Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I recently decided to acquire a few spare parts to keep on hand for both road trips and shelf stock and thought I would start with fuel pumps. The original AC pump on my car had been completely by-passed on the fuel side in favor of the common 6 volt electric pump but was still being utilized on the vacuum side for the windshield wipers. I didn't like the idea of depending entirely on the electric pump and decided to disassemble the mechanical pump for inspection. I found that it had suffered some corrosion damage at some point obviously from exposure to water in the fuel and most likely brought on from sitting up. Ironically, the pump appeared to have been rebuilt shortly before it was abandoned however I determined that the condition of the pump was too rough to rebuild and decided to look into rebuilding two other cores that I had on hand. One was an original AC pump and the other is a Blackstone which is basically an AC "knockoff" and actually takes the same rebuild kit as the AC. Included are a few photos of the AC pump during the rebuild stage. The others are comparison photos of the Blackstone pump on the left and the AC on the right. The Blackstone pumps are excellent pumps and in some ways are even superior to the AC.

Just want to add that with the exception of a couple of minor typo errors, the Fuel and Exhaust section of the '51-'54 Service Manual offers some excellent instructions for rebuilding the AC Fuel Pumps however under Pump Body Assembly on page 12, the instructions mistakenly make reference to the fuel "line" instead of fuel "link". This mistake occurs 3 times in the instructions for assembling the fuel pump arm so anyone following the instructions should be aware that wherever the word "line" occurs, the word "link" should be substituded.

Attach file:

---

  (117.34 KB)


  (117.18 KB)


  (142.72 KB)


  (140.87 KB)

Interesting photos. I note that the AC pump has large bolt holes for the insulating sleeves, but the Blackstone pump does not. At least that's the way it looks to me.

(o{}o)

Quote:

It just looks that way in the photo JW, the mounting holes on the Blackstone accept the same bushings as the AC. The Blackstone fuel bowl is a bit more shallow than the AC which makes the overall height about 1/4" shorter standing side by side.

We may be talking about different things. I am referring to the bolt holes in the pump housing where it is fastened to the engine, not the difference in the bowl depths or the bowl bolt head thickness.

(o{}o)

I am also referring to the flange mounting holes but to clarify, I was only pointing out the difference in the fuel bowl depths as one of the minor differences in the two pumps. Sorry for the confusion.

On the subject of fuel pumps, my Series 23 pump has the mounting bolts lock wired to keep them from falling out. Is that a standard Packard way of doing it? The installation of the lock wire is a (bad word). I can understand the need for lock wire if the torque on the bolts has to be reduced to protect plastic insulating washers.

Maybe a better way of doing it would be to install studs in the block and secure them with Loctite. Then self locking nuts could be used and torque reduced to protect the plastic washers.

Does anyone know the thickness of the insulating washers and gasket? I would like to use the original design for thermal insulation. I am also installing a heat shield per original.

Fred, the service manual calls for the bolts to be lock wired so yes, the requirement is standard for Packard at least for the '51-'54 model years. As for thickness, I'm not sure what they are new but over the years they most likely lose some thickness from compression.

Found this earlier post from HH about the washers and sleeves. You could actually substitute nylon washers in place of the original fiber or phenolic washers.

From HH:
McMaster-Carrmcmaster.com/ has the washers Just search for phenolic washers. They also have a plastic sleeve material but not like the original. US Plastics carries that.usplastic.com/catalog/item ... id=23765&clickid=redirect

Gator, thanks for the help. I will try to use phenolic. The nylon is quite soft when heated.

I will dig into the fuel pump issue when I get all the parts collected. I gues I have to fabricate the insulating gasket. I wonder if they used paper gaskets also. A thick phenolic gasket is not likely to seal without some adhesive like RTV.

I am currently in the process of a rebuild myself and have the bolts on the bench. As soon as I get to the house ill pull out the micrometer and get you a measurement. One washer is solid and the other is "inset" for lack of better words. But I have the sleeves, washers and gasket. For measurement.

also if you get in touch with Hal atclassicpreservation.com I'm sure he has what you need. You can reach him at (518) 374-5078. You will most likely have to leave a message but he'll call back pretty quick.

Quote:

I believe the gaskets vary in thickness depending on who the provider is. I purchased my kit from Hal at Classic Preservation as well and the pump mounting gasket was included although it is paper and not very thick. It may have been HH again who took thickness readings on two different gaskets, one being an orginal Packard gasket which I believe measured .086 while the aftermarket gasket was .025. Then and Now may have something you can use...those folks are always helpful. Check the pump flange with a straight edge before you mount it Fred, you may need to remove the arm and true it up a tad.

maritimedragracing.com/then_and_now_automotive.htm