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Hello hello! Ive decided its time to make a blog about the Packard, thank you to everyone who has been so kind and so very helpful with this Packard so far. I’ve felt very welcomed and Jim has appreciated a lot of what ya’ll said. Here, i’ll be posting and keeping updates on the progress of the Packard!
Big thanks to 39Rollson (George) for being kind enough to offer his tank to us but unfortunately due to USPS we couldn’t go through with it :(
Earlier today, me, Jim, and my Boyfriend went up to a shop in Springfield Mo and dropped off the original tank we had pulled off the car. Hopefully its still salvageable, so fingers crossed! Stay tuned for some updates hopefully soon

Shameless Plug - VW_Adxlina on TikTok (I post funny videos sometimes)

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Don't worry, I'm 25, and Ayden is 21... you have some company here.

By the way, I grew up in Joplin. I'm now in Pittsburgh, PA.

Aye!! MO gang! I’m 17 with a dream lol

If the tank is not salvageable that's not the end of the world. Reproduction tanks for '51-'56 are readily available. They are somewhat expensive, but that's about the only option you have if your tank is bad, unless you want to do the Renu process. That was $400 years ago, it's probably more now. Reproduction tanks are around $600 with shipping. Having a clean tank is important, otherwise you're likely to get stranded.

-Kevin

For the last year and until last month, I was telling people that I’m 27 but I’m dyslexic although now that I’ve had a birthday that doesn’t sound as good!

Anyway, I bought my first Packard in the mid-‘60s when I was 16. It was a 1939 Packard Six Touring Sedan and came with a 1940 parts car. Shortly after I bought another 1940, then was given yet another and somewhere in there I also bought a 1941 Henney-Packard hearse so by the time I was 17 I had quite a few Packards! You’re fortunate to have the Internet and especially PackardInfo when all I had was an old tattered 1956 Motors Manual that was really not too useful for prewar cars but, being mechanically savvy, I was able to figure things out quickly. This site and all the nice people on it are very helpful and with it and the whole world at your disposal online, parts are also relatively easy to find too.

Incidentally, I am also working on a 1951 and have a blog for it below along with lots of spare parts. I am also a 1951 model myself!

You can also buy a generic fuel cell and stick it in the trunk. However if you do this, do NOT cut out the trunk floor. Instead, mount it in the trunk and route the line through a rotted part of the fender (these cars were prone to rot in the rear fenders) and connect with a hose between the fuel cell line and the line on the frame. Note that the line on the frame and/or the brake lines may themselves be bad if the fuel tank is bad.

A couple of years ago, I bought a 56' Patrician that "ran when parked" thirty years ago. Not being able to get fuel to the engine was an early issue that I discovered. Basically, the whole fuel system had to be replaced including the lines. I was going to try to have the tank cleaned and treated, but decided to reach out to Kanter. They sent me a tank for $610 two years ago. That included shipping. Once I had the new tank installed, I took a Sawzall to the old tank. The debris on the blue paper towel was poured out, not scraped, or shook, just poured. Never found the brass float. You will save a lot of headaches with a new tank.

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I will say i’m very blessed and very lucky to have the internet at my disposal during this process. Surprisingly, working on the Packard has been 10x easier than working on my 2013 Beetle and my boyfriends 1990 S15. Seems like the 50s were much simpler times

I wish Jim would understand it would be best to go through the troubles of removing the fuel lines, buying a new gas tank AND a fuel pump, but he’s so hard headed that he wants to do it himself. Working as a machinist and someone who once worked with high pressure water jets + explosives, I can understand why he is so deadset doing it himself

We shot some air from the air compressor through the lines, and unfortunately I got the brunt of 30 year old gas fumes and liquid sludge 🥲 he thinks that shooting water through the lines will be easier than taking them apart because from what we have both seen, the line is one solid piece