Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

John, I've got a '55 Patrician, acquired a little over two years ago, indirectly, from a museum. Car had, evidently, been sitting in storage for many years but was all there and did run. Most of what was wrong with it was from disuse and, from all that I can tell, being used as a parts car for another that probably required less work. At least they'd exchanged the canibalised parts with ones from whatever car they were finishing and it was all there and would start and run. Replaced the entire brake system, a good bit of the wiring, rebuilt the engine (main and rod bearings shot and one cylinder wall scored), replaced the partially remaining original air conditioning with a modern system from an outfit in Tampa, Florida and replaced every bushing and piece of rubber on it as well as the kingpins/inserts, etc. Surprisingly, with all of the slander and negative publicity that the Twin Ultramatic has been subjected to, my experience was the same as Turbopackman's. Many people had evidently worked on this car since it was last on the road in 1989 but, after adjusting all of the linkage, dropping the pan to see what may have been in the bottom, cleaning the filter and changing the fluid a couple of times, it works surprisingly well. My direct-drive clutch slippage went away within a week after putting B&M Trick Shift in the thing. Had been driving it, regularly, around town for about a year and a half and experienced occasional clunky lock-ups going into direct drive but, after (my first) four hundred mile road trip about two weeks ago in combination city/highway (75 to 80 mph) driving, all problems seem to have cleared up and you can't even tell when it shifts unless you're paying close attention. I can tell little difference in acceleration between, "mush," drive (torque converter) and, "shift," drive (planetary side) and it seems to like being driven in, "mush," better so that's where I usually leave it. When they're sorted out these cars seem to behave better when they're driven. I know one person who has done the Torqueflight conversion on his and he's unhappy with it and, from my (admittedly limited) knowledge of transmissions, were I going to replace the T/U would probably go with a 700 R. As long as the T/U works and/or I can get it fixed, I'll stick with it. It is uniquely Packard and perfectly adequate to its purpose when working properly. Must admit that I am intensely interested in Turbopackman's T/U overdrive research, however, and looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

Loyd, after hearing your experience with the Twin Ultramatic, I've decided to recommend B&M Trick Shift to everyone that asks about fluid for the Ultramatic. I'm glad to hear that you had success with it.

As for the AOD-T/U, it's being put on hold for a month or so, as the wife and I are moving to Wichita. I plan on having it done by this fall, though. I'll keep everyone posted, and I'm not giving up. All I need now is some machining done.

LLoyd, Where did u get the rod bearings and main bearings from??? Tell us more details on the air conditioner system from fla.

Well its been slow project, but I did drive it last week. I rebuilt the wheel cylinders and master cylinder. Added some new brake lines and fixed a few other things. I only drove it about a mile or two and got it up to about 50. It seems to shift fine. The brakes still need some adjusting and the carb need rebuilt, but it move on its own now. I got it stuck in park a couple of time and the shifter was some play in it. I've owned alot of car and never drove anything like this. It floats at first I thought the shocks might be shot but that not true. They seem fine I sure it'll stiffen up once I lower it.

John, does your car have regular coil springs in front and leafs in the rear or do you have torsion-level suspension??
If you already said so I didn't catch it.

Randy, Mine has the coils and leafs. I've got bigger plan for the suspension later. I found some broken leafs on the driver side so I'm going to pull out the broken ones and do the some on the other side and then may be add a lowering block to it as well. The front looks like it getting a coil cut off the front springs. That should do two things for me,one take care of the boat like ride two get it to sit the way I like. I hope to get this done over the weekend.