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We are all in rabid agreement. The vented breather screw goes right rear. The pillars, though they appear to be different heights are all about 1" tall. I have seen that cap and looked for it in the usual places for lost items but haven't found it yet. I know exactly what it looks like and now I know where it goes.

In the meantime the hole is out of the way of the gear oil tsunami, Ross. And in fact we took an actual test run. The clutch slipped a bit up hill, but as long as I don't bathe it in gear oil, it should go away. I parked it over clean paper and had lunch.

I lost a bet to my daughter and now have to take her for her free Starbux. There wasn't a single drop under the car. Thanks everyone.

Now we're ready to polish and then pick up my other SFO granddaughter at the airport tomorrow.

Just back from an hour's drive. Clutch is grabbing better and better. Almost normal. The engine is so powerful now that it has full throttle and the passing gear works, too.

I did hear some pinging at high revs, so I'm either advanced or retarded (that's not PC what you're thinking).

The Ace hardware had a little chrome cap for a 5/16" hex head. It's embossed. No one will ever see it under the carpet and under the floorboard transmission cover. But I'll keep looking for the original. I'm not pulling all that off until after the show on Sunday.

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We'll know but we promise not to tell anyone.

The Duchess came through with flying colors for the Concours weekend.

The cooling system and clutch got a work out going to PDX to pick up Emi, my 11 year old granddaughter from SFO. It's a normal 35 minute freeway drive. It took us 2-1/2 hours of stop-and-go freeway traffic. We were only a few minutes late. Southwest kept her at the gate until daughter Molly collected her.

8am we left for Forest Grove and the start of the wine tour. My first Saturday pre-concours wine country tour was a ton of fun. Lots of cars, especially Packards. About 2-1/2 hours of actual touring the Oregon countryside. I brought my neighbors, daughter and granddaughter, top up foirst half, down second.

At the Abbey Farm winery I received an award for American cars on tour longest owned in one family. 60 years just for myself. I didn't have to pull out the big guns, my step-dad bought the Duchess in 1948. All on tour received a special ribbon that was a plus for judging on Sunday.

Once again I was surprised to win 3rd place, much as I drive her, 10,500 miles since last year's concours.

While 120 years of Packard was the featured marque this year, all brands were well represented, but in the end Jim and Mary Lou Harri from Walla Walla, WA took Best of the Show with their '34 Packard 1107 Conv Sedan V-12.

Donald Osborne (Jay Leno's garage fame) and Nic Waller (Pebbles Beach emcee) presided.

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ASKING FOR TROUBLE: After years looking for a Throttle Guard (#388245) and Bracket (#351121), the flackmaster found them for me. I cleaned them up, and now that everything is running about as perfectly as one could hope for, I decided to install the elusive Throttle Guard.

I suspect these were removed and not replaced when carburetor work was done. They were only installed on cars with overdrive, to prevent the car from stalling while in free wheeling at 4 MPH, they give the throttle lever a poke. I have already blown two mufflers because I didn't put the clutch in soon enough in that situation, so this may solve that problem.

I was inspired to install it because a recently purchased, long-stored original 160 sedan beat me out of 2nd Place last weekend. It is very cool to see cars that are untouched. This one had a Throttle Guard and the accelerator linkage had the original bend in it. (I haven't changed mine yet.) My engine compartment looked tarted up by comparison. It is a late 1940 with crank vents, numbered series and hubcaps. It's Miami Sand with a green pinstripe.

I haven't tested the throttle guard yet. Here are some more photos from wine tour, too.

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LEAKS: The oil pump leak was not the oil pump, but from the bolt above it holding the valve cover AND the bracket of the fuel pump heat shield. That's gone.

The vanishing brake fluid was the result of a stoplight switch that needed to be as tight as you dare tighten it to the master cylinder or else on a forceful, downhill surprise stop sign coming off a curve, it will squirt brake fluid. In other words as much pressure as you can put on the pedal for a sustained amount of time.
mktx.com/packard/brakefluid.MP4
That's gone.

So the papers are spotless under the car with only 1 drop from the differential. I'll tighten everything around the pumpkin.

KANTER LIFETIME WARRANTY FUEL PUMP: I was pretty amazed to find a new fuel pump on my doorstep Friday because I'd only mentioned it on a previous post and had not yet contacted Kanter about the broken one. That's service! And much appreciated.

NEW OR RETURNING LEAK I drove to Seattle and back on Thursday, about 325 miles rt, and I once again have oil on the clutch and a major oil leak, so I'm going to investigate that today.

MYSTERY SCREW I was about to pull back the carpet to check that breather screw on the top of the tranny when I found this screw on the carpet. It's special purpose obviously, but I can't for the life of me remember where it goes. It's Phillips, so it's not original. It may be a Rube Goldberg solution I installed.

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Looks like it might be from a modern style hose clamp.

Dave beat me to it, it is a hose clamp screw.

You guys are sharp. It's off the driver's side defroster hose. Thanks.