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Lee,

Looks great! And looking forward to seeing it "in the metal" at the National Rally in March.

Thank you very much for your kind comments gents. I've concluded that it was worthwhile spending all that time and money on the project. My wife is also still with me(!) after it all, and she loves the car. But dunno if I'll take on another project anywhere as big . . . . unless of course, it was a '51 Convertible in reasonable condition!

The '51 has been running well and I've clocked up around 300miles since it was registered. Mostly very enjoyable driving!

There have been a few problems, he most inconvenient being range on fuel is only about 80 miles. I was sure that was caused by a hole in the petrol pickup tube because every time I was refilling the tank petrol started coming up the filler spout after around 4-5 gallons were added. Even adding very slowly it was always the case of fuel coming back at you from the spout, and the tank just would not take any more. "No 'airlock' could be that persistent" I thought.

So I was ready to take the tank out, cut a hole and fix the pickup tube . . . until a few days ago when thinking: what it I find no problem with the pickup tube? So, how do I prove it is the pickup?

I took a Jerry can and topped up my tank, which SHOULD have been completely full after the last drive / top-up at a servo. Around 35 litres (8 gallons) later I knew my problem was an air lock that was happening every time I refilled the tank (- no matter how carefully). Strange because one time a few months ago I blew air down the breather to test and there was no blockage.

So, got under the car and took the rubber hose off the breather-to-tank pipes and blew through it / sucked through it. No blockage. So, question is: why the almost constant airlock problem?

A friend with a '51 tells me that Packard placed a whistle in the breather pipe, which was to alert you when the tank was nearly full. I can't tell if there's a whistle in there or not. If there is, maybe it creates just enough back-pressure to cause an airlock.

Now I need to figure out how to overcome this airlock problem. The only idea so far is to change the existing breather to make it more effective. I wonder how?

Have posted to see what ideas other have.

Did you try blowing through the vent tube in both directions?

See this thread for information on the 1951 vent tube and whistle.

Whistle while refueling

Been a LONG time since I put gas in my '51 but I vaguely remember having to keep the nozzle of the pump out a ways from the filler opening. I think it had something to do with the pump constantly clicking off. Maybe that is your problem? I did hear a whistle noise when I did it that way.

Thanks BDeB and Charles.

I read about the whistle, quite interesting. And I'll try the method suggested for filling the tank next time . . . Hope that it will work!

I'm a little late posting, but I thought I'd share my gas pump experience with my '51 200. As was mentioned in earlier posts, I have to pull the nozzle most of the way out and run the pump the slowest it will go. Even then, the pump will kick off numerous times. It takes about 10 times as long as it should to fillmthe tank, but I can get it filled this way. Also, people tend to watch trying to figure out why the car is whistling. Lol.

Hi gregb. Thanks for sharing that experience. I have exactly the same problem and it's due to the fact that gas pumps deliberately create 'bubbles' in the gas in order to activate the auto shut-off on the bowser. No easy fix for that!

So my personal work-around is that I have several 5 and 10 gallon petrol containers at home, which I fill at the local gas station and then I fill the Packard at home after doing a run. The gas flows in nice and fast without any delay!

It's a bit of fiddling around but to my mind much better than standing at the pump for 10 minutes to get the tank half filled.

Now I have driven my '51 for over 600 miles and wanted to give a brief report on how it is performing.

We have enjoyed driving her very much, and have only had one minor problem with her mechanically, which was a bad spark quench (ignition) condenser that caused the engine to lose power and after-fire when it heated up. Initially I suspected the coil, which was a NOS from Kanter, so I bought a new 6Volt coil locally and fitted it. Same problem persisted. So swapped the condenser which I had not suspected as it was a new one, and the problem went. Wish I had done that first and saved myself 80 bucks!

The issue with the Ultramatic moving out of direct drive into converter mode very late (- at around 5mph) is still present despite me cleaning the governor and trying adjustments of the kick-down (throttle control) lever, which didn't fix the issue. Still, it is not a big problem, and I can live with it.

The car drives very well, and has loads of power and is comfortable. In heavy rain the front quarter windows leak and I feel this is due to the new rubbers used, which leave gaps in a couple of places. I have pressed some dumdum (3M caulking strips) into gaps to see it that will reduce or eliminate the leaks. If not it will need silicone squirted in as well.

Quote:
Larry, is that you? These, then, are words of a man who overcame seemingly endless five years of doubts and turned a good doozen nonbelievers into congratulants?

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To have a work-around is good. But I can't escape the feeling that petrol isn't the royal road. When new, the auto shut-off was marketed as advantage and not as fate.