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Quote:Ken,

Just a guess, have you looked at the wire running down the centre of the column to see if it has any bare spots?

Hopefully fixed some of my water pump woes. I thought I couldn't find any packing in my installed, leaking slightly, water pump. I realized that I was expecting the packing to be in a cavity around the shaft, like steam valves I'm familiar with from work. Instead, it's in the packing nut and seals against the pump body. It was also rock hard, so I couldn't initially pull any out when I was working on the car the other day.

Pulled the old packing out with a 90 degree pick and some needle nose pliers. Quite a mess. Appears to be a mix of graphithc packing, plain old string, a mystery metallic substance that almost feels like lead, and silver silicone. See pictures. I installed the packing out of my spare water pump, for now. Not ideal, but it should preclude further floor puddles for the time being.

I also installed a new fan belt. I got a smooth fan belt from vbeltsupply.com. It has a smooth cross section, no teeth, so it should run quieter. It is size C43 in their classic belt line, and it was a whopping $6. I'll report back once I get the car on the road. Tried to use some thinner to run the paint off with no luck; I'll hit it with a scotchbrite pad once I get the engine running again.

Now, once I get my parts back from the machinist, I can finish manifolds and king pins.

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finally caught up and realize I don't have much to offer other then I completely rebuilt my trans and put the recommend oil in it and my 2nd gear will grind as well if I shift too fast.

sometimes hard to slow down going from modern cars.


also, I just adjusted my clutch to what felt right for my driving. works fine.

I am interested in all of your suspension/steering work. I really need to do alot of that. Lots of slop in my steering. my back shocks are toast....they leak....thought about just trying to convert to modern shocks instead of rebuilding....shouldn't be too hard to do and I'm not as concerned with originality on things that are hidden. I would keep the originals though as they are not the same as a standard 120...same with my brakes.

can't comment on the water pump....mine is a sealed unit with a bearing. So far, only know of two of these pumps to exist...mine and Flack. probably more though and I'm happy to have it. I just grease and go and no leaks, no packing.

as for the horn....when I rewired....I'm pretty sure i put a new wire down the steering shaft. mine was new at the tip and original in the shaft....it was bare in many places. I can't remember for sure...been too long.

taillights....12v...bright as can be....white bulbs...no problems. gasket around one of my trim rings was just silicone. used silicone again...no leaks...don't drive in rain anyways.

i would also switch to the carter carb....the EE is okay...i just think the carter is superior in function. I personally (at some point and now that they make 2bbl EFI) plan to convert to EFI just for fun. just have to work on an adapter plate to go to square bore.

Well a few steps forward and a few steps back, as always.

- installed some different packing in the water pump; it stopped piddling on the floor, which is nice.

- installed the floorboard and started installing the rubber floor mat.

- installed one NOS tail light trim ring.

- installed the new drivers side shock and reinstalled the coil spring.

Now, the steps back:

- cracked the second NOS tail light trim ring because the new weather strip is so tight.

- have my king pins back from the machinist. Went to install. I somehow threw away the shim from the passenger side and the old bearing from the drivers side. Initial looks indicate I will need a shim with the new bearing. Walked away for the night!

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One note - on the floor board fasteners, floorboard washers from a Model A are VERY close to the original Packard washer. I had about half of the correct hardware and half not correct. I couldn't find the right machine screws, so I went with 1/4-20 instead of 1/4-28. Three of the speed nuts were missing, so I replaced those, and I rethreaded the 1/4-28 speed nut that was in the worst condition to 1/4-20, since I had one less OEM screw than OEM speed nut.

Whoever worked on this car in the past apparently just put on whatever bolts were at hand. Weird hardware on the accelerator pedal, nyloc nuts instead of castellated nuts, square nuts on the hood hold down screws, etc.

Mal - thanks for the info on the horn wire. Makes sense, and I didn't check that. Much of the wiring harness has been replaced with correct wiring, but it seems to have been a bit of a half ass job - modern wiring connectors under the dash, loose wires, a 110v style plug wired into to something and zip tied to the steering column????

I'll check out the horn wire.

Hank - good to hear from you! I was starting to think you'd dropped out of the hobby. I'll keep plugging along and try to get this car sorted all the way. It's original, so keeping it that way. :) Have you driven your '37 much this year?

Nah. I still lurk around on the site. Just got a lot of home projects going the last couple of years. I usually only drive it when people rent it through Driveshare.

The Packard is back on three wheels, at least. I received an assortment of shims and got both king pins installed and properly adjusted. Of course, Murphy struck again! I received my wheel seals from Napa a few weeks ago. Took one out, verified it fit. Verified both boxes had the same number. On Saturday, when I went to install the wheel seals, I discovered that one of the seals is not correct! Right part number on the box, but a different seal is in the box! So, the correct part will be in on Tuesday at, and I can finish that task.

Still waiting on the manifolds from the machine shop. If I can't get them back this week, I may find a new machine shop!

Floormat is also partially installed. That rubber is THICK! Haven't had the time to do too much else with it, been pretty busy with home projects and family, but I should have some time this week.

Got the manifolds back from the machine shop, and they are beautiful.

1. Finished the front end work. New wheel seal fit like a charm once I had the right part, greased the wheel bearings, and put it all back together.

2. Installed the new manifolds. Apparently someone had taken a DA sander or something similar to the exhaust manifold in the past, and the machinist had to take quite a bit off to square everything up. About 0.040" he said. He took enough that I had to adjust the bracket that holds the air filter to the engine slightly!

First time I had the engine running since replacing the front mount, and I wasn't overly pleased with the amount of motion I'm still getting. Rear mount service may be in my near future.

Also - I still have a freaking exhaust leak! I can feel exhaust coming from the backside of the exhaust manifold on the hotbox joint. I loosened everything up, found the machinist had put the gasket metal side to intake. I loosened everything up, slipped the old (brand new) gasket out, and a better NOS gasket in, metal side towards the exhaust manifold. Verified my bolts weren't bottoming out (they aren't), tightened the three hot box bolts, and them retightened the manifold nuts, working center out.

Still leaks. Any help? I really don't want to pull it all apart again, and I know it's square. The leak is on the rear outer corner of the hot box joint.

Also got the new tail light ring installed, so I'm ready to drive it once I get this exhaust leak sorted and the floor mat installed.

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Just a thought but have you tried leaving the hotbox bolts somewhat loose, then snugging the assembly to the block without gaskets to get the two parts in alignment and while that way, tightening the hotbox bolts? You don't need to torque them or even tighten all but tighten at least enough to prevent them moving when you take off the assembly to install the gaskets.