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Maybe a leak between the intake and exhaust manifold junction where they bolt together??

Howard - Thanks, that is a helpful chart to have. What is the normal operating temps for these straight 8's? 190 seems a bit high to me, especially if I were to have a 170 degree thermostat in there. Like I said earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if the thermostat is non-functional.

Tobs - There is a really high chance that the accelerator pump is bad. I haven't rebuilt the carb yet. I'll probably have to do that this winter. Ideally I'd like to rebuild and find the original thermostatic choke unit. Some previous owner removed that and installed a manual choke, which I hate. And I will definitely need to look at the heater core...I'm positive it's leaking now.

John - That's what I'm thinking, and that wouldn't surprise me. I really ought to get all new exhaust gaskets anyways. Maybe a good excuse to take off the fenders and clean up/paint the engine and bay??


The real question is why am I seeing so much smoke from the exhaust in the first place? My compression numbers looked good, so it wouldn't be bad rings, would it? I know I'm running too rich still, but would that cause smoking?

-Kevin

You can have good compression but worn valve guides that could make it smoke but also too rich a mixture might do it too. A relatively minor thing, though, that can be addressed once the carburetor problems are fixed. You should be able to get the choke parts easily but do have whichever shop rebuilds it be sure that the proper ports and pins are in it. (Sorry, I seem to have forgotten the proper terminology!) I use Ace Automotive (formerly Ace Fuel) in Santa Clara, CA do the carburetor work when I'm not doing it myself.

Don - thanks for the tips. I haven't decided yet if I want to try and tackle the carb rebuild myself or just have someone else do it. I'd like to learn (and save money) but I also don't want to screw it up worse.


Being stuck at home makes it hard to get stuff done on the car because I can't go out and get supplies. Right now I'm trying to plan out next steps and it's a bit overwhelming.

1.) Finish insulation and carpet installation. Need to find some good indoor/outdoor carpet to put on the foot rest.
2.) Headliner installation. This really ought to go in before the windshield, as it is much easier to access the front area without the glass in the way. The headliner has to go in before I can get any trim and/or weather stripping back on over the side windows.
3.) Clean out drip rail down to bare metal, clean up rust, and seam seal the whole thing
4.) Paint the pillars and windshield mounting area. Probably will need to strip the whole roof and redo it
5.) Install windshield and new gasket
6.) At some point during all this redo the entire brake system
7.) Probably will need to pull the whole front clip, clean up the entire front of the car, clean out the entire cooling system, replace or repair the heater core, redo the whole air system (air intakes, heater valve missing, etc), new gaskets on the exhaust, and repaint everything


And that's just the stuff to get the car up and running on the road. Doesn't include redoing the door panels, stripping and repainting the interior trim and dash, weather stripping the entire car, new tires, chrome, etc.

Sounds simple enough, right?

-Kevin

The problem I have is not being stuck anywhere but rather that my shop visits are so few and far between and when I am there it is only for a couple weeks. Since it is so rural and a half-day trip into town if I need something, I have to plan in advance what I want to do when there, then having everything waiting for me when I arrive. That means that I just can't take time to make gaskets or special tools so have to commission them in advance.

Don - your situation certainly complicates things. At least I have a short drive into town to grab things if I need to (except for being quarantined at home). The problem I'm finding is that NAPA rarely has what I need when I need it, so I will have to order things in advance.


Took a break from working on the Panama yesterday, back at it today with a few small things.

Cleaned up the front seat mounts in preparation for putting back in the car after insulation arrives. The mounting areas of both were covered in rust. I cleaned everything I could with a wire wheel, scrubbed some Ospho over them to convert any small areas of rust that remained, cleaned them with water, then sprayed with clear lacquer to protect.

Next I test fit the interior windshield trim and rearview mirror to be sure everything lined up. I had to adjust a bit on my welds on the pillars, but everything ended working out fine. I will need to source new screws for most everything because all the originals were rusted. Eventually I'll need to sandblast and repaint these trim pieces.

I then took an old local election sign and made a package tray and the rear seat divider out of it. These signs are strong and can't rot, so it seemed like it would work. Paul Jewett (no idea who he is) will live on this car. I'm going to be doing the trunk in dark gray carpet, so I will need to get some of that on the divider before I attach it. I believe the package tray is supposed to be covered in vinyl (Ivory in my case) so that will have to wait.

Lastly I figured out why my brake lights weren't working. The connections were all corroded. Cleaning both the plugs and the contacts solved the problem. I covered them with heat shrink to protect them. The brake system is all sort of weird in the car because of the change to a dual master cylinder. Eventually I will change it all over, but first I will at least start with replacing all the old lines (all the ones attached to the master cylinder are newer) and redoing everything inside the drums.

-Kevin

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Lots to be grateful for. Thankful for my wonderful wife who supports my Packard obsession, and my kids whom I occasionally conscript to help. They all look forward to the day when we can all take a drive to get ice cream while listening to some 50's rock.

I'm thankful for all the great people on here who take the time to help out with all my newbie questions and mistakes. And I'm very grateful for this fantastic site and the resources that are available here. Not sure why I haven't noticed the "donate" button before, but I found it and donated.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

-Kevin

<img src="https://bn1302files.storage.live.com/y4mxdIBh0vXHSpGK0fsNtbq9N8q8_hnBt1Hk3UlVGGFKzG4In9-0oL7D_2Ewvqb8BL8YLcb2BZtdGFtnolzHieoieHheD8lBRk0WW0cNHfGywsjBJl2yQvP4gCC8EKYuLBB_jHapi2wo0GWYt4Pz3ccSEhVdtuonL8TTx_ThavhSUeX8r_kk_S0OoqYGmqcOoEN?width=1024&height=670&cropmode=none" width="1024" height="670" />

Good Morning Kevin...You have found a GREAT use for a political sign...You Packard is coming along very well...I'm impressed with what you have accomplished...Ernie in Arizona

Curious about the blocked off line connected to the brake line switch fitting.

Ernie - thanks, lots more to do still but hopefully someday I'll have it on the road.

JW - I noticed that too when I was under there. To me it looks like they grabbed whatever junction block they had on hand, and it had too many outlets. They blocked off the unused outlets (there's one more blocked line not visible in the picture). I'm planning on going through the whole brake system this winter and redoing all the lines, so this block will get taken out and replaced with something else. I'm most likely going to keep the manual brake dual master cylinder for now. Maybe someday in the future I'll change back to power brakes.

-Kevin