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I added a closet light to the glove box and made a video but I replaced the round one with the rectangular Mini BT09*3 Siolver LED lighting kit fromwww.vstled.com Shenzhen VST Lighting Co. Video is here.
(mktx.com/packard/GloveBoxLight.MOV ) and to the trunk.

The dash is finally complete.

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Wow! That was a lot of work and creative problem solving. Thanks for sharing.

Joe,
You've been busy, very busy! Congratulations on a very successdul dash restoration. As well as a big to all who contributed on the journey.

Thanks JayDub and Mal, it took everything i had to perservere. But everything is working now and its so cool.

CHARGING NOT INDICATED: I took a friend and his family on a 3-hour tour in and around Washington DC during Memorial weekend. Car ran beautifully. Then, I took a night drive for an ice cream cone with my sister and, while lights were bright, the ammeter showed no charging to recover from the load of lights and heaters. I did the generator/voltage regulator test and the voltage regulator is bad. With the Field terminal grounded, the battery showed charging.
I ordered a new VR from Brillman, which warrants them for a year. But there's an exception. If you use a modern gel battery that is on its last legs, it will run too much juice through the regulator and burn it out, and that situation cancels the warranty.

The Optimas wore down pre-maturely, like 18 months instead of 36 months, so the company replaced them (It took a year because they were out of production with Covid). Trying to charge them up, the generator armature turned black and the VR burned blue.

I keep a small HF battery charger under the seat directly attached to the brand new Optimas and plug it into an extension cord in the garage, so when the charger light changes from red to green, I know they are capable of being fully charged, which is what is happening now. Hopefully, all electrical issues will be corrected with the new VR.

If your car has a 3 brush generator with voltage regulator, It may be able to develp an excessively high charge rate when batteries are low or all accessories are in use, or both. If so, it may damage the generator and perhaps battery(s) under some conditions. Setting the 3rd brush so as to limit generator output to about 75% of it's rating may help preserve the generator and battery(s).
As I (imperfectly) understand it, the early, 2-element voltage regulator units contained a cutout and a voltage regulating element.
They are somewhat application-specific, since diffgerent models and brands of cars have different generator capabilities. The older units were designed to operate with standard lead-acid batteries.

The later, 3-element regulators are able to regulate both voltage and current, and they do a better job of serving the battery's needs and protecting the generator, and might be expected to do a better job of dealing with modern Optima-type batteries.

It's also worth noting that automotive gnerators and alternators are NOT designed to charge stone dead or heavily-discharged batteries.

It's best to charge low or dead batteries with a charger that is designed for the type of battery you are using.

A heavily-discharged battery can draw a very heavy current, which can overwork a generator or alternator.

Batteries that are in poor condition may
cause issues with charging systems.
A battery with a broken cell connector may allow system voltage to go way too high, and caused a burned out generator and burned out lights. One with a shorted cell might draw too much charging current and cause the remaining active cells to overcharge and boil.

My generator is a GEA 4802A. Shunt wound, 2 brushes.The VRP-4003A (I use a NAPA VR-25 or Brillman B8002-028 as I have a '47 Custom 356 engine) controls charging voltage, generator amperage, and cut-out voltage.
My Optimas are set up in parallel as in photo. I've added rubber between the cables.
I had no reason to suspect the previous set were defective, being only 18 months old, but the generator and regulator struggled to keep them charged. Even sitting on the charger, they would not fully charge. That's why Optima replaced them. Look what it did to the regulator. My hope is that the new regulator, rebuilt generator by Moose Motors, and new Optimas will eliminate any problems. However, as my girlfriend says, even when I make an improvement, "It's always something with that car."

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Having the batteries connected in parallel would reduce their effective internal resistance considerabley at any particular state of discharge. That might overwork the generator if the battery set was well below full charge for any reason.

Tex, I'd really like to understand that. My mind says, I use so many watts with the headlights on, the generator has to replenish just that many watts, not more, because there are two batteries instead of one.

VOLTAGE REGULATOR: When i ground the Field terminal on the VR, the battery indicator shows it is charging, suggesting that the generator works, but the VR is bad. When the Field is re-connected, it wont charge.

I ordered a new VR from Brillman. I disconnected the battery and hooked it up. Before turning on the ignition, i re-connected the battery and touched the ARM to the BAT terminals. There was only the tiniest spark. When I turned onthe ignition and ran the engine, turned on the lights, there was no charge, just discharge.

I removed the VR and called Brillman. Their tech is out til Monday when I’ll call back, in the meantime they are sending a replacement in case this one is faulty.

I ordered one from NAPA, but it won't be here until Monday.

But something is wrong.

Last Saturday with the old non-functioning VR connected, i drove a friend's 4 family members all over Washington for 3 hours, no problems. But i wasn't using lights, radio or heater. The batteries fully charged (green light) overnight.

Using the manual and the ‘38-‘39 shop manual didnt help me much. The air gaps are way smaller on the VR than the specs in the manual, prob cuz i dont understand it.

After taking the VR off, i touched the wires intended for the VR BAT terminal to ground and had a nice strong spark, so battery is getting to the VR.

I tried to do a continuity test from the ARM wire to the ARM terminal on the generator, but there is continuity to it AND the Field terminal in the generator and the ground on the generator. Tomorrow I will disconnect both ends of the wires. Same with the VR Field wire. I just dont get it. Obviously.

I put the old non-functioning VR back on the car, so i can drive the car. Unlike the Brillman, I get a healthy spark ARM-BAT when I polarized the generator, so possibly the Brillman is bad, but it seems unlikely to me. MADE IN THE USA stamped on everywhere.

I dont want to wreck the new NAPA one.

Do you have any ideas?
Any tests or checks I can do that i might understand and report back? I'll take pix as I go.

I really need the help of someone who thinks logically, so I can proceed step-by-step. That's not my normal MO. Thanks for your help.

The Optima batteries have somewhat different characteristics than the flooded cell, lead-acid batteries that the old style voltage regulators are designed for. I'm not sure whether that's the cause of your problems or not.

It appears that your generator works, and that something is destroying your voltage regulators. It may be that the Optima batteries are not compatible with the early style regulators. For what it's worth, I have a Model T Ford that has an Optima red top 6 volt battery and the stock generator-cutout arrangement. It's worked fine for the two years I've had the car and the many miles I've driven it. Of course, the Model T has no voltage regulator. It has a simple cut out relay, and no automatic voltage or current regulation whatsoever.

You might try running your car with a single Optima battery, making sure that polarity is correct and that there are no wiring problems.

I'm not sure of the correct "field flashing" generator polarizing procedure for your car. Starting the car with improper polarity could trash the regulator. Regulators are fairly sensitive devices.

I believe that a 6 volt externally regulated generator would show very low resistance continuity to ground at the ground terminal, and also the field terminal and the armature terminal on the generator.

It's important that the voltage regulator base has a good electrical ground to the generator housing. Some regulators have rubber vibration isolators built into their mounting arrangement, and they must have some type of electrical ground. In some cases, adding a ground wire, if one does not already exist, from the metal regulator base to the generator ground terminal will give good results.

Voltage regulators can be destroyed very quickly if wiring problems, serious battery issues, or reverse polarity exist. The generator itself is a good deal more rugged, and old fashioned lead-acid batteries can stand up to some abuse.