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Whatever type of clips or other retainer arrangement is used for the outside door handles i stronly advise GREASING them well with Lubriplate before installation. This will aid in future removal.

ALSO, when trim panel is removed DEburr all of the jagged access holes in the inner door frame with crokus cloth. This makes the car much easier to work on with out getting all cut up. I've done this to nearly every sheet metal part on my Executive as well as a few areas of my grocery getters that are long time keepers as i work on them.

BH,

Sounds like I need to see if the wife would like to take an East Coast Trip. She said she always like to go to Maine and other parts of the East Coast.

Hey Tom -

You don't have to do an East Coast fall foliage tour to enjoy a great Packard meet. Perrysburg is just below Toldeo, OH - though the meet site will move about 25 miles down the road to Fremont for next year..

As a tyke, we travelled to Berwyn to visit my uncle (once or twice in dad's Exec) and the trip took all day - about eight hours (I'm told). Today, I can be in Perrysburg (from my hometown in W. Penna.) in about 3-1/2 hours. So, I bet you could make it there from Chi-town in about 4 hours.

While Hershey is one of those things that every old car enthusiast needs to experience at least once, there have been many more Packards at the Perrysburg event (even the Warren Museum meet in July) than I've ever seen on the show field at Hershey. The Chicagoland Packard owner's are usually well represented at Perrysburg.

On the way back, Sunday, you can check out the ACD Museum in Auburn, IN (about a half an hour south off _I-80/90, down I-69) and the Sudebaker Museum in South Bend to make it an unforgettable weekend.

Quote:It take us 4 hours just to get out of the mess on 80/94.

Thanks for the insight on the sites to see on the way back. I will need to mention this to my better half.

What weekend would this be in MAY?

We I managed to get more work done today on the '54. I was finally able to get the manifolds removed from the car. One problem I had was that the inner two studs twisted out of the block. The nut was basically welded onto the stud. No amount of PB Blaster made a difference. I have been spraying those nuts for days. Perhaps the fact they are the ones that get the most heat from the exhaust collector makes them such a pain.

The bad thing about those nuts is that they are in such an inaccessible area that I couldn't get an impact, or even a normal socket wrench on them. Even my gear wrenches would not fit in there. I had to use a normal box-end wrench and plenty of braun. Too bad you can only have less that a 1/4 turn of wrench play. It took me forever.

The threads on the studs look pretty good except for the last 1/4" of the stud.

A little bit more degreasing on that side of the block and a some sanding with a wire cup on my die grinder and I should be all set for when the paint arrives.

I ordered some high-temp primer to use on the non-cast surfaces (timer cover, waterpump blacking plate, value covers, etc). I also bought a couple cans of high-temp cast gray for the manifolds.

I made a trip to Harbor Freight today so I picked up a few things I needed. Their blue latex gloves are the best, so I go through them pretty quickly. They also had the Mityvac Brakes Bleeder/Vacuum testers on sale. So I picked one of those up. I figure I can use it to test my vacuum advance and other things. Plus they have the cheapest wire cup brushes with 1/4" shaft.

Living 1/2 mile for the store makes it very nice when you need something quickly.

Well I am about 90% done with prepping the engine for paint. I removed the throttle linkage so I could gain access to the back of the head for rust removal.

Here are the current pics. I just have a little grease in the bottom ribs areas where I can't get a die grinder in there. I will have to get in there with a screw driver. The engine here has been given a coat of Jasco prep and primer. Which is basically a rust convertor. This was needed to neutalize the rust that the wire brush could not get out of the tight spaces and cast grain. The black and white blotches on the block are from the rust convertor doing its job. You can also set the white residue on the frame, that is from the Jasco.

I will make one more pass with the wire brush after the Jasco is completely dry, and then wipe the entire engine down with thinner. Then it should be ready for paint.

In the pics you can also see the 288 head that is on my 327 block. I guess the 288 heads do not have the Thunderbolt stamping on them.

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Well the engine is degreased, derusted and it looks like fresh cast. I started the painting of it, but because of the paint snafu, that is on hold for the moment.

I installed the NOS Delco breaker plate in the distibutor, and also finished the holddown clamp, and greasecup in Silver Cadium paint. I also used the same paint on the fuel pump to keep it looking clean and bright. The throttle linkage will get the same treatment.

I did get the manifolds stripped down to bare cast iron. So those are ready for paint.

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What did u use to "DErust " it????

On the manifold I hit it with a couple rounds of Oven Cleaner, rinsed it well and dried with the compressor. Then I went at it with a wire cup brush on a die grinder. It took me about an hour to get it all cleaned up.

Usually I would coat stuff with come Jasco after that to get any minor speck of rust. But I used that last of it on the engine.

I will wipe it down with some paint thinner right before I paint it to remove any dust and fingerprints.

Everything I have derusted that is big and bulky has been done with a wire cup brush. I went through about 6 of those 1/4" shaft cup brushes while doing the entire engine. Luckly they are only about $1.50 each at the local discount store.

Put those in a die grinder at about 80 psi, and it cuts through the rust like it wasnt even there. But a dust mask, and safety glasses (or a face shield) is a must. The bushes tend to shed wires as they are being used.

If a part is small enough then I degrease it, then put it in a plastic pail and submerge it with some Evaporust and come back the next day.

I really want to get a blast cabinet. But everything in time.