Packard Forum Index » General

Mexico or China, who is the supplier?

I have taken a picture of comp valves made by 3 different manufacturers that should explain a lot. Being new at this electronic stuff I'm not sure if the photo is atached but if not will get expert advice and post is ASAP.


Valve #1 is an original Bendix supplied one which we bought from them for years in the 70's-90's?? until they stopped selling them. Note the sealing surface is raised and rounded and is molded into the cup.

Valve #2 is from a supplier that specializes in brake parts, note the raised rounded sealing surface. Note, that like the Bendix part, the bottom surface is a stamped cup and the rubber is molded into the cup.

VAlve #3 is different and it also comes from a supplier The rubber is molded form the bottom and top of the cup completely encapsulating the cup.
The sealing surface is raised and rounded

Although they are slightly different in length, the functional length and placement of the groove are the same.

We currently use valves #2 and #3.

The valve in the post above shows an almost flat sealing surface and it barely protrudes from the cup. The flatness will yield less pressure/sq in and my result in a poor seal.
The lack of protrusion may do the same.

THESE TWO CONDITIONS MAY ALLOW LEAKAGE AND FAILURE OF THE BRAKES.

There has been a suggestion that the valve spring be provided with the kit as years of use may have weakened it. The spring has miniscule pressure and we've never seen a bad one. Replacing it will not solve the failure problem, the valve seems to be the fault.

Treadle Vac's are not rockets, and diagnosing problems is not rocket science. It is quite clear to me that an improperly made part may be the cause of the rash of failures as never before. NO argument that a dual master cyl is safer, but "the sky is not falling". Proper main- tenance and repair will keep your well engineered Packard as safe as when it was new.

Fred Kanter
Kanter Auto Products
Boonton NJ

PS. I wonder how Eric Boyle could tell the the defective valve was made in China or Mexico. To do this by looking at photo on the Internet is an invaluable ability. I would like Eric to tell me where my valves #2 and #3 were made.FK

Attach file:

---

  (16.94 KB)

Fred Kanter writes:
" Proper main- tenance and repair will keep your well engineered Packard as safe as when it was new."

Can u please be more specific. Specific as in MILES and/or TIME. I can not find any such maintenance specifications in the FACTORY service manual nor owners manual indicating specific procedures in any terms of MILES/TIME intervals.

It's midnight and I don't have a service manual handy, but not all safety related inofrmation is contained in the SM. The OM an SM were written for cars in regular use, not seldom used and 55 years old, therefore many age/storage related maintenance procedures were not contemplated. MIles and time are irrelvant in many cases when a car is this age, common sense applies.

See below for some critical safety items for which miles/time do not apply

For instance I don't think tire tread wear covered, neither is ozone cracking or age cracking. Common sense, taking your car to a tire shop or a repair garage should give you need.

Fire safety is not covered in the SM either. Inspect the fuel hose for cracking, fuel line for rusting, wiring harness for deterioration or damage, battery cables/clamps, installation of a battery cutoff switch. Fuel tank rusting is not covered, but an inspection several times a year for leaks should suffice.

Brake safety matters should be well covered, I believe that brake adjustments are covered both in the brake section and the specifications for shoe/drum clearance but not sure. Rmemeber that the SM was written for a trained/dealer mechanic and not for a novice owner/mechanic adn many assumptions are therefore made about the mechanical competency of the person working on the car. Brake fluid should be flushed and changed periodically, more often if the car is not used regularly as condensation is the biggest danger.

There are numerous auto maintenance books on the subject, some specific to collector cars or if you do not feel competent, take it to a restoration shop or mechanic and they will give you a schedule and do it for you.

From Starliner, post #1 above:
"... but when I told the supplier about the he problem he apologized and said they'd had problems with these valves recently and sent me another one . I ended up using the original 54 year old valve because it was still soft , looked in perfect condition and looked the best of the 3 valves that I now had ."

There may be many of us with the incorrect valves too. We need to know what supplier to contact for a replacement.

To Packard V8 and all other Packard owners

Kanter Auto Products has always supplied correct, safe compensator valves. We inspect our incoming product.

If any Packard owner thinks they have a defective valve, mail it to us with a return envelope and we will mail a new one free of charge in the interest of safety.

Mail to:

Kanter Auto Product
BTV Safety Program
76 Monroe St.
Boonton NJ 07005

Include a note with the year and model of your Packard or other BTV equipped car

Here's a question, why are mechanical brakes no longer used?

Anyone?

Because hydraulic brakes are safer.

Why aren't single line master cylinders being used?

Anyone?

Because dual line master cylinders are safer.

Here's another question, how many people drive their Packards more than 5,000 miles a year? I'm betting not many. How many people have the emergency brake system working to OEM specs? Again, I'm betting not many.

Changing out a single line master cylinder to a dual line master cylinder is just common sense if you drive your car on public roads at all. MOST people understand this. If you own a trailer queen that you have to have a 100% original restoration on then fine, rebuild the original BTV. But if you're driving it on public roads then please, please, for the love of God convert it to a dual master cylinder for safety's sake. WHEN someone is killed by the failure of one of these then maybe common sense will prevail. But I highly doubt it, as the "head in the sand" mentality is pretty rampant with Packard owners it seems. You WILL change your mind when you have a teenage girl on a cellphone in a Honda pull out in front of your grand old Packard and you can't do anything to stop in time before your car cuts hers in half.

Think about that for a while, because every single one of you who think that the BTV and single line master cylinders are safe to use are saying that the originality of your car is more important that someone's life. That's it, end of story. That's exactly what you're saying. And everyone knows I'm right.


And Fred, I don't give two bits where your valve is made, if it was made on Mars with the latest Martian technology I still wouldn't recommend using a single line master cylinder on any car that's driven on public roads.

Eric, hydraulics replaced mechanical brake systems primariy because they are self-equalizing, and far cheaper to produce. Self-equalizing was a huge factor because properly setting mechanical brakes was very time-consuming and probably neglected more often than not, especially when the cars got older and received less professional service. But in the sense of overall reliability, I'd rate mechanicals over single-master hydraulics simply because it's virtually impossible to loose all your brakes.

And it's virtually impossible to lose all your brakes with a dual line master cylinder as well.

I was only debating the first half of your two statements. Of course I can't disagree with the second.