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Gerry at Packards Southwest had one of these hard to find items and it's on the way to me!

Thanks Gerry!

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Begone foul breast!

I exercised the old fuel line and pump from the car.




It was a conglomerate of a little bit of copper hard line and mostly rubber rubber all far on the inside of the framerail. The fuel pump was mounted mid-ship between the muffler and the framerail.

Not it's all brand new hardline front to back except for a 12" piece of fuel hose between the framerail bulkhead fitting and the fuelrail for the carbs. And a couple of small 4" pieces where the fuel pump was plumbed inline back my the tank. The line is now ran exactly in the same routing that the factory line would have been. Down the outside of the framerail and using the clips along the runningboard supports and rail where needed.

Now sure it it's just me, but it appears to run better after doing that.

Probably does, the fuel would flow smoother/easier and get to the motor cooler too. Well done!

Got a few things done this evening.

First I installed a "Hope I never need it" accessory.




The bracket is attached to the floor.

Next since I've had the car it's had a few mystery leaks. Leaking coolant from the engine towards the back. I re torqued down all the head nuts. There actually were a few that were a couple of pounds shy of spec. The jag motor has an external water distribution tube and I think part of the leak maybe where it bolts to the engine. So I tightened down all those bolts as well. That all helped, but still had a seap in a few spots. So next up was the pulp pellets.




Basically one pellet takes care of 1/2 gallon of coolant capacity. So I needed 8 pellets as the coolant system takes about 4 gallons.

So after pre-crushing the pellets and mixing them up with a little bit of new coolant in a mixing cup, I got engine up to temp so I knew the thermostat was open and circulating and poured the slurry into the radiator and let circulate for 15 mins.

I then prepared to paper train the Jackard to identify locations of any additional leaks.

Fresh Newspaper on a clean drip tray, and a couple of magnets to prevent the paper from moving around.





And under the car it goes.




I'll check in the morning and see if there is any evidence of coolant.

I know am seaping a little bit of oil. Which I think is one of cam oil lines in the rear. Also maybe a bit of rear seal leak.

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Good job on getting out that Rube Goldberg plumbing! However, In think you meant exorcised.

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I may have chuckled at this typo!!

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No, trust me, it involved some exercise!

In the process of prepping both cars to make the drive to Wisconsin for the National.

I knew I needed to turn the two front brake drums on the '37, as I heard a high spot rub when making an adjustment. No problem; I pulled the two drums last night, removed the seals and bearings, and cleaned them up so I could go get them turned.

..and then the adventure began.

I called over 20 shops in the area, even the "old" ones. No one turns drums anymore, and they have long departed with their brake lathes. Finally, I got a referral from another referral, and I was able to find a small shop that still does them. The first response was, "Well, depends on how old it is". Once I said '37 Packard, then it was, "Whew, no problem". I guess they don't touch anything newer than the last 30 years or so. As any modern drums are "one-time use" and are replaced as there is not enough meat on them to turn.

So, hopefully, they are able to get them turned true again, and that will be one more item off the list.

However, it shows that the shops that still have the equipment to do this kind of work are drying up quickly.

I guess cautionary tale or not you could look on the bright side. At least you had 20 shops you could call and all probably within a driveable or relatively short distance for one day service. Maybe if you were still in LA or Riverside area you would be as fortunate but I suspect here in the Central Valley we'd be lucky to find 20 period -- and probably most of those are 2-3 hours north and don't bother with anything not Ford or GM. Like chrome shops, another dying specialty. As scarce as good used drums are starting to be and now a shortage of shops still working on them maybe all the people that have asked or have committed to disc conversions are on to something after all. Fronts are covered but anyone figured out rotors on a Packard tapered hub rear axle yet?

Jay Leno did all four wheels to disc on a late ‘50s Imperial which has the taper rear so I’m sure it can be done. Where my Oregon shop is near the tiny rural town of Terrebonne, there is one little old-time shop that can turn drums and it never occurred to me that it was getting to be a scarce service!