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I’m back in California now but one more note on the work. When I put the bell housing cover back on, I noticed that several of the bolts had flattened threads so rather than forcing them in, I’ll have to run a thread-chaser through the holes and put in new (or at least different) bolts. Posting it here will be kind of a reminder to myself for the next trip up!

Also, the new rear yoke finally arrived yesterday long after I was on the way back home but more importantly the package included the seal for the overdrive lockout which I hope I can install with the transmission in place. The old one, of course, has already been removed.

This is the first time in many decades that the rear of the engine has been properly supported! Until now, it was resting on the exhaust pipe which, fortunately, was quite strong.

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I am heading to my Oregon shop for a couple weeks in July and would like to have the fuel tank insulator strips waiting for me when I get there in case I get the the time to install it. However, Max Merritt has only this size and type when my car uses two different widths, both flat, with a wide one on top at the body and a narrower one under the straps. I've never seen the type that Merritt has on any of my Packards. Is there another source?

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I used 3 layers of heavy roofing paper bonded together and cut to length and width to match the original thickness

And you could also look into some of the flat glass setting tape or liner materials such as those carried by Restoration Specialties.

Some masticated rubber cut into the correct width strips would work as well.

Thank you all. I’m actually looking for something specific that I can order in advance of my trip as I will have little time and limited transportation to hunt for stuff once I get there.

The stuff Merritt offers looks similar to the universal extruded material made by Metro and sold by Summit, Jegs etc. I don't see a specific item at Steele and since they are just flat pieces with no specific shape maybe not carried by any of the vendors.

If you wanted something waiting I think easiest would be to order a roll of the cork/rubber material from Restoration in a thickness of 3/32 which I think would be about the thickness of 3 sheets of average weight tar paper. Thickness is not terribly critical in that use anyway. If you get a 1 1/2 width which I think would work for a typical strap -- at least it should on a passenger car strap. Cut 4 pieces to fit the lengths which is probably about 2 ft each or so and use the strap and a utility knife to do a quick side trim to fit the actual widths. Doubt it would take more than a few minutes to do.

Thank you, Howard. The top pieces are the more important of the two sides (I can add them to the straps later if needed) and are much wider than the straps, probably somewhere between 2” and 3” wide. I measured when I was last there but apparently forgot to make note of it! These would probably be the type used on the pre-‘51 cars as that’s the type of tank it has.

I’m sure my metal straps came from Kanter, and the rubber, too, but rubber may have come from Steele at the time (1990?).the extra long SS T-bolts came from McMaster

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Thank you, Joe. The material on yours looks good but isn’t stock as the factory used a flat heavy paper-like material rather than extruded rubber. Also, my t-bolts are not removable which was shown earlier in this blog and they are at the front of the tank which is quite unlike those on the passenger cars.