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There is no second "latch" on the right side, merely two slits in the metal and the center area depressed to catch the floor.

The seat tracks are as Howard suggests, upper and lower portions that roll via the most basic needle bearings. 4 bolts each to remove the tracks, disassemble, blast, clean and regrease the "beaarings." You will be impressed with the design of the tracks, actually quite elegant. Over the years, accumulated crud and the fact that these were NEVER greased or serviced in any way has all but guaranteed non-function.
Good weekend project...

DAF

Thanks all for the help - I have it halfway apart, and will continue to provide updates as I learn more.

Bump on the battery cover - a look at the parts list only shows a single piece, so I think I'll have to procure a new cover. Does anyone have a picture that I can look at before I buy new parts?

John Ulrich lists a battery cover that should fit your car.julrichpackard.com/battery.htm Not sure what yours is missing because his view of the top of the cover doesn't look much different from what you show which I assume is the bottom -- although he does say his is stronger and better than originals..

There is a little lip that was notched out on the end opposite the clamp which holds down that end. It hooks over the floor panel, then the latch bolt holds down the other end. I couldn't see it in your photos but it is visible on the one in the link above.

Spent a few hours disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling the seat latches. Also had to reweld a portion of the seat bracket, where the seat frame screws to the seat slide. All turned out well, and the seat slides again. The rear drivers side had some corrosion build up, I believe because of the poorly fitting battery door. I used evapo-rust for the first time to clean up the bolts, and was very pleased with how it worked.

Further inspection of my battery door reveals it is missing the small lip on the passenger side. I also need to repair the floor. A previous owner wanted a bigger battery, so they made two parallel one inch cuts in the floorboard to peel it back and drop in the bigger battery.

Also, some oil spilled on my tire, and it was a few days before I noticed it. I scrubbed at it with Bleche-white (the new formula from an auto parts store) with no luck - there is still a faint stain. Any idea on what might be better?

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Ken,

This recent thread on the AACA Website may help.

New battery door arrived from John Ulrich - very good piece, and great service as well.

I know the factory didn't seal the battery box lid in anyway, or at least I think I know that, but has anyone put something to seal the lid to prevent any fumes or battery off-gassing from entering the passenger compartment?

My next project is locating the battery shutoff switch. I wanted to put it just forward of the battery, under the lip of the seat, but it looks like the structural wood would preclude. I know JW mounted it on the firewall or near the starter, but I would rather have it in the passenger compartment. I am thinking I'll clamp it to the lower portion of the steering column or try to locate it under the dash. I want to minimze extra cable run and hide it as best as possible. I would prefer to interupt the ground side wire, but location may make that infeasible.

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On 1 of my cars the seat was in the way as well but the moves the switch way under the seat and put a long lever on it (I've to check again how it deals with the wood frame). I'll try to take a picture this weekend.

One thing on the seal you might consider unless you have a new deeper tray for the taller modern batteries is maybe glue a thin piece of sheet rubber on the bottom of the cover. That might provide a bit of a dust and air seal as well as some electrical insulation in case the battery might get jarred and somehow a cable connection winds up a bit too close to the cover.

One possibility on the cutoff switch if there is no clear and convenient spot is to locate it in a more appropriate spot and then actuate it from a distance with a rod or push-pull cable. Jegs and Summit have commercial versions of remote actuation means or if those wouldn't work for whatever reason you could make your own. I built custom versions to provide a rod extension to a switch mounted on the firewall for one car and a push-pull cable to operate the switch under the battery tray on another. That was done to have the operating knob within easy under dash reach. I also placed the switch in the ground cables.

First pair of photos are the rod extension and second set are the of the push-pull cable. All parts needed for both methods came from McMaster-Carr.

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I still haven't gotten around to installing a battery cut-out switch, but in my defense, about 2 weeks after I was going to do that little project, we moved! The joys of Navy life...

We ended up in a house with a bigger garage, but it turns out years of neglect had left it about to fall over. With work, etc, I was only recently able to get to it. The original garage was patched onto over the years. I stripped off the rotten shingles, replaced rotten boards, added in studs to achieve approximately 16" spacing, racked the walls to get everything plumb as I could, and added insulation, plywood sheeting, new windows, and vinyl siding (to match the house). Pleased with how it turned out, and now I have a decent workshop for approximately the next two years, or longer, if I'm lucky... enough with the tangential stuff.

I believe I have troubleshot my cloud of smoke problems to a leaking economizer valve as discussed here:
packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0

If I can find a new valve, I'll know for sure. If not, I may start shopping for a Carter or an EE-16. My choke functions perfectly, but sounds like the manifold mounted choke is prone to problems.

Made it a cruise-in this summer. My local club is doing its annual show this fall, but I'll have to miss it and Hershey because I'll be up in Newport, RI for a few months working on some navy training.

Lots of small projects to do now that I have the shop set up. Once the rich running is fixed, I need to install that darn battery cutout, determine why it is running slightly hot (heats up at idle or when pulling a hill - verified timing is good), and try to get it running and driving smoother - I have an exhaust leak to tackle, a little valve noise, and I'm not happy with the suspension or steering presently.

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