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Well, now I WANT to test drive a manual Packard. ha ha. thanks!

carfixated Quote:

If you are in So. Nevada in about six months you can come by and test drive my Panther. It has a rare MT bellhousing and flywheel for the V-8, a BW T-10 and floor shift (all test fitted). Or you can come by N. Las Vegas anytime and test ride (I don't know about the driving part) my friend Paul's 1956 Executive with a similar setup except he uses the Push button shift to pneumatically make the tranny shifts.

I expect you will enjoy the fun, particularly compared to a T-U.

Craig

Hi

In the period, of the reasons for the move to automatic transmissions, one driver was the dealers themselves: optional at extra cost added to the profits. As used cars, automatic transmission-equipped cars were typically marked up in price $50-75 at retail over the manual shift equivalent.

As automatics became more durable and reliable, even the skinflints came to accept them. Fears of costly repairs gradually took a second place as increasing traffic density made frequently shifting more tiresome, less worthwhile.

Steve

Curious: can one install a '49-'54 ultramatic into a '48 3-speed car? What all is required for the swap?

(Not saying I would necessarily, just know of a body w/engine & separate tranny I might be able to get my hands on...)

It's been done but IMO, to have it look and fit properly you would need a comparable 23rd series donor car or some ingenuity and fabrication. The pre 51 23rd series Ultramatic install was a first year so that Ultra is kind of unique to that series and they were still learning.

51-4 installs are somewhat different because of the new body and frame and changes to the unit as far as cooling plus some linkage changes for less complexity. There are lots of pieces that would have to change so a donor car would help immensely. If you swap a later unit then you would need to make some of the later components fit into the earlier space or configuration.

Once you get the Ultra in then you also have to think about prop shaft and rear axles which are also different from a standard trans and even from model to model different.

You're also going to want a 23rd series Ultramatic-equipped steering column or at least the shroud and internal/external parts associated with the indicator window and pointer, and linkages. If ultimate resale is in your future, keeping it standard shift may be the better option.

As always, thanks for the pearls of knowledge!

To summarize on the ultramatic swap: "not an easy swap. Not a good plan.". *grin*

you also have to bore out the end of the manual crankshaft to accept the Ultramatic nose instead of the clutch pilot bush. I have done one in the past and it was successful, however he drove it across the notorious Nullabor Plains of Australia and when he had it serviced about 1000 miles or halfway across, he called me as the mechanic said that there was a three-eighth bolt poking out of the sump. I surmise that a distributor bolt was dropped into the sump by the boring Company, and a counterweight had die punched it through the sump. I advised to put a copper washer and nut onto the bolt to stop any oil leakage. Haven't heard anything in 20 years so the Warranty has probablyexpired.

I see that Packard doesn't recommend starting the Ultramatic in low and then shifting it manually to drive? What does this hurt in the transmission??

John

The original Ultra changed gears only by the manual lever and had very minimal if any kind of timing between band release for low and high range clutch apply. If it happened you did not get speed and action of the lever just right the low band was still releasing while the high range was applying so it would bog down or if you were a little slow on the lever and the band released before the high range clutch applied the engine would run away and cause the high range clutch plates to spin and heat. In 54 they issued a kit to kind of address the problem but while it helped, it did not solve all the issues. The coordinated automatic shifting did not occur until the gear start in late 54.