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I am off on my journey!

The license plate is from California & the sticker is from 1968 so...

Step 1 was to pull all the plugs & hose down the cylinders with PB blaster. I was pleased to see the plugs were very clean with no sign of nasty stuff going on inside.

The valve covers came off & again, everything looked really clean inside. I squirted down all the valve stems just in case things get "sticky" when I try to turn her over.

I will pull the dizzy and spin the oil pump next but I thought I would go ahead and throw a breaker bar on the crank since thing looked so promising.
Well, things didn't budge so I may need to try the starter to turn it over, Or maybe use a bar/screw driver on the ring gear?

My initial questions are: How do I tell if it is a 374.
How do I raise the rear bumper? Can the leveling system be
operated manually?

If the engine number on the pad next to the oil fill pipe is the same as the door post number, it will be the original engine and a 374. If a different number then you can tell either by the number saying which model of car it came from or by the casting number on top of the bellhousing behind the distributor. A 374 would have a casting number of 440971.

The 56 leveler circuit has two fuses on the inner fender well next to the leveler solenoids. Check those first. A 30 amp in the red wire which feeds the solenoids and motor and which also feeds the second fuse. The second fuse is 7 1/2 amp and feeds the brake light circuit and thru a switch under the dash edge, ultimately the leveler control switch.

The brake light switch has 3 terminals and when brakes pressed, lights work and leveler circuit is off. When brakes released, lights should go out and leveler circuit gets voltage on the light green wire. Check that is happening. If all that is good & switch under dash is on and still no leveler, then we can go thru how to raise the car without damaging anything.

Where were we...
The distributor is out & the pump shaft is round with 2 flats so maybe a tool will need to be fabricated to drive the oil pump? I will re fill the cylinders before trying to turn her over.
We mounted 1 new (to me) tire to replace the 9.00X15 tire date coded 1963! What a huge tire. Also pulled out the old carpet & trunk liner.
Next I think I will try to raise the rear, I'm a long way from putting a battery in the car but can I just disconnect the wires to the TL motor and apply 12 volts to raise/lower it?
Also replaced a damaged trunk hinge, lowered the trunk & wrecked the new hinge. :(
Let's see what the weekend brings?

You can raise the car. Ground one jumper cable and use the other to touch ONE of the terminals on the motor. There will be no limit switches so watch the transverse bars to ensure you have the correct terminal & the compensator does not try to drive them around past center. Make sure passenger side bar stays on rear of compensator, drivers side bar on front.

64,

Some have brazed the hinge pin, and others have replaced the rivet with a bolt.

Progress!
Took a piece of 1/2 inch copper pipe, squeezed it in the vice and it fit the oil pump perfectly so I pumped oil for a good minuet. Threw some jumpers on the car and the TL came up a good foot. Yay.
Hit the starter & click. Good news is there are lights & blower but no windows or horn yet. :(
The starter looked pretty good, though I went through it and it tests fine. Now under the hood,something else goes click. Spun the motor over with a jumper and got a penetrating oil shower...(plugs were out) She might just live! Next the dizzy goes back in, a little gas too and we'll see. The 8 year old niece thinks it's pretty cool, she watched for ? an hour :)

Making some good progress, congrats!

Did you get the PM I sent you?

Hows about some pics?

I'll take some photos in the morning, now that it's back down on the ground.
Tried to get her started yesterday but no compression, about 30-40 psi per hole. That means the rings are stuck.It takes about 70 to go varoom so it looks like she is ready to part or sell whole.
If I could just get it warmed up, I'll bet the rings would loosen. It looks great off the jacks & the leveling system has it sitting pretty. Bummer.
I missed a great '57 Pontiac the other day on CL so maybe I'll buy the '55 400 in Oregon?? really want a'56 though.
If you need a rock solid & complete '56, let me know. I will write it up soon for the classifieds.

Here are a couple of shots:
shttps://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/cache/15023_5267105034fhttps://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/cache/15023_52671075259https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/cache/15023_526710b778093.jpg08.jpgb5.jpghots:

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