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Inspect them closely, when I did my '67 Mustang, everything was worn and needed replacing. Not so on my 120. No play or wear could be found. A good cleaning to rid the harden grease to allow proper lubricating from the grease fittings was all that ended up needed to be done. Your car is heavier so this may not be the case but Packard used good quality materials so you may find yours has survived well too.
I know you are not supposed to put any lubricant between the leaves, but I chose to spray dry graphite on the surfaces. It has made for a very quiet smooth ride.
Bob J.

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Happy Halloween…my wife is very creative! Ghost Family limo ride.

If they don't include they with the new spring stack....rebound clips!

I was tinkering around the yesterday and decided to see how much my grille louvers would clean up. I took some very fine steel wool to them and they really cleaned up well. There are a few that have a bit of a dull finish, but overall I’m very happy with them. The driver’s side really looks nice.







Today, I decided to start the “winter projects”. I have a ‘new to me’ Carter carburetor that is all boxed up and ready to send to Daytona Parts to be rebuilt.

I also got the rear shocks removed and boxed up to send to Apple Hydraulics to be rebuilt.

Next up….remove the leaf springs. I found a place in Wichita that can refurbish my springs (including re-arching) as long as none of the leaves are broken. It sounds like they may also be able to help out with the bushings and shackles. If the springs are too far gone, they can also make new springs. Refurbishing at $55 per spring sounds better than about $1000 for the pair of new springs at other places. Wichita is about a four hour drive, but I can make it a two day trip and see if I can coordinate a visit with Allen who worked on my car last winter.

Really don’t know why you need to send a perfectly good carb off to be “rebuilt” again. It wasn’t sitting that long and it was already rebuilt. For way less than what they are gonna bend you over for… you could just get a new kit yourself…. If it even needs it…. But it’s your money. Good luck though… rebuilding them is what busted the bottom of that other one I gave you, resulting in gas leaking and JB weld being used. I wouldn’t let them touch the shaft bushings with a 10 foot pole.

Also as for the air cleaner… if you can beat the bottom a bit… it sits fine as is. It’s only barely crooked… and I never had a brace on mine.

Henry - thanks for taking the time to educate me a bit on the carburetor last night. That was a big help. I'm going to hold off on sending the carburetor to be rebuilt and start with just cleaning at you mentioned. I will likely go ahead and get a rebuild kit to replace the gaskets.

As for the air cleaner...I'm going to proceed with making an adapter. I just can't get myself to bang it in as a fix. Plus, it will give Dad a project for the car.

Follow up questions for all....

I am planning to send my exhaust manifold off to Jet-Hot (project after the leaf springs). I need to replace the choke heat chamber which I have on hand thanks to Flackmaster My understanding is that the heat chamber cup is just a press fit into the manifold and no gasket/sealant. Is that right?

Next, I also now have the choke stove cover for the Carter carburetor, again thanks to Flackmaster. It appears that the manifold end of choke tube will just insert into a hole in the stove/cover. Is that right or should there be a fitting of some sort for the tube? I know there is a threaded fitting for the carburetor end of the choke tube.

On most any car newer or older, there is nothing in the chamber other than heat so no fittings or a tight seal is needed. My Packard experience goes back to 1939 but I don’t expect 1937 to be different in that regard.

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Thanks, that’s what I was thinking, but wanted to make sure.

Recently when I painted the insides of my tail light buckets bright white, I discovered that my right side bucket was rusted through in a couple of spots (small pin holes).

I just got a “new” bucket via Flackmaster…..cleaned out very light surface rust on the inside, primed, and painted white. It should be ready to install in the morning.








I’m still amazed at how much brighter it made my tall lights. I knew it would help, but wow…it was a huge difference.

I made some good progress today..

First, I removed the old right-side tail light bucket. All fo the white in the picture is where it is rusted through.




Then, I got the new tail light bucket installed (I painted the inside white yesterday).





Then, I made the real progress. I got the leaf springs removed! I took the rear shocks out a few days ago and sent them to Apple Hydraulics to rebuild.

The good news about my springs is that my shackles and shackle bolts are in great shape. I just need to clean the old grease off. The forward bushing bolts are also in good shape. The U-bolts aren’t too bad, but I’ll replace those anyway as they are easy to get.




I’m going to take the springs to Atlas Spring in Wichita on Tuesday. Then, while I’m there, have dinner with Allen Rich who worked on my car last winter and Don Koller who I’ve talked to a number of times but haven’t met in person yet. Should be a fun trip.

While I’m there, I also hope to bring back a 23rd series R11 transmission as the one and only modification I want to do is add overdrive. My reason for that is that I do have a dream of some long nighway trips, like KC to Chicago. Allen is looking over the transmission closely for me, so as long as it all checks out, the price is right. He has the governor and I believe the solenoid. I can get the solenoid, kick down switch cable etc..easily as they are reproduced.