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This summer is winding up to be a busy one but some decent progress so far:

the dash pad is back. So the dash is now awaiting reassembly.

Engine has been looked over, given the Olds pump, and a clean bill of health, Thanks Ross!

Ross also rebuilt the BTV so that will be ready to be installed in the car once I get to that point.

Ross was also able to get me new front door glass!

The 3 speed o/d T85/R11 transmission has been reassembled with new seals from Vanpelt sales. all other components on the inside looked okay.

However, when the transmission is laying on its passenger side and without the solenoid installed I guess the lever goes in and locks the over drive unit and in the process locks the entire transmission up. Is this suppose to happen? or does the solenoid not allow that lever to go all the way in and lock the transmission up like that?

The solenoid plunger does have a mechanical connection to the pawl. If missing and if the lockout lever is in the OD position then gravity could be allowing the pawl to slide in and engage the sun gear -- although that should not lock up the trans unless possibly the trans is being rotated in reverse. Damage was an issue with the R9 if OD was engaged via the pawl when reverse was selected and power applied but I don't believe it is an issue with the R11. The overrunning clutch could be coming into play and not allowing gear movement if being turned in the reverse direction though.

You might ensure the pawl is the out position and then move the lockout lever so the end is pointing toward the front of the trans. That will internally place the OD in lockout. There is a recessed area on the lockout rod that allows the pawl to move when in the OD position but when in lockout the recessed area moves to block the pawl from moving. Photos of this operation are shown in figures 3, 5 and 8 in the B-W OD manual for the R11 which is in the literature section.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/BW_OD.pdf

Howard, thank you for that information! I did a little more digging and it appears that the R11 has the ability to automatically lock out the O/D once shifted into reverse. I also check with some transmission guys and they suggest I install the clutch onto the input shaft to turn the trans. it worked and everything works the way it should! I am happy.

Shifting gears I went back to my folk's place and was able to strip the paint off of the firewall to get it ready for paint. Came out well! was a dirty and hot process but it got done. I also removed the firewall insulation on the interior side of the firewall. I am not to sure if anyone makes this, but I am sure I could probably source the material Does anyone know where? Or, would modern day foam insulation have a better R value that would provide better insulation from the engine heat?

I dug the carb out of the parts pile to get the thing rebuilt. I hope to get to that in the next couple months.

I am looking into doing something similar to the A/C that Howard did but to use a core from another modern car. In that process I was looking at the parts I got with the car and noticed I only have what appears to be the A/C blower housing, but not the blower that gets mounted to the drives side of the firewall... Thats problematic. I may have to source that if I cant find that in the Packard Shed.

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The under-seat heater was pretty damaged so I was able to send out the core and get it repaired at Universal Carnegie MFG in Carnegie PA. They did a good job on the core!

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Working on getting the evaporator box together with a new evaporator core. Looking at sizes and geometry the best one I could find was from a 90 Mercedes 560SEL. it lays in the area alright but the connections stick out above the face. The company above said they should be able to remove the inlet/outlets and orient them in a location that would be better suited for my application. I am trying my best to keep all the connections in the box due to not having much room under the dash for box modifications. Still trying to figure out what orientation would be best since I can not have the core to low for it would interfere with the rod that open and closes the bottom vent. And too high would restrict flow through the core and leave very little room for hoses in the box that go to the original opening in the firewall.

If they would be able to add connections onto this core, it would stand to reason they may be able to check to see if the original core is in good shape and just remove the flare connections for O-ring connections better suited for R-134A. But I do not know if I am at that point yet or what.

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There are places that can rebuild and restore your original components while updating them to use R-134A as there is more to it than seals and hoses. The expansion valve and a number of other bits need modification to work properly with it. Factory A/C is a subject dear to my heart but it’s been a while since I talked with these places so can’t recall who they were now and I’m in the midst of moving with most notes packed away temporarily.

This past weekend I got some time to put the dashboard together! looks pretty damn good! I got the wiring harness strung up, I just need to install the dash lights. I ended up going with OSRAM 3850WW-02B LED's in place of the 57 bulbs. These were suggested to me by Daniel Stern Lighting.

Only issue I have is the parking brake connectors and light socket were detached from the main harness. Am I right to assume that the feed wire for the parking brake light is fed off the feed wire for the voltage regulator? wire 25 - pink? I am not seeing that wire in the factory service manual.

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Wow, that looks beautiful. Can't wait to see it in the car! I've always loved the '55-56 dash trim.

-Kevin

If your car is a later car equipped with the brake light wires run inside the loom they could have done it that way.

My early car brake light was apparently installed as an add on and a black wire is run from the switch externally across the firewall to the unfused yellow 17 wire terminal on the ballast resistor. 17 yellow is fed directly from the ign switch and via a splice does supply the power to the instrument cluster fuse feeding pink wire 25. Using it would be powered from the same source -- just safer because of the fuse.

This past weekend I went home for a car show and was able to spend some time on the car. I got the the inner fenders and the radiator support sanded and really close for paint!! really need to get these parts and the firewall in paint before the temperature drops off too much.

seeing that I wont be able to bring the car out to Pittsburgh this winter I figured the best course of action would be to find and polish all the external trim that is currently not on the car. As some may remember the car was missing some trim when I brought it to the garage, well I raided the old mans stash and brought every single piece of external trim I could find out to pittsburgh. Plan is to go through it and find the best pieces of trim for the car and place the rest back into the Packard Shed.

here's to keeping business in the winter!

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