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I started the clean up on the grill. I had decided to just clean them as well as possible without disassembling because the louvers operate perfectly. When, I started cleaning them, I started to second guess that decision. That got me looking at how they come apart. They really aren’t that complicated. But, i reminded myself, “they work perfectly”. So, I decided to be patient (not a strong suit for me) and spend a little more time.

I’m glad I did. I believe I’m going to be able to get them cleaned up quite well without disassembling. That means less chance of screwing something up.

I had polished the outside of the louvers a while back. Right now, I’m focused on the inside. Then, I’ll come back and polishe the outside again.

I forgot to take a picture before I started, so I took one after cleaning a couple louvers. The next pictures are where I decided to stop for the night. In all, I have about an hour-and-half in them so far.

I finished the clean up of the grill (without disassembly). I did remove the linkage. After a thorough scrubbing, I took it up to the car wash for a power wash. The plate at the top had all the chrome pealed off and was had surface rust, so I cleaned it all really well and gave it a coat of rust encapsulator.

It came out quite nice. I then gave every moving point a small shot of grease and worked it in. The louvers were operating perfectly when I started, but are even smoother now.

Looking good!

With my car in the shop, I’m relegated to small task. But sometimes the little details can make a huge difference. I spent most of the day lugging 50 lb bags of floor leveling compound to the basement….long story… the floor I put down two years ago has been taken back up…can you say do over!

So, the with the little bit of time left over, I wire brushed, primed and painted my bumper bolts. Of the four, only one had a little bit of red left on it. After searching this site, I went with Rustoleum Regal Red that was recommended by others. I think they look pretty nice, probably too nice for the condition of my rear bumper.

The ones I got from the Dallas Zone Office were plastic dipped. Not the exact same shade of red, but they are durable and squeak free!

I have a wiper motor update...

I called Ficken's Wiper Service. He said the version of wiper motor I have isn’t worth rebuilding. He said he could likely get it working, but it wouldn’t last. To his credit, he just told me that he won't rebuild a motor if he can't stand behind it. He offers a 3 year warranty on the motors he does rebuild.

According to Rob Ficken, Trico simply came out with a better design. He said the body of the older versions like mine, all warped and will never seal right. For reference, he had me take a look at the area on the motor where the patent numbers are listed. He said that if the patents are enclosed in a circle, there is almost no chance of a successful rebuild. He also said that motors with the patents in any other shape field are good candidates for rebuilding.

Before I could even ask, he mentioned the regulator/switch. He said not to bother with rebuilding it and just bypass the it. He went on to say that few other car manufactures used regulators like this and only the higher end cars did so. He was mostly worried about having a constant vacuum leak, but since Packard used a separate vacuum pump as part of the fuel pump, that really isn't a concern. I'll give the regulator portion of the switch a try. If it works, great. If not, I'll bypass it, at least for now.

As for the wiper motor, I put in a call to the Dallas Zone Office and was able to get a newer version of the wiper motor. I went ahead and sent it to Rob Ficken who already has it on its way back to me. He said that it mostly just needed some clean up and lubrication, but he did replace a couple of small parts. From there, he said the motor is running strong and he wouldn't recommend a full rebuild as he would spend more time and I would spend more $$ and end up with it running about the same. So, in the end, it was $37 (including the shipping) to have Rob look at it and get it in good working order. Works for me!

Here is a picture of my original (circular patent field) followed by the "new" motor showing the patent field.

Now that I have a working wiper motor in hand, I have a question.

I know the motor works, but I need to test the regulator. Can someone tell me which connection is from the vacuum pump and which one goes to the motor or if it matters?

I belive the one pointing straight back inline with the cable goes to the motor.

I sent the picture to Rob Ficken as well. He said that the port on the right side of the photo goes to the motor.

He also said that if I closed the regulator I should I should not be able to draw air through the unit. I can draw air quite easily which means the regulator is non-operational and will get bypassed.