Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Thanks MIDan!
The sentimental side of me agrees with you and may yet win out.
Ken

12/4/09
Scored a taillight on eBay. It has some pitting but so does everything else on my car, so it matches. Better than the one on the car for sure.
Ken

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12/24/2009
Bought a driver's side stainless steel barb or spear or harpoon or whatever you call that thing on eBay. Passenger side had one, but not the driver's side. Gotta clean off the rust off the fender and paint the fender and put that thing on.
Ken

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1/1/2010

Have several locking two drawer file cabinets at my office that I bought for $20-25 at Wal-Mart. Noted the keys to them looked about the size of Packard keys. Took the keys home with me, figuring what the heck, one of them might possibly fit. Guess what?
Ken

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Bought a couple of used dog dish hubcaps on eBay in February. Not perfect but better than what I have. The red was almost gone and the black on both could use repainting. I used a spray can of Krylon Cherry Red, some newspaper, and some masking tape to do the hexagons. I used some flat black model paint and a small model paintbrush to do the black by hand. Had some tissue handy to rub off mistakes. Don't know how the model paint will stand up but had it handy and thought I would give it a try. Here's the results.
Ken

P.S. Wheels could use some paint too. Another project!!

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Ken,

Those looks pretty good to me! Great job.

Thanks, Big Kev!
I check up from time to time on your 54 Clipper Deluxe project and your work is thorough and excellent, so I take that as real compliment.
Ken

July 2010:
Bought oil bath air filter for Packard on eBay. Seller says it is the correct one. It is the smaller round one, about the same size as the oil mesh air filter. Looks similar to the oil bath air filter I had on my previous Packard and fits, so I believe it is. One thing different about it from my previous one is that it has a key sticking out from the filter that you can tighten or loosen to remove or install the filter. That key comes in handy, especially since I frequently have to put a bit of gas in the carburetor to crank the car. The oil bath air filter replaces the oil mesh air filter that came with the car.

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August 2010:
Changed antifreeze, putting in new antifreeze that supposedly works in all vehicles, old and new, dexcool or not. Afterward noticed Packard was running a little hotter and losing some antifreeze out of the overflow tube after the Packard quit running. Previously temperature needle was over the M in "Temp" on gauge but now it went up to P in "Temp" on gauge. Anybody have any experience with these new-fangled "for all cars" antifreezes running hotter?

August-September 2010:
Bought a new thermostat at NAPA to cool the Packard down a bit. Thermostat, Packard part # 5.0506, is inside of the flange-head water outlet, Packard part #5.0508, bolted down to the cylinder head. The thermostat is held inside the flange head water outlet by a retainer-head thermostat, Packard part # 5.0507, a wire spring for my car, a circular piece of metal looking like a small section of pipe for some other cars. Also, a gasket is between the cylinder head and the flange-head water outlet, Packard part # 5.0509. This is all illustrated on Plate # 91 in the 1948-1954 Packard Parts Manual.

Tried to glue down the flange-head water outlet to the cylinder head three times before it worked. First time I did not take the upper radiator hose off of the flange-head water outlet (trying to avoid having to replace the upper radiator hose) and used gasket cement. It leaked. Second time I did not take the upper radiator hose off of the flange-head water outlet and used a water pump silicone adhesive. It leaked. Third time I took the upper radiator hose off of the flange-head water outlet, used a water pump silicone adhesive, let it dry a day, and forced more water pump silicone adhesive into the joint with a putty knife and let it dry before I cranked it up. Used up all of my tube of water pump silicone adhesive. All three times I did my best to clean off the old adhesive off of the cylinder head and the flange-head water outlet before applying new adhesive. Third time was the charm. Also replaced the upper radiator hose and hose clamps.

Parts:
160 degree thermostat--NAPA--THM 530060

Thermostat gasket--NAPA--THM 1040-ST
Water pump silicone adhesive--NAPA--BK 765-3017
Upper radiator hose--NAPA--NBH 7694 (Molded hose. Cut to fit.)
Hose clamps(not original wire type)--NAPA--BK 505-1232

August-September 2010:
Still having a little problem with antifreeze down the overflow tube. Original radiator cap was AC's RC-3. Found reproduction of original AC cap on Internet for a lot more than I wanted to pay for it. NAPA had a less expensive one that fit fine so I bought NAPA's radiator cap instead. That took care of the overflow. But the car still runs a bit hotter than it did before I changed the antifreeze.

Radiator cap--NAPA--BK 703-1411

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September 2010:
Bought two more 1951-1953 Packard junior dog-dish hubcaps on eBay. Not perfect but a lot better than the ones I had. Now have a halfway decent set of 4. Hexagons painted with Krylon Cherry Red spray paint. Black painted with Pactra flat black model paint.

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