties.com may have some of the proper size original style wire clips or you could get generic replacements such as the one shown in the detail photo.

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