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Hi All. Our '47 Custom Super Clipper has been in our family for 35 yrs and the overdrive has never worked. I'm pretty handy and have devoted some time

recently to understanding how it works. A brief history of the car might be helpful. This is the car.



- We think it had a full restoration prob in 1970's or '80's.

- My Uncle (my Dad's twin, now in their 80's) purchased the car in South Carolina in 1990 and towed it back to Idaho. It ran for a test drive but died and

wouldn't restart, he purchased anyway. Got it home and discovered something failed in the engine, not sure if valve or bottom end related but it does have

dents in bottom of oil pan coming from the inside. Uncle isn't mechanically inclined and may never have been clear exactly what failed? It went to a local

Boise shop for a rebuild immediately. 3yrs/a bunch of money later he got it back. Most of the systems from rear axle/gas tank, to the radiator were

touched over the 3yrs. I've consolidated all the receipts on a spreadsheet (sadly there are receipts charging for doing some things more then once). At

some point Boise repair shop told Uncle that the OD had been removed by previous owner (even though there are receipts saying they rebuilt the

overdrive...). They lost the oil bath air filter/never made right, you sense a trend... Thankfully though, the car has run reliably since but no

overdrive function.

- He moved back to Cincinnati in 1997 and I essentially became its caretaker. It would sit for extended periods/didn't really get driven enough, so every

couple years I'd pump out the old gas/change points/oil/etc because it bugged me that it wouldn't start.

- Uncle decided to sell in 2008, Dad decided he wanted it, so it came home to our farm. I've kept it running/driving since. Had my 14yr old grandson help

me bleed the brakes last weekend. :)



For a few years I've had a nutty idea to take Dad on a cross-country trip using only roads that are on a 1946 State Farm atlas that I found on eBay.

Obviously overdrive would be helpful so I've recently spent some time studying what I have, reading related posts, downloading manuals on this forum.

Thanks to everyone who has shared all those manuals over the years! The R9 overdrive is there and appears the system is mostly intact.



I have a few questions hopefully someone can help with. In no particular order:

My understanding is the OD switch is under the dash, to the right of the steering column. I have a switch there but it is the vacuum control for the

antenna. I can't find the switch that has the electrical connections and lockout cable?





Some pics from underneath. Governor is there (barely visible).



Actuator. Lockout lever cable missing, coat hanger holding it in the lockout position I think.




I think this is the relay.




And this is the kickdown switch (looking up from under car)?


Obviously the first thing I need to figure out is where the OD control should be, and acquire switch/cable.

May be a dumb idea... Can you "trick" the system so the OD is on all the time?

Thanks for any help! Bob

.

G'day DYNOBOB,
to PackardInfo.

I invite you to include your '47 Custom Super Clipper in PackardInfo's Packard Vehicle Registry.

Welcome to PackardInfo! I can't help with your question other than to say that whatever the switch is, it has nothing to do with the overdrive unless added later. It's not a factory part. The overdrive is enabled by a cable with a large knob that that pulls straight out and both enables is mechanically and actuates it electrically. This this is a prewar 1939 type, it gives an idea of what it looks like.

There are two training manuals that might help if you have not downloaded them already.. The R-9 overdrive would be stock for the 47 and that is covered in this manual. Because it is an R9 there is a potential issue so a field mod was done to provide a positive way to ensure the OD is electrically inactive when using reverse. If your car had the mod there will be a switch installed that does not show on most 47 wire diagrams. That info is in a service counselor. As far as "tricking" the system, it is not a good idea on an R-9 because it is such a complex unit both electrically and mechanically. The later R-11 which replaced the R-9 in mid 48 is simpler, more forgiving, and some of those are manually controlled via toggle switches. If you permanently lock an R-9 in OD mechanically and do not have the safety switch mod it will be so very easy to go in electrically by accident and if reverse gear is selected while in OD, serious damage to the unit could result.

Your car had an Electromatic Clutch at one time as evidenced by the accelerator switch on the firewall which is shown in the photo below your question of whether it is a relay. Since Electromatic parts and expertise mostly disappeared with Packard, if the option stopped working many owners elected not to repair them so the units often had parts removed and discarded to provide better access to other items. The training manual has good photos of all the EC parts and you can get an idea what if anything might have been removed. The postwar Electromatic is covered in this manual.

Some various photos of a 47. The firewall photo shows the R9 OD relay and EC accelerator switch. The kickdown switch is below both items as you show in your last photo. Another photo shows a repaired and bare lockout cable assy minus the knob and electrical switch. An all too common issue with the lockout assy is the Bowden cable rusts, someone pushes the knob in very hard to enable overdrive and the crimped attachment holding the cable housing breaks so the cable gets pushed out the back of the knob assembly. Cables are the same 46-50 and maybe the prewar Clipper. Prewar conventional body cables have a different bracket and I'm not sure if the length is the same. The later lockout cable assys are around and sometimes found at vendors or on ebay but are getting expensive and you may need to accept a repaired one or one that you will soon need to repair. The same lockout switches were used from 40-50 and also appear on ebay but watch out for those unless it is NOS. The photo is of a damaged lockout switch showing what you want to avoid. A typical failure is a groove being worn in the plunger end. If that groove is present there is a good chance the switch plunger will not be able to be moved enough by the knob shaft to activate the switch. AFAIK, no one has been able to devise an easy to do or a long lasting repair for the grooved plunger so try to verify condition of any used switch.










First dash shot shows where the valve for the antenna should be located. The hood release is the large knob to the left of it. The second photo shows where the OD lockout knob assy would be. There are three other items shown mounted on this dash edge which will not be on a typical 47.

(For some reason my pics don't display as large as I'd like, if you click them they get bigger.)


Thanks so much Howard. That clears up a few things. I'm definitely missing the OD engagement switch under the dash. My ant switch is approx where the OD switch should be, and there is nothing but the hood release and odometer reset on the left side. Bummer.





My Electromatic parts seem to be there but have never functioned since we've had the car. Not really concerned about that.




Do you know if a R11 will bolt up in place of a R9? Would a Chevy R11 fit a Packard?


Another question: Is there a heater core/blower under the front seat? I never noticed these hoses before.





Thanks again.

.

The R11 trans/OD combo is a bolt in as long as you find the complete transmission/overdrive unit. Because the OD is integral and shares part of the transmission case and there is internal linkage between the two, a Chevy unit will not work. Packard issued an R11 kit for owners who had problems with the R9 and wanted to buy an upgrade. If you do a search in the Factory Service Index (left menu) you will find some service counselors explaining the install procedure and also some detailing how the R11 differs in operation..

Be aware the 356 engine has a heavier duty version trans/OD with the larger diameter transmission input shaft and clutch so if you are thinking of a swap you need to find that 356 unit. The junior or smaller engine units will not just bolt in without changing a lot of other components. R-9 relays and solenoids are specific so most electrical except for the governor and lockout switch won't swap over. The other needed R11 items that might not come with a combo unit can be found though -- either in repro 6 and 12 v versions or substituted with modern items. A couple of people have substituted toggle switches for the governor and lockout and a modern universal kickdown switch works just fine. You do need the R11 solenoid though as the R9 plunger is different and will not fit the R11.

On the heater, the standard way the 47 was usually equipped was to have two separate units. The Dual Stream portion is the underseat unit you see and it is controlled by the Heater switch on the Dash. There was a separate unit controlled by the Defroster switch mounted on the firewall and it is just that -- a ducted defroster with a tiny "foot warmer" outlet that you can open to get a slight amount of heated air on the passenger foot side. The underseat unit did the majority of the interior heating, blowing both forward and rearward thus the DualStream designation.. An upgrade option was to have the Deluxe Heater installed on the firewall in place of the defroster. That had a single and special switch controlling a blower that rotated one direction for defrost and the other direction for heater so in theory only one function at a time. Even though a particular function was selected there was a bit of bleed air blowing out the other outlet no matter which was selected. If defrost was selected a bit of foot heat was provided but to get a good constant heat in cold places when you really needed both functions at the same time, the underseat Dual Stream could also be ordered with that deluxe unit and controlled by its own switch. The dash only had 4 switch positions that could be arbitrarily assigned so a well optioned car needing dash spaces might have had under dash switches controlling the heaters or a single switch might be wired to control 2 items simultaneously.

Info on the heaters as well as photos of some other 46-7 accessories are in the 46 accessory book which you can download from the sales and dealer literature section. The glaring error in that book is it appears in their haste to get literature out after the war they just copy and pasted some 42 photos. The radio photo shows the dash center with a COOLING button which was used for AC. While I suppose it was possible early on the prewar AC unit was considered for the 21st series production, an AC option was not available again postwar until 53 when Packard used virtually the same Frigidaire unit Cadillac offered.

If you end up finding a transmission with R11 overdrive, here is a site where you can get many parts for it.

Vintage Auto Garage