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Thursday 22nd February, 2018

Picked up the granddaughters after school and drove them the indicated 15 miles home in the Packard. Because I've been tied up with other matters this is the first real drive I've done in it. Runs well, only problem is shifting from 1st to 2nd and that without "racing shifts"! But a bit of practice seems to indicate that if you gently shift up and into the gate, let the lever drop slightly, then push across and up into 2nd you'll find 2nd OK. If not, there are nasty gear clash protests from the trans. Need to drive it more, in stop start conditions, to refine my shifting technique to the point it is workable and reliable. Noticed on the way that the temp gauge was climbing a bit so switched on the auxiliary fan. That seemed to keep it at about the 3/4 mark. While on the way home, didn't use the aux fan and it ran about 2/3 all the way!

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Good Day Mal...Our 'Miss Prudence' also has our grand daughters in the back seat on a regular basis. I also noticed the same shifting when we first began to drive 'Miss Prudence'.
We drained the transmission and filled it with 140 weight rather than the lighter oil that was in it. The old girl has shifted just fine since that time. Ernie

Mal, not sure how similar your 41 might have been to the Clipper style linkage but on the later style linkages used thru 50 shifting will benefit if you do a bit of PM and add a few drops of oil at the bottom of steering column.

The small hole on side of shift tube gets a few drops that runs down inside to get part of the mechanism and also another few at the top of the upper lever so it can run down in the gap between the top lever and shift tube.

The upper 2-3 lever corroding and sticking to the shaft is a frequent cause of issues because it has no real lubrication point and is frequently forgotten. It needs to freely rotate when the bottom R-1 lever is in use because if it sticks it tries to move the 2-3 linkage at the same time..

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Ernie - Unlikely to change to a different viscosity oil. The trans itself seems fine.

Howard - Added "a few drops of oil at the bottom of steering column", seems to make the change a bit smoother but this was in a static situation.

Also statically "practiced" my shifting technique, like going back to childhood where you'd sit in the family car pretending to drive. What I found was that by going up from 1st, then over into the gate gently and allowing the shifter to drop slightly, then pushing it over the final part of its journey, it then shifted up to 2nd easily. I seem to remember similar advice being given previously? Wasn't able to put the practice into practice, does that make sense(?), as I then had to go and pick up grandchildren again. But unfortunately NOT in the Packard. My daughter wasn't pleased that her daughters had been unrestrained in the back of the car yesterday. Tomorrow, however, is another day and I'm planning to take the Packard for a morning run to test and perfect my shifting technique.

While sitting in the car practicing my shifting technique, my thoughts drifted to the Flintstone Flyer. I doubt that car had shifting problems!

g'day Mal; You might check the linkage adjustment- with the car out of gear see if the holes in the cast iron shift arms on the column line up. I think the holes are 3/16's, if not undo one of the linkage rods, line up the holes and adjust the rod. Also correct any wear in the linkage.

Saturday 24th February, 2018

About an 8 mile run to a flea market this morning where I picked up a small engineers ball peen hammer for AUD$2.00, about USD$1.50. Will come in handy if I need any MBM(Made by Mal) gaskets. Packard ran well, if a little hot at times, but flicking on the auxilary fan helped overcome that. I know, rather than bandaids, need to find the source of the problem and remedy accordingly. Friend PeterPackard has already given me advice in regard to this. But the best news is no more shifting woes, mainly I think because of Howards advice of "a few drops of oil at the bottom of steering column". Now I shift out of 1st, allow the spring loaded mechanism to move the lever through the gate, then up into 2nd, now sooooo easy. One of the other things I have to do is refill the front shocks and plan to do that tomorrow. I'm so glad this knee action shock thread was recently resurrected, it provides advice even I can follow!

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I cannot tell you how happy I am that another guy, half-way around the world, is having 1950 Packard Eight adventures similar to mine. After seeing my two nice 1956 hardtops, people seem surprised that I say that the rather plain Eight sedan is my second favorite Packard. Even I don't know why that is, but for a car that is sixty eight years old and still with less than 60,000 miles, somewhere somebody must have also felt the same charm to keep her around. Mine still runs well so all the advice to do compression checks and other things will just have to wait until I am really bored with the other two and have nothing else better to do. I hope that you are as equally pleased and lucky.

My daughter has also had her own fit when she discovered that I had taken several grandkids out for a neighborhood ride in the Eight, minus back seat belts. For once, I refrained from giving the speech as to how I survived my youth standing on the back seat of my parent's cars about the same time this Packard was new. I cannot imagine a time when my daughter has ever ridden in a moving car without a belt fastened. I would not have it any other way.

Sunday 25th February, 2018

Before refilling the Packards front shocks turned to the floor jack and treated it to some jack oil. It had given up the ghost some months back when working on the Coupe. Talk about being left high and dry because that's just what happened. Had jacked the Coupe right up at the front and put jack stands under then removed the jack. Later, after finishing what I was doing, pushed the jack back under but......it didn't work. Then had to get the Coupe back down from elevated heights by using a number of other jacks, lumps of timber and a few well chosen words. The jack had been sitting in the corner of the garage since then but, with a new Packard to attend to, needed to be resurrected.

Jack done, and apparently operative again, turned to the front shocks of the Packard. Started on the right side shock, which has better access, because the left side shock is "hidden" below the battery tray. Access in or to the engine compartment, as a whole, is a lot easier on this '50 than it ever was on the '41. The height of the '41's bonnet(hood) sides was a huge obstacle to this shortish, fat individual. The '50's comparatively low mudguards(fenders) with no bonnet(hood) sides to contend with makes for much easier access.

For the shocks I'd purloined a small plastic beaker with a pouring lip from the kitchen. Shhhhhh.....don't tell Kath. About half filled it with jack oil and then attempted to pour it into the shocks oil reservoir. I don't think a drop went in the hole! Instead part of the exterior and one side of the shock received a good oiling down. Just then the phone rang and who should it be but PeterPackard asking if I was headed to a swap meet at Goulburn. The answer was obviously no, but not because of my situation or the fact that the rain was coming down in buckets. It was no because the swap meet is on the 25th March and not the 25th February! I'd also had a call last night asking if I was going today and was able to explain the months difference in dates precluded my attendance at this time. But back to the oily mess. Explaining my predicament Peter advised use a small plastic bottle with a tip ? la those used for lead replacement additives. Fortunately, although I didn't have one of those, I had a similar bottle of fuel injector cleaner. The daily driver should benefit as it was afforded the full bottle. Then cleaned out the bottle and filled with jack oil. Much easier, the nozzle can be inserted directly into the filler hole and after some gentle squezes about half the bottle, or 25mls, seemed to top up the shock. Repeated for the left side, and even with the more restricted access didn't spill a drop. The left side taking about 30mls. Peter also gave me a tip in that, rather than rocking or bouncing each side of the Packard, just take it for a short run. With the natural action of the suspension doing the trick! However, because of the deluge, will wait until tomorrow to do so.

Another item attended to was the battery, which needed topping up, and had purchased a container of demineralised water in preparation for this. When checking each cell, noticed that the three cells on the engine side of the loooong battery were down to plate level while the outer cells, although fuller, also needed topping up. Had also purloined another slightly larger lipped beaker from Kath's kitchen for this job. But because it's being used with H2O and not with oil it can returned from whence it came. Hopefully Kath will be none the wiser.

Tomorrow, God willing and weather permitting, as my old Scottish high school economics teacher used to say, will take the Packard for some shocking treatment. And if need be, now that I know how easy it is, the shocks can be topped up again.

Referring back to Photo #5 in Post #45, what do you see? Well I see a failure just waiting to happen! While the bush mechanic who did this no doubt reached around and patted himself on the back for a job well done, down the road he won't be around when things let go. So I need a Group 3.1151 Part #418936, Pedal Retracting Spring Bracket, as per the 48-54 Parts List, I think. Don't see a reference there to a RHD part. It's either find a bracket or have one made and installed. If the latter, anyone have the requisite measurements?

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Monday 26th February, 2018

Took the Packard for a run, selecting bumpier roads as much as possible. Ride seems better, but will check and refill front shocks again and go for another drive. Then repeat, as required, until there's no further improvement.