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

I seem to recall that when installing new hydraulic lifters you were supposed to soak them in oil overnight, or put them in a container of oil and heat it on the stove for a few hours. This was supposed to fill them with oil and they would start working right away.

Might be worth trying next time.

Ross probably has better advice as he's been thru this a lot more than I have, but I've changed perhaps 3 or 4 sets of hydraulic lifters on 47-54 engines and never soaked them in oil. After checking the lifter-to-stem length and adjusting as needed, I just filled the cam follower with a couple of squirts of oil from an oil can before inserting the hydraulic portion. Of course that which was in excess just squirted out but the lifters were silent almost immediately on first start-up and never had any issues thereafter. Of course you could also remove the plunger and put a little oil directly in the lifter itself. I don't think simple soaking would ever get any oil past the ball check but could be wrong.

I would definitely repolarize the generator as that is one of the first steps manuals say to do after changing the regulator or working in the charging circuit. Even if nothing was changed, doing it after a car sits a long time and then is brought back into service wouldn't hurt.

Once other question might be the regulator. I know there are regulators for pos and neg ground but not entirely sure what the difference in construction is. I believe it is mostly in the contacts but still there is a difference. That is something Jason might be able to shed a light on.

In your case, unless the replacement was exactly the same number, several on the forum have had issues with the wrong polarity regulator for the car or even some "universal" regulators causing problems.