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How is this supposed to look / be attached normally?

The vinyl kick panel.

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Ok reference photo here.

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I pulled the engine and transmission out of my Clipper last weekend. Not too wild but getting the oil pan to clear without the trans bell housing being forced against the body was a bit of a trick. Also the propeller shaft flange gets caught on its support, though I had jacked it up so the studs would clear. In the future I think I will remove that single bolt holding it on. Though I'm not sure that would actually help on install. Might remove both that and the studs.

This engine and trans is going to a guy who plans to rebuild the both and swap out his tired 352. So he can be back on the road in a week

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I installed a new radiator in my car last weekend. I explained it in depth, with instructions, here:

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=5042

So I finally figured out why this car was parked so long ago. I decided to drain the transmission fluid; it had a dark color and a distinct foul smell. Ultramatic people will already know the problem:




I used a stick to scrape the transmission pan and found lots of clutch flakes. There's no way the car would have been driveable with the clutch slipping this badly.




This also explains why some clown cut all the plug wires: I'm now confident it did run when parked, even though by the time I got it, it had a fairly rusty cylinder and at least one stuck valve.

On the upside, I did get the heads back from the machine shop. Looks real good.




Side note, I'm never buying a tarp from the outlet store again! Complete rip-off, lasted only a couple months. I think I will switch to the car cover I originally bought for my 400.

What machine shop are you having do your work?

Automotive Machine Service
123 US-322, Cranberry, PA 16319

By the way, I'm also getting the block honed out and installing new rings. We will test fit the pistons to see if they need knurled. Likely not.

Also, one piston has some pitting, perhaps from excessive carbon build-up causing detonation, though I don't really know. The others are fine.

So I'm trying to find one new 320 V8 non-oversize piston. I have already checked with Ross, and Bob's Packard Parts. I do have a whole spare 320 engine, but I'm certain it's a tired engine, plus I want to keep it in one piece for later.

Joel has one NOS piston
Ebay

Thanks. Bought it.

So I realized last weekend that my distributor is a dual point, as Hash used the IBK 4001B on these cars. So I went to NAPA and ordered a set of points as I had previously bought only one Auto-Lite point.

$45 and one week later I am greeted with... one points. Not even the pair of points. Fortunately it was the one I was missing.

A bit frustrating... also between the time to go there twice, is like an hour total.

By the way, NOS on nashparts.com is apparently only 14 bucks...