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smith Quote:

Scott, you are exactly on point. Even though I am a long time poster on this and several prior Packard forums and am somewhat of an authority on Packards, this side-topic spewing is ridiculous.

Sometimes BigKev has to come in and virtually slap someone on the side of the head (and I'm not talking about KevinAZ).

Craig

Alrighty Gents..... lets move along. Let chalk this up to a missunderstanding or reading something into a post that was not there....

"Cars built by Gentlemen for Gentlemen." Let us all try to aspire to that standard.

Regards,

G'day Men, the topic does seem to have strayed a bit and I certainly hope that it was nothing I said about contacting Mr Butler that caused this. If it was then my apologies. I have just re-read all posts and there does seem to be a lot of interest in Mr Butler's conversion which could easily result in more conversion projects. Seeing I'm located so far away downunder, maybe it's better if I quietly mind my P's and Q's until that's all sorted and then get more involved.

The TU in my '56 Patrician is working fine now but my main concern is what to do if it lets go in the future. I bought the car from the late Dick Benjamin of Temecula, CA, who rebuilt the TU himself. Dick was a true believer that the TU was a good tranny if treated right and the engine not modified for extra power. He once told me that he became good friends with Dick Teague and learned that when John DeLorean was Chief Engineer, or whatever his title was, he was making running modification to some (unnamed to me) TU components but not recording the changes. This meant some parts, although similar, weren't exactly the same but carried the same part #'s. Dick B's advice, apart from fastidious cleanliness and following rebuilding instructions to the letter, was to accurately measure all replacement parts to ensure they were to be replaced with ones of identical dimensions.

On the other hand, the 700R4 developer that I mentioned previously strongly believed that as a tranny, the TU makes a good boat anchor. He reckons that there is so much weight internally in the TU to get moving on take-off that it drained power and fuel economy and eventually led to premature component failure. He said if you want to make the Packard V8 the great driver it should be, fit a good tranny like the 700R4. That's two friends with much Packard experience between them, who agree on most things, but clearly not the TU.

Following Dick's rebuilding instructions correctly over here would be almost impossible because very few people know anything about the TU, let alone having the necessary components to measure-up against. GM 4 speed OD trannies on the other hand are quite common - my daily driver has one - hence my interest in this conversion. Of course the push button conversion issue will have to come into play at some time for me too. Regards, John

G'day all, I have followed this thread from the start and can appreciate both sides of the discussion. I run cars with Ultra and Twin-Ultra. I have had some issues with rebuilding but have sorted those as I now do them myself. I have done some for other people and run into problems when the converter has been dissassembled by "workshops" without adequate balance marking and it doesn't take much on the ultra and twin Ultra to loosen the front converter snout. The Ultramatic is also extremely sensitive to input shaft wear around the front pump area as it uses the bushes as seals. I went back to the first post on this thread and it is a great conversion. I have got a fairly heavy right boot and the Packard ultra and twin Ultra has not let me down, even when towing some dreadful loads. I admit that I do lift my foot slightly to set the direct drive clutch as it applies. I may be old school. Keep up the good work on finding the ideal conversion and best regards. Peter Toet

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Latest news from Bendtsens

We expect to have the Packard V8 kits ready to ship later this month.
They will allow you to install a Chev 700R4, 350th, 2004R, 4L80E,or 400th trans onto the Packard V8. Possibly even a late model stick trans.
Bob Bendtsen


I just received this email from Bendtsen's on trans adapter for the V8, no price quote.

Quote:

It will be interesting to hear what's in the "kit". If it is just the trans-to-block adapter piece, there would still be a lot to do to have a functioning conversion.

Craig

Rowdy.
Great news on the Bendstens offering. Looking forward to the details. Keep us posted.

THis topic sure fell off the edge of the earth real fast. Gufwah ha ha ha ha .

Nope, it's still out there. I just punted the info since I am no longer seeking it since Packard is up for sale. If anyone is interested they can contact Bendtsens for further updates.

I will be taking our 5587 up to Bendtsen's within two weeks for them to install their adapter plate, 700r4, driveshaft & linkage for a turn key deal. Scott