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Slowly getting work done to it. Got the sound deadening, thermal stuff and carpet installed. Also got all the p/s stuff hooked up and with fluids. The gas tank is connected and appears to not be leaking any fuel, so that is good.

Had an issue with the passenger tail pipe not being bent correctly. I was able to find a shop that was able to adjust one of the bends. I am hoping that I will be able to get it installed sometime this week (or at least check that it fits). Other than that I am waiting on the seats to finish at the upholstery shop, the tires to come in, and getting the time to install the sway bar. AFTER all that the car should be good to drive!

This past month has been busy with vacations and other things going on, so not much progress to report. The tires arrived right before vacation and I got them mounted and balanced once I got back. The exhaust is tightened up and ready to go. Still awaiting on the upholsterer to get the seat covers installed... biggest hold up now.

but started to install some trim and the decorative 56 Florida license plate up front.

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making slow progress on it when I find time. Was able to finally get the sway bar installed. that was a pain. I tried using a C clamp to hold it down while I pried the free end into place, but that didnt work. Found out I needed three clamps. One to apply downward pressure so that when I applied pressure directly on the face the clip wouldnt slide up. Then I needed a clamp on that clamp so it wouldnt slide down the incline of the LCA.

But with that installed I was able to reassemble the heater core box, so that is ready to go in. I got the hood latch spaced so both the primary and secondary latches hold the hood down. And I was able to verify the running lights and courtesy lights on the rear passenger doors work! now I just need to assemble them and make sure I still have a good ground from the door trim once its attached.

Speaking of the courtesy lights. I found that the dash courtesy light, and door courtesy lights only come on once the front doors open and the rear dome light only comes on when the rear doors open. Is that how they are suppose to operate?

I also noted my upper limit switch for the suspension (the one with the pink and orange wires) works intermittently. I would like to remove it and spray some contact cleaner in the switch to make sure it is operating smoothly. Can I take that out to do so? Do I need to disconnect anything else before I remove them?

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You can turn off the under dash switch and unscrew the limit switch. There is grease inside the compensator so it should be solid enough nothing would run out. Hold and guide the wires so they are angled more or less straight out the end of the switch when unscrewing.

While a bad or sticking switch cannot be ruled out, it may not be the switch at fault but rather the wire connections at the end. The wires are soldered to the switch terminals and in that process the last 1/4 inch or so of the wires can have the solder run in and wire becomes solid. Vibration and pulling of the wires if coiled up in a tight bundle -- particularly in the switch nearest the driveshaft -- can break the wire conductor so connection becomes intermittent. That issue can be easily missed because the weatherproofing substance the factory used on the terminal and wire is also hard and tends to hide a broken wire.

On the courtesy lights, that is correct. On 4 door sedans, front doors or headlight switch knob turned all the way to the left operate the center dash or map light, a second independent section of the door switch (on 55s and early 56, a second switch) operates the outside courtesy lights. The rear doors or pillar switch operate the rear reading light.

On the sway bar, they are a pain and there was a special C clamp and a shim like stop made to do the job. Photos of the tool are in a 51 service counselor and a later counselor shows how to use it. It is easy to make if you want to have something on hand. Lucky you did not break one of the two tangs off the clip because that piece is hardened and very brittle. Prying or bending it at the wrong spot can break a tang off.

I had a broken one I took apart, see photos, I reassembled it, drilled out the old wire, soldered in a new one, patched it up with some JB weld, shrink wrapped the ends, or you cold try the liquid electrical tape

with the bake light so shabby, the little tabs/plungers thingys did show a little wear. so on one I attached some small springs so it would return to its original postion. they test fine, but my car is not yet ready for to give them the real test.

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So thanks for all that stuff on the limit switches. I didnt look into this further (probably should) because it seemed to be working again? so Ill probably have to look into it down the road.

While I wait for the seat I decided to hang the external trim on the car. it is looking pretty darn good! so good in fact that I said screw it and got it on the road anyway. I just took it up and down my street, but still counts as driving on a public road. It did okay. It shifted fine until it got warmed up. After it got warm I would depress the clutch to the floor and it would grind going into either first or reverse at a stand still. it would kind of go into 2nd and third while the engine was running. Does this sound like my clutch needs to be adjusted?

also, I am trying to size a compressor for the A/C system, what size was the original Leigh? size as in capacity of the OE?

Thanks!

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On the clutch, I would definitely check the free play adjustment and also for any wear in the linkage.

Lehigh compressor specs seem to be quite elusive -- as bad as parts availability. I do not know this number as fact so was not going to put it out there but in a discussion some years ago on the AACA forum a poster speculated the V in the compressor model is for the piston layout and because it is rather large and there are 4 pistons the 93 stood for 9.3 CI.

Again, I cannot say this is fact but it does sort of fall in line with a recommendation another poster said Vintage Air had made when he talked with them about his car. Don't know the make but the number of 8-8.5 cubic inches was needed for factory evaporators in his car. Since the Packard evaporator is quite large 9.3 would fall in line with the amount they said was needed for whatever he had.

According to the Sanden website their SD7H15 model is almost 155 cc and 155 works out to 9.4 CI.

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thanks for that! I give the linkage inspection for wear.

and thanks for the info on the compressor! I was not able to find much on them besides they were maybe made in Lancaster PA.

When it comes to wheel alignment, the FSM mentions a special tool for adjusting the caster/camber. Could I just use a regular crows foot? or would I need to grind it down?

Crowfoot

1-3/8

Needs to be i/8 wide. And short.

You can do a good adjustment with wheel off.

Before you move anything. Mark where its set.

Then go from there.

You only have 1/4 movement..up or down

You can see king pin move in and out.

Which would be tire with negative camber or positive camber.

As long as the lower bushings are good.

You should get camber right.

So I did remove the limit switches and I did see that the one switch was not going back to closed after the plunger was pushed in and opened the contacts. So I sprayed a bunch of contact cleaner in there and actuated it and it appears to be working better, just need to test it on the car.

Currently working on getting the front bench seat installed and trying to get it to work. Surprisingly it went in a lot easier than when it came out. Trick is to unbolt the seat back and flop that forward as far as it goes and it slides right through the passenger door opening (helps to have the steering wheel removed). I did try the power seat option. The seat only goes up and down but not back and forth… the switch is working in all directions and I am getting power to the motor, but no action. It appears that the motor can easily be unbolted and maybe be serviced? Can I remove the seat motor with the seat in the car? Does the entire seat need to come apart to get it out? And is there a way I could clean the motor to maybe get it working? Thanks!

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