Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Hello everyone! Just bought my first Packard this last weekend, a 1952 200 Deluxe Touring Edition. Been wanting to get in to classic cars for awhile, so when KPack showed me the listing I was really excited. Overall, the car is in fantastic condition. Almost no rust, chrome looks great, and the interior is in pretty good condition. Their was a repaint at some point, but they did a pretty good job of matching the original. There are some holes in the tailpipe due to rust, but they aren't too bad.

The car was running at the time we picked it up, however the next day we couldn't get it running. No compression on five of the pistons, with two stuck valves. KPack's been working on it this week and we are making progress on the valves and we now we are only missing compression on three of the pistons. I'm sure he'll chime in with some more details.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all and am excited to be part of the community!

Attach file:

---

  Driver Front.jpg (296.02 KB)


  Interior Front.jpg (293.95 KB)


  Interior Rear 2.jpg (218.37 KB)


  Exterior Rear.jpg (262.31 KB)

Here's some shots of the undercarriage after we got it up on the lift. It's in really good condition, probably spent a lot of time stored indoors.

Attach file:

---

  Underside Detail - Front.jpg (117.88 KB)


  Underside Detail - Mid.jpg (160.85 KB)


  Underside Detail - Rear.jpg (171.05 KB)

Congratulations and maybe commiserations. The car looks like a great start but if there is a chance you ran the engine with old stale gas you could be in for an interesting experience unsticking the valves.

You describe a classic symptom that the engine runs well, it is shut off for a day or two and when restarting is tried again valves are found to be stuck. The stale gas apparently has something mixed in that deteriorates and when it hits something hot like a valve stem turns into an almost glue like substance that deposits on the stems sticking the valves in the guides. Several have had this experience and some had them stuck so badly it took brute force and damaged valves before they came free. Hopefully you will not have that situation.

G'day MorticusMaximus,
to PackardInfo.

Kevin gave us a sneak preview of your '52 on Page 125O(Post #1250) of his Project Blog.

Kevin also said "He's already been told to add it to the registry", so to fascilitate adding your '52 200 Deluxe Touring Sedan to PackardInfo's Packard Vehicle Registry, this link should help.

That's a very nice looking car and I had one, a 1951, that must have been the same color but it was a bit larger, being a huge Henney-Packard combination hearse/ambulance!

Anyway, I learned the hard way and was about to say the same thing that Howard said so before you bend any values, don't try to start it. You'll need to pull the head and get all that stuff out of there! Drain the tank and flush it with clean gasoline and flush out all the lines too.

Of course, be sure that the brakes have all new rubber in all five cylinders and that the three hoses are new, then bleed thoroughly.

Incidentally, if you're a sticker for originality, your 1952 has 1951 parking light lenses and a senior-type grille!

Quote:
I never remember the difference in lenses but believe the grill is correct for a 52 Deluxe. Think all except the lowest model standard 200 had the teeth in 52.

Hey guys, thanks for the input so far. I'll fill in some stuff from my perspective.

The car has the correct '52 Deluxe grille, as well as other correct 200 Deluxe appointments. However it appears the hood may be from a 51....hence the Packard script across the front. But that's something that will likely stay as is for now.

The rest of the car is original. The interior is all there, including the original jute under the carpet in the rear. The upholstery is overall in great shape, with some stains here and there. The headliner is fairly dingy but is not sagging. Hopefully with some gentle cleaning we can get the stains lifted.

The original paint is Code B: Packard Blue Metallic. The car has been resprayed and they did a pretty good job of matching the original. There are a few patches here and there but overall good paint. It should clean up nicely.

Chrome is all nearly excellent. There are a few spots on the rear bumper that aren't great, and the door handles are very pitted. But replacement door handles came with the car, so eventually those will get changed out. Everything else is very nice. The front crest was likely replaced with a reproduction as it looks brand new.

There is no rust that we can see. The trunk is very clean, and very solid. No signs of rust on the rocker panels, nothing behind the rear wheels, and nothing in the floor pans. The car apparently came out of someone's collection and it had been stored indoors for decades.

-Kevin

Attach file:

---

  Trailering to the shop.jpg (216.03 KB)


  Original upholstery showing very well.jpg (406.54 KB)


  Original door panels in great shape.jpg (211.36 KB)


  Clean trunk, non original carpet.jpg (197.37 KB)


  No rust on trunk floor.jpg (249.82 KB)


  Packard crest.jpg (171.81 KB)


  On the lift.jpg (164.53 KB)

I thought so too but not according to the Model Identification on this site. On the lenses, 1951 had flutes that ran around the lens while 1952 had a circular one or two, then the rest ran down to the base from there.

Now to business.

The guy the car was bought from had the car running but it was rough. We could tell it was missing on at least one cylinder, and I was assuming sticking valves. Unbeknownst to us he was us indeed running the car on the gas that was in the tank, and apparently it was old. The next day at my place I couldn't get the car started to get it off the trailer, so we pushed it off and into the shop.

Here's what we've done so far:
1.) Drained old fuel. There were about 8 gallons of nasty gas in the tank. It smelled sweet like fruit and was red in color (could be from rust in the tank).
2.) Drained from the fuel pump to the carb
3.) Replaced old and cracking rubber fuel line from hard line to fuel pump
4.) Replaced spark plugs
5.) Replaced spark plug wires
6.) Replaced points and condenser
7.) Reset timing

Next on the list to do:
1.) Replace cap and rotor (on order)
2.) Replace all wheel cylinders (on order)
3.) Replace all rubber brake lines (on order)
4.) Clean out rear junction block and axle breather on rear axle
5.) Bleed brakes thoroughly. Potentially replace brake lines.
6.) Drain/replace coolant, new coolant hoses, new radiator cap
7.) Drain oil and replace filter

Here's where we are at with the engine. Initially only 3 cylinders were giving us numbers on compression. The intake valves on #1 and 4 are sticking. I removed all the spark plugs and put MMO down on the holes and let it work for a few days. It turned the engine by hand over the course of several days, while spraying the valves with Freeze Off, PB Blaster, MMO and anything else I could get my hands on. The MMO allowed me to pick up more cylinders. Currently we stand here:
1 - 0
2 - 142
3 - 135
4 - 0
5 - 130
6 - 135
7 - 132
8 - 0

The valves on 8 seem to move as expected, so I'm thinking stuck rings? I have more MMO in the cylinder trying to clean things up.

#4 intake valve is moving better, but still slow. At least it is moving now. #1 intake valve is much more sticky. It does move down on it's own, but it's over the course of an hour. So there is some heavy corrosion or varnish in there preventing it from moving smoothly. That is the one valve that I'm worried about...hoping it's not bent.

My thought is let the MMO work for another day or so, turn the engine by hand, and maybe crank it a few times with the starter (no spark) to see what I get. Then hook everything back up, get the engine started, run it up to temp, shut it down and let it heat soak. I'm hoping a few cycles of this will allow the heat to expand the metal and get the valves moving. This worked on my Panama when I had a stuck valve.

-Kevin

Attach file:

---

  Old gas.jpg (175.99 KB)


  Stuck intake valve number 1.jpg (204.08 KB)