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How do you remove the door hinges?
I have had the 3 bolts out in the past but that does not release the hinge. Do I need to put something behind it and knock it out?

I am going to try and rebuild or replace that lower passenger side hinge.

That may be a good question for Ross!

I'd consult him before you remove the hinges from the car. There may be more adjustments then is obvious.

That being said, 55's, at the start, were notorious for body fit and finish issues, as Packard was learning to build bodies again.

There is another screw deep inside the hinge securing it

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Been so many years since I did mine but I think the jamb side is pretty well fixed in place and no adjustments are possible there. I vaguely recall there was so much play in the door adjustments I had to use a floor jack to hold the end up while moving it into place to tighten the bolts.

On the door side, isn't there a thick floating plate with threaded holes the hinge bolts screw into. Think the plate is captured in a box like enclosure behind the visible holes in the door sheet metal. If so are the plates free to move in all directions? On some models after the doors were aligned a roll pin or a smaller screw or even something adhesive acting such as the asphalt sound deadening material was used to sort of lock the hinge leaf and floating plate down to keep door alignment from changing. Am wondering if one of those fastening methods was partially broken off when the door was removed but something remained and is still doing its job. If so it needs to be removed so plates can move freely while you realign things.

Another possibility with it being a hardtop without much center support, maybe the body and frame sagged a tiny amount in the middle if it was being supported on jack stands a far distance apart.

I found that 4th center bolt and removed the whole hinge. The bushing or pin is worn out. There is about 3/16 of an inch, up & down movement in that hinge.

I disassemble it tomorrow and get the pin measurement before I order a repair kit.

Hopefully, that is the reason for the poor alignment.

I have another door hinge on the way from Gerry along with a couple of other small items. The driver's side door went on a lot easier.
I have been watching eBay for years now, on the lookout for chrome parts. It is a lot cheaper than getting my old chrome replated. Last week this pair of tail lights popped up in two separate individual auctions from the same seller. I grabbed them both, They are not perfect but, I give them an 8.5 on a scale of 10. My original tail lights were a 3 at best. I need to replace the gold V on each one and the backup lenses need to be replaced. Repainting the stripes is easy enough. I am happy for $400.

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I am researching the sound/heat barriers that are often used in cars today.

Of course, all the original factory spray on stuff is gone so I need something else.

I see the 12" x 12" square and rolls.
Some are a type of foam and some look like bubble wrap.

Does anyone have any experience or suggestions with this?

I used a generic Dynamat, which is butyl rubber and foil product. Over the top of that on the floor, I put carpet jute.

I've also used an insulation product the is double foil-faced jute which is great for firewalls and other areas.

Dynamat for sound and vibration. Insulation for heat.

You can see some of this in both my project blogs. The '54 got a lot more insulation since it is a closed car and it was insulated while I was in Calif to help with heat.

I used Noico butyl sound deadener mats with great success: Amazon link. Floors and roof, insides of doors. It will really quiet things down.

The sound deadener mats don't do anything for heat insulation (maybe a little but not much). The foil faced bubble insulation is an option. I used some of that on the floor in the rear over the top of the sound deadener, but found it was a little too thick and makes a crinkling sound when you step on it. I'll probably remove it since I don't think I need it.

-Kevin

Noico may be gone now as it was made in Russia. I have bought something called Siless which is the same. Works really well. In half an hour a roof that sounded like a trash can lid when you knuckled it now sounds like it was carved from oak. Same with the doors.