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Page 10, 14 and 15 of the owners manual talks about the keys.

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/1956_ClipperOM.pdf

Thank you! Sometimes when I'm exhausted the obvious escapes me so I never thought to refer to the owner's manual.

Did a bit of triage on the TorsionLevel Ride and see that the crank has rotated with the shorter one to the rear. According to the Howard's notated diagram from another post, it should be ahead of the longer one. I did not see anything obviously broken or bent but will have to get it higher before examining it in more detail.

Oddly, when I took it down from the high stands that were under the driver's side since yesterday evening, it is sitting level! Any thoughts on that?

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Very interesting project Don, and relevent to my efforts on my 1956 Clipper Deluxe.

Are the trunk lids on the 1956 Clippers really different to the other 1956 Packards? I know the 1955 lid is different, but apparently interchangeable with 1956. I like the 1956 shape better.

You have a bit of work ahead of you.

There's also a Treadlevac rebuild looming for me. It's long overdue. Thought I had a vacuum system problem, but adding fluid to the master cylinder has them working quite well. Now I'm worried because I don't know why this fixed it! Perhaps a slow leak in one or more of the wheel cylinders. Ah well, guess I'll be replacing those too. And while I'm at it, looking at the brake linings and drums.

Most other important stuff on my Clipper is working ok, including the Torsion Level and Ultramatic transmission. Hopefully, not too much wrong with your Torsion Level. Brilliant stuff, but it sounds like a bear to work on.

Thank you. You posted those identical words yesterday.

Don

Sorry, was posting something else and lost it.

I understand about your weather and working conditions. Lived in Chicago for some years, where owning a car was a liability - especially in winter!

Given the coronavirus problem, it may not be a bad thing to be stuck there a while longer. Isolation in that part of the world has its advantages.

Dare say you have unscrambled the official key story from the Owners Manual.

My situation bears no resemblance to that. I have five (!) ignition keys and none which work the front doors, trunk lock or glove compartment. From this I surmise that both the ignition lock and trunk lock were changed sometime, and it inherited an original ignition key in the process.

Did you get another octagonal head key with the replacement trunk lid? Or maybe you can switch lock barrel and keys between the two lids?

I don't bother locking my car when it's parked outside.

I suppose if I cared, I could get numbers off the other locks and have keys made for those.

Cheers

Brian

In this case, since the replacement trunk lid has a nice lock, at some point I'll have its innards rebuilt with new tumblers and have the glovebox door done at the same time. Eventually I'll do the same with the ignition and door locks. I have the keys for the doors and ignition but all are worn so rebuilt with new keys, they'll work like new when right now they hardly work at all.

First, though, the bigger picture of getting the TorsionLevel Ride crank back where it belongs and getting the engine to run. After that, it's on to the brakes and I have everything I need other than a kit for the TreadleVac.

Although this car is virtually untouched, one thing I noticed was the aftermarket Filt-O-Reg combination fuel filter and pressure regulator. This one was factory pre-set for 2 lbs pressure but appeared to have a fuel leak either at the fitting to the carburetor or at the upper gasket which appears to have been taken apart at some point.

Thanks to one of our wonderful vendors I now have the proper filter and have had a proper pump to filter steel line made as mine was cut off near the pump with a rubber line attaching it to a barb fitting on the pump. Other than holding it in place to check the fit, I have not yet attached the new steel line but it appears that it needs to run behind the water cross-over pipe in order to fit.

Are there new ceramic elements and gaskets available for the original factory filter?

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Don

My TreadleVac rebuild kit arrived from Kanters today, together with four new wheel cylinders. Looks the goods, as usual.

Now I'm running out of reasons to delay the brake rebuild. Maybe do it when the paintwork refurbishment is underway. Guess it's easier to remove the TreadleVac unit altogether, and go at it on the bench. Or in my case the kitchen table.

I will use Ross Miller's write up as a guide. Let you know how I get on.

Cheers

Brian

I have a kit here too but it's for my 1954 Patrician and I'm not sure what differences there are between that and the 1956. As much as I like Kanter, I bought the kit elsewhere where I could get one that was more complete and included the shaft and parts to rebuild the booster and where I could order online.