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Thanks to Bob, Wib, Ross, and Flackmaster for help locating and coordinating the transportation of “new” fenders! On Monday, my son and daughter-in-law drove down to Milwaukee. They got to see a few nice Packards and pick up the fenders for me. I’ll get up there sometime in January to spend some time with the kids and bring the fenders back to KC.

I have a shifting question.

My car shifts great going up from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd. Shifting down from 3rd to 2nd is also great. But, I seem to have trouble going down to 1st. Here is what I'm experiencing.


If approaching a stop sign, for example...If I'm in 3rd and want to shift down to 1st, it doesn't want to go. If I come to a complete stop and then shift to 1st, I can shift very slowly and get it to shift without too much grinding. Yesterday, I discovered that if I shift from 3rd down to 2nd and then from 2nd to 1st, it goes very smoothly. I also noticed that the "key" seem to be feeling a click when I shift from 2nd to neutral. If I feel that click, I know it will go on down to 1st smoothly.

Any thoughts on this?

Yes, down shifts into 1st while the car is moving will results in a noise that makw my wife say "grind me a pound while you're at it!".

Basically you can only shift to 1st when the car is stopped.

Others will have to exact reason for this. But it pretty much the same as trying to shift into reverse while moving forward.

Buy while stopped, I can shift from 3rd into 1st. But all shift should in thr H pattern. Not diagonal or sideways. Up over and down, and slowly. Not bang shifting.

I believe 2nd and 3rd have synchronizers on them to allow shifting when everything is spinning at different rates. 1st and Reverse do not. You can only do 1st when stopped, and even then you can't just slam into it. Ease into it and everything will line up. You can cheat by moving the lever to 2nd, which synchronizes everything, then move it right down to first.

-Kevin

Precisely. No synchro's for first, and I always shift up or down via second. Always. Just keeps things lined up.

If your clutch drags, even slightly, it will complicate shifting into 1st or reverse from a standing start or downshifting to 1st when underway. Downshifting to 1st when the car is moving is not necessary, but it can be done smoothly by "double clutching". The gears should never clash or grind during normal driving. A pre-war Packard in good tune can run very slowly in second or even high gear, and they have very good torque at low RPM, which minimizes the need for a lot of gear shifting. When approaching a stop sign, allow the car to slow to about 5 MPH in high, then depress and hold the clutch until the car is stopped dead, leaving the gearshift in gear, then shift into low. (Or reverse). Proper engine idle speed promotes easy shifting. Gear oil that is too thin can make shifting into low or reverse from a standing start less easy, since the clutch disc and input shaft will continue to spin for a few seconds after the clutch is pressed to the floor. Any drag in the clutch will make shifting more difficult and will impose needless wear on the synchronizers. A Packard in good tune with a properly working clutch and throttle linkage is a pleasure to drive, even in stop and go traffic.

Thanks, everyone. Sounds like everything is working as it should.

Most cars up into the 1960s did not have synchronized 1st gear. Bringing the car to a complete stop while leaving the transmission in any gear will force the gears to come to a complete stop, which will usually make shifting into low or reverse easier. (Hold the clutch down) Driving old 4 speed pickups with no synchros in any gear will teach you how to drive a manual transmission properly.

I drained the cooling system again. This time to drain the water/evaporust mix. It wasn’t too bad, but was a bit murky. The Gano filter was definitely worth it as it collect a number of large chunks and keeping it out of the radiator.

I cleaned the filter and refilled the system with 50/50 water/antifreeze. Seems to be good so far. Yesterday, with just the water/evaporust, I took the car out for a good hour long drive. Most was at 45 to 50 mph, but I did have a few miles at 55-60lbs. The outside temperature was about 85 degrees and the car stayed just below 180.

Here is what what the Gano filter collected. Hopefully, there isn’t much more for it to collect.

How long did you drive the car with the evapo-rust in it? Evapo also works better when the solution is warm/hot vs cold over the same timespan.