Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

My original '51 tank does not have a notch. Is there a service counselor in 1952 explaining the addition?

It wouldn't be a 1952 addition since my newer and all-original Packards to 1956 don't have it either.

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/partslist4854/48-54_Group_9.pdf

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/partslist5556/09_Fuel.pdf

The part number for the 25th series till the 56th series is the same part number 443145.

The part number for the 24th series is 426259.

What is the difference between 1951 and 52-56 tanks?

The tanks are interchangeable but for 1951 there was the whistle in the filler tube that was discontinued for 1952 and newer.

I wonder if the blueprints exist for these part numbers.
Maybe that would give us the factory answer.

If the part number is the same for 25th thru 56th series, I am courious why does the 52 owned by Mr. Kanter have this vent notch, and why wouldn't all of the tanks have it?

Due to family health problems, I've not been active in the forum for quite sometime, but I continue to lurk in from time to time. I've been following this thread with great interest as I have one 56 Patrician that has a badly rusted (though not leaking) tank, and I have to put my $0.02 in on this matter.

I was elated to see someone finally take on reproduction of the 51-56 fuel tank. The repro looked good enough from the few pix I'd seen online that I even wondered about replacing the tanks in my other two V8s. However, I was disappointed to learn about this 'notch'. IMHO, it was a bad decision to include this feature in lieu of a properly vented cap.

A vented gas cap - at least in this period of automotive history - is NOT simply a cap with a hole in it. The properly vented cap has a two-way valve. In fact, a hobby vendor went to the trouble of reproducing such a cap for another brand of this period:

danchuk.com/ItemForm.aspx?Item=140

Dad parked the 56 Exec, which he purchased brand-new, in our attached two-car garage and we NEVER smelled gas or had any kind of gas puddle or stain on the floor.

The alleged notch in the OE filler tube shown above on a 52 Packard looks more like a split in the metal that resulted from the forming process - perhaps unintentionally. I concur with Howard that it looks like some kind of insert.

Although I'm relieved to hear that the fill tube mounting (downstream) follows the original intent, I would rather not buy a tank with such a notch for my V8s. Left with no other choice but to purchase one of these tanks, I would try to apply heat and undo the notch and/or apply solder (not JB Weld). Yet, I think it's a bit unreasonable to expect anyone to buy a new reproduction tank and then have to rework it.

BH:
SO glad to see u posting again. I've thought and wondered many times about how u are doing.

Glad to see u posting again.

It seems like Packard did modify the filler neck with a notch for the 23rd Series in 1950.
Service Counselor Vol. 24 No. 3 from March 1950 has an illustration and description of the change.
There is no further mention of the notch in later Service Counselors but perhaps it was covered in a Service Bulletin.

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The subject gets curiouser and curiouser.

I wonder if that article extended to the new design tanks in 51. The 52 notch is different than the photo and it has been established that many if not most later tanks that people have looked at recently and reported here have no notch at all. The no notch is also evidenced by the several people on various forums over the last 2-3 years who have replaced their cap with non vented caps and have run into fuel delivery issues.

We need to have some '51 owners check their tanks. If the 51's have them, then it is "possible" that some of those tanks could have made been transplanted into later years, as people were scavaging replacements after factory parts became NLA.