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For getting the shift indent spring and tiny pad installed, I ended up using a brake tool which did an excellent job!

Simulated in this photo on a disassembled column, I simply hooked one end to the shaft anchor, then used the other end to push in the spring with the pad and it worked beautifully! For reference here is the image provided earlier in this blog pointing it out without which I would not have known to look for it.

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The brakes are bled and the fuel pump installed but I never had such a difficult time installing a Packard pump as I did today! It was missing its insulator sleeves but the pump from the parts car still had them. Amazing with all the handling! However, with them in, it seemed that the spacing of the bolts didn’t match the block so it took a bit of persuasion but finally it is installed. By then it had dropped to 41 inside so I was about to close up when I realized I hadn’t installed the line from the pump so I got that put in too.

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I’m not sure where to look but there is a substantial spark when I connect the battery which wasn’t there when I initially connected it. It wouldn’t crank so I was checking the terminals and started smelling something which is when I noticed the spark. I think for now I’ll disconnect the body feed and hotwire it.

Hot wiring it and priming the carburetor, it fired right up and after a moment it really smoothed out to a nice idle. No need to pump the pedal to keep it running so I moved it outside.

I did notice an odd tinny noise when revved a bit which is a sound I never heard before in a Packard. Could it be simply low Ultramatic fluid? Without it being warmed up, I was unable to check it prior to starting it up. Here is a video with the noise at the end and note that most of the odd sound throughout is the flex fan which is noisy.

Incidentally, looking just like this, it was a regular on many NorCal PAC tours and I also frequently drove it to work. Of course, it had both tail fins, parking light lenses, wheel covers and a hood ornament then.

UPDATED: Added link to video.

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Glad you got it running! Nice to see things happening around the shop.

Looks like in decent condition.

Thank you! It is quite solid and even after sitting for so long untouched, it still runs well although the odd noise I heard today worries me a bit. I added to the post a very short video of it.

Back sometime in the late ‘70s probably I took some auto body classes and this was the car I was working on (which is why all the colors and primer spots) but at home I was stripping and prepairing a 1951 Henney-Packard combination for new paint so at the last minute I painted it instead.

For this car, I have quite a second set of nice seats, a few NOS parts and also two sets of doors including the set from the complete parts car but what I don’t have is the time as my shop is visited only a few times each year and then for only a couple weeks at a time. I’m not getting any younger so my only regret is that I didn’t do all this sooner but I had 22 cars and no space to actually work on any as even the large garage was packed to the gills.

Would Dexron III be okay to use in an original untouched Ultramatic?

Isn't it supposed to be Type F?

Maybe but what I have - and I’m miles away from anything - is Dexron III. I don’t know if it needs any fluid but if it does, I want to be sure that this won’t actually hurt anything. This car isn’t going to be on the road in the foreseeable future but I don’t want to damage it either.