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That driver's side snubber appears to be the same one they used for many years. I'd consider disassembling it and replacing the rubber cushions.

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That was my thought also. My quick look didn't show much rubber left, if any. I'll put the car on stands so I have more room to work and pull it off for refurbishment.

I would hope they are still available, the Steele part number for a pair of the rubber cups is 30-0292-11. They were used 1933 thru 1939 on the Senior 8 cylinder cars.

Ujoints can get dry and rust up. Sometimes a dry bearing will shed rust powder at the seal. A ujoint issue could cause the symptoms you are seeing and feeling. Some joints have a grease fitting, and some have to be taken apart to grease them. Joint that have a grease fitting will usually respond to being greased, but sometimes grease will not reach all 4 of the bearings, which will cause problems. If you take any joints apart, don't lose any of the needle bearings, and be sure to put each part back exactly as it was. It's best to replace all the joints instead of just one, and before taking the driveshaft loose, mark every part so that it can be put back exactly as it was.

Crossing some things off the list for this car. Checked the coolant level and was surprised to see it low. No leaks anywhere.



I'm wondering if it's leaking from the cap when warm. When I went to put the cap back on it failed. The tabs on the cap are so rusty that I can bend them with my finger. It looks like a non pressurized system. Would Napa have a part, or is this something that needs to go through a Packard supplier?

I think it's a RC1 cap. The system is non-pressurised. Perhaps it's showing low because there was air in the system that has now worked itself out?

Thanks Kev. The RC1 cross-referenced to a pressure type cap that didn't fit. I'll call up Max Merritt and see what they have.

I added coolant until it was full. To my surprise it took almost a gallon. I'm a little concerned about that. It could be air bubbles that have worked their way out I suppose....and the cooling system capacity is essentially 5 gallons. So hopefully that's all it is. There're no signs of leaking. The exhaust has never smelled like burning coolant either.



Changed the oil today too. The car has only driven maybe 100 miles since the engine was put back together. But I wanted to change it out for fresh oil and filter before I start taking it longer distances, in case there were more metal particles from new parts bedding in. Oil was dark like I expected, smelled a little weird.

The original Purolator canister was swapped out earlier for a RA Engineering aluminum housing that holds a modern filter:






For oil I put in Valvoline VR1 10W-30, the same stuff I just used on my Panama. While I had it up on jack stands I took a look at some other things. The rear leaf springs have been making a ton of noise, and I saw the rear shackles had zerk fittings. So I greased both sides. Not sure it will help....the leaf springs look dry between them.






I also dove more into potential causes for the vibration under acceleration. All the tranny bolts were tight. Couldn't feel any play in the driveline. But the rear U-joint had a zerk fitting on it so I hit it with grease. Took 3 big pumps before anything squeezed out of the joints.



The front also had a zerk fitting but it was not on the U-joint. Instead it looks like it was on some sort of a slip yoke fitting. This driveshaft is not original because the previous owner had an overdrive unit installed at the rear. I hit this zerk with grease also....this one took 5 pumps before it was full.






No idea if any of this worked because the battery is dead. And I loaned out my charger to a friend that still has it.

That is the slip yoke. It needs to be assembled correctly, or you can get vibration due to incorrect "phasing" of the U-joints. In many cases, the slip yoke spline can be inserted in many ways, but only one is correct to put the front and rear u-joint in the proper relationship to run smoothly. If you clean up the two halves of of the slip yoke assembly and look very carefully, you will may see an arrow and a mark stamped into the metal. The arrow and mark should align.

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Thanks, I'll see if I can find any marks. The driveshaft was never apart in an the time my dad had it. And as far as I know the transmission was never pulled. So I'm not sure how the drive line would've gotten out of phase. I don't recall this vibration at all before, but then again I only drove the car twice before the engine failed, and that was nearly 10 yrs ago.

I was about to charge the battery and take the car for a quick 2 mile test. The vibration isn't much better, if at all. The squeaking remains in both rear leaf springs. I will probably have to do some sort of live on the leafs.....silicone?

Nearly all dash lights are inoperable. Fuel gauge reads 0, but not sure how to test that on a negative ground car. Positive ground you just ground the terminal to check functionality. On negative ground that just makes sparks. This is what I get to look forward to under the dash. No idea what any of these switches do underneath.

I haven't driven the Super much, but every time I do it just doesn't seem great. It doesn't run like it should. Weak on power, always has a bit of a miss at idle, and I wonder if the shaking in the shifter when under load is due to a cylinder missing.

So I went back to square one to see if there was anything amiss. Compression numbers for all cylinders (engine cold):

1 - 135
2 - 135
3 - 132
4 - 132
5 - 131
6 - 130
7 - 136
8 - 135

That all looks good to me there. Spark plugs on #3, 5, 6 were very dark and sooty on the electrode, whereas all the others were sooty on the sides but the electrode was clear. I plugged in a spark tester and ran it through each cylinder. Every spark plug was receiving spark and it appeared to be consistent. Whether the spark was getting propagated to the cylinder or not is another question.

I messed with timing a bit as well but there is still a definite miss. It doesn't run smooth like it should....nothing like how my Panama runs. At this point I'm not sure what to check next.

These components have all been replaced:
Spark plugs - Autolite 308
Plug wires - I made them
Cap - NAPA
Rotor - NAPA
Condenser - NAPA
Points - NAPA

Any suggestions?