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I had a marathon session at the garage all day today after FINALLY getting my 2 chrome pieces back from Frankford Plating in Philadelphia.

I've been working to get the car ready to go on the road for the season and my 2 "big: events this year, the All-Packard swap meet/show this weekend and then in June, the Orphan Tour, both events in MD.

After getting her back together and cleaning/polishing, I took her out on the road for a road test. When I got back in to the garage for the evening, I noticed, or re-noticed a leak which I had originally thought was coming from one of the adjustment screws under the carb. I'm still new at this and learning as I go, so thank you to everyone here, you all have been a great help so far

My problem is that the leak which I thought had gone away after adjusting the left-most screw (its a 2-bbl Carter WGD), is actually dripping onto the scrw from just-above, and has apparently been doing so for quite some time, as the gold paint just under the carb jet has been eaten away by gasoline. My question is what is that silver thing above the screw and since its leaking, is there a fix for it, other than a carb rebuild? Can it be tightened? I have no idea but I'm posting a picture of it. I don't have the 51-54 manual open in front of me at the moment, but if anyone wants to offer insight, it is appreciated!!

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The silver part is a plug for the main jet nozzle passage. The plug has a slight taper and is driven into place. Carter calls it a rivet plug . There is a cross section drawing on the first page of the fuel section in the service manual that shows the metering rods and nozzle passage with the plug on the lower end.

A very light tap on the plug that is leaking may get it to seal again.

My WGD had a leak in the same area after a thorough rebuild, looking like it was coming off the screw. Turns out there was a hairline crack by that plug and the gunk on the carb had built up and half sealed it. When it was clean, it started leaking. The carb shop sealed it with epoxy for me, and sad if it didn't hold they'd find another carb body. I've since found a WGD from an olds that i ran as a test carb, but the leak has stayed fixed and was fine.

I agree with the epoxy fix.
I can't define a LIGHT tap. Depends on who is doin' the tappin'. My tap is a whole lot lighter than Big Kev's.
Take the carb off and lay it on its side so the plug is pointing up before applying the epoxy.

Randy, depends on the hammer you are using!

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Most of the passage plugs I've encountered are made of aluminum. On the few occasions where I needed a replacement, I made them from half-hard leaded brass and secured them with shellac. Even though shellac would seem to be a poor choice with ethanol-containing gasoline, I've not had any problems with that method.