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I wish you the best of luck!

PM sent

I do not see a pm from you sorry

I think he might be referring to the PM he sent me.

In any event here is the latest news on the project. We are a little closer. The engine is in the car. After some pieces
getting feet and walking, the car is now down at another location and the owner, his mechanic, and I have gone over what needs to be done, and the mechanic, after being shown the in's and out's of a dual carb Packard setup, is feeling more comfortable with is. One of the choke housings was broken and after dilligent searching I found one on E-bay. Work should begin this coming week. One of the delays was the power steering pulley. It seems that it got feet and walked away and it took them over 3 weeks to inform me of that fact. I got one from Mikey D. When I got it down there lo and behold guess what, they found the lost one in the trunk along with all of the other parts. This time all of the parameters are laid out and I feel sure that they should be finished by the end of April.

Well so much for warm and fuzzy feelings. After three weeks of no work the mechanic calls me and admits to cold feet about working on the car. He is talking about having to completely yanking the engine out to put in the transmission cooling lines. Everyone agrees that I should find another mechanic. I do and the car is now there and work is progressing. In doing some work he finds that the carbs are full of water(GREAT). I sure do hope no water got into the block. we checked the oil and all seems to be o.k. I printed some of the diagrams some of you guys provided, so he should be able to work with those. Hell I am only 72 so I should have a life expectancy long enough to see the project complete.

I'm betting that you'll make it, AL. Providing the mechanic as much info as possible and getting him to discuss what needs to be done seem to be critical elements in getting a good outcome.

Your ClipperRod is so cool, any mechanic worth his salt would be eager to work on it and get it going, IMHO.

Well I'm giving him as much info as I can. It seems that the one rod on the carb linkage that I thought I had, I didn't so we had to fabricate one. It works. I am now looking for a set of air cleaners. I have seen a couple, but no batwing, they are just to bloody expensive. We are getting close to cranking it over and see what happens. It also appears that I was sold a bill of goods on the engine rebuild. My mechanic listened to what I had to say about what happened and he told me the only way that it could happen that way was for the engine to be out of time. I might have gotten away with doing just the heads. Oh well no sense in having second thoughts now, what's done is done. What really is shame is that I will not get the chance to get any enjoyment out of it. As soon as it is running, I will have to sell it.

All back together and the first attempt at starting it and the starter just clicks, like the solenoid headed south.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I take it you have checked the other possibilities -- weak battery or failed cell from sitting, corroded cables, paint under grounds or on grounding surfaces between motor and block.

Keep swinging! Remember, it's only nuts & bolts :)