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Well, I got the Power front seat removed. What a heavy beast that thing is! I didn't have anybody around to help so I took a piece of plywood, set the seat studs on it on the drivers door jamb and pushed the seat out from the passenger side. Atleast its out, and I didn't break anything. I am amazed at how clean the floors are. They are solid, except for the hole I talked about in an earlier post. I was hoping to find atleast some treasure from the former owner. Change, paperwork, garbage, toys, lighter. Nothing These people must have been very clean. Maybe I might strike gold in the backseat. The best thing I ever found in a car was in a '66 Fairlane convert I was restoring. A pack of cigarettes with 15 dollars tucked inside with a business card for a "Va Va Voom Room" girlie show. The money was all dated pre 1964 so it must have been down there for awhile.

The strangest thing I found in a car was a maniquin hand in the trunk of a '64 T-bird. That one made me jump a little!

Don, run your hands between the seat bottom and back while you have it out. I found a 1953 $.50 piece in mine, and was dissapointed until I did that, as I didn't find anything under the seats either.

I bought a 62 Pontiac and had to repair the fender wells in the trunk to pass state inspection. There was an envelope stuck under the trunk mat and I was going to discard it, but it felt thick. I found $120.00 in that envelope and the wife and I had a good laugh as we had paid $200.00 for the car. I tore that car apart from front to rear and came up with another 37 cents

I recently read an article online about a guy who bought a former 2001 crown vic police car at auction. While cleaning it out, he saw a small crack in the backseat side panel and pulled it off to replace it. Inside the crack he found a baggy with cocaine in it! He called the cops and the confirmed that yes, sometimes while suspects are in custody they ditch small stuff in the back of the cruisers before they get back to the station for booking. The article says that is mild compared to some of the stuff they find in former squad cars. Remind me never to buy a former police car.

I now have both front & back seats out. I also have been tearing into the engine. I have been dismantling the old engine, stripping it down to a bare block w/crank & pistons inplace. I'm dropping the intake,heads,& water pump housing off to be tanked & magnifluxed sometime this week. Also am trying to figure out what I am going to do with the exhaust manifolds. Nothing looks worse than a freshly painted engine and corroded exhaust manifolds. What kind of finish lasts the longest on them that doesn't burn off or change color from the heat? Also I glass beaded & painted the air cleaner cover & valve covers.

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Well time for an update.

These last few months I have been "tinkering& fiddling" as my wife calls it, on the Packard. I do this in between the Honeydo list she has for me and work.

I separated the running engine and tranny that I acquired last year and mounted the engine on a 1000lb. rated 4 footed stand. Mounting it to the stand was teeth chattering experience. I used #5 grade bolts, and have it mounted to 4 points on the rear engine flange. I also left the engine puller attached with chain relaxed just in case something tragic happens. In a engine vs. concrete battle, I don't think either would come out too well. The 352 is SO heavy, I am afraid something might happen.

I have dropped the oil pan to decipher which kind of oil pump I have on the 352. I will post pics of it soon so that the good fellas here on PackardInfo can tell me. I imagine I will be doing the adapter & Olds pump conversion. Hopefully the adapter will be available again.

I have been buying bits & pieces and setting them aside, brake pads, wheel cyl kits, etc. Can't wait for the Portland Swap Meet in April, as I find some interesting Packard parts there every year.

Well this weekend was productive. Now that I have the engine on the engine stand, I began tearing everything down which includes p/s pump, tranny cooler, water pump, water pump housing, generator, intake manifold,carb, & oil pan. I removed the oil pan and went looking for anything fun like metal shavings or chunks of mystery metals. Nothing but oil, and the bottom of the pan that is usually full of sludge was pretty clean.

I removed the oil pump and snapped some photos as instructed by the V-8 gurus here. I am loading them here to ask which style it is. Early, late or mystery?

It has an AC casting on the bottom and the numbers #440662.

Let the autopsy begin!

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GREAT!!!!

Thus far u have what appears to be the 1st generation pump. BUT it appears to have the 'hash pipe" attached to the pressure relief valve port. That was a dealer fix.


BEFORE ANY DISASSEMBLY:

BE SURE to check the screws that hold the vacuum pump to the oil pump body. Are they LOOSE or tite????

Measure the float position and record it so u can assemble it back together the same way. Check the service manual for this procedure.

Hopefuly u have a micromter or other suitable measuring instrument accurate to +or- .001 inch?????

Do u have a scrap oil pan that u can cut the bottom out of to check for dipstick interference with the float????

I popped the freeze plugs out of the engine yesterday as I wanted to clean out the crap in the block and replace the plugs themselves. Wow! I don't think I had ever seen as much sludge & hardened sediment in a block before. I had a hooked awl, and used it to break up the hardened soot. It was coming out in 1" chunky flakes. I got close to 1 cup of compacted sediment and that is just one side of the block!

In my previous posting, I went over pulling the oil pump out. I am contemplating upgrading to the Olds pump conversion that KevinAZ has been posting on his blog. It sure looks good. I might just rebuild the the original in the mean time. If mine is a first generation pump (thanks Packardv8 for the response) is there a benefit in using a second generation or third generation pump instead of the one I have?

YOUR pump has the dealer installed relief valve tube kit on it already as per STB 56T-20. THat should be as good as the last-gen pump that Packard produced.

THE QUESTION is as to how much wear is in the pump itself more specifically the input shaft wear.

Have u contacted Craig about the Olds conversion kit yet????