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Oh yeah! Tried my luck with the vice grips this evening, and that bolt came out pretty easily!!!!
Cleaned things up a little, and hope to pick up the radiator tomorrow or the next day. Should be on the road this weekend!

Since I don't have new freeze plugs, I'm thinking about running the car for a day or so with only distilled water, then draining the system in the hope some of the rust/gunk will leave. Then I'll refill with a mixture of antifreeze and water. Might get freeze plugs at a later date and try and clean out the block more thouroughly then....Opinions?

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Tobs,

Even w/o replacing freeze plugs, I would recommend flushing out the block as thoroughly as possible BEFORE replacing the waterpump.

1. Remove the drain plug on the driver side of the block. This will allow rusty water to drain out. Catch waste water with a bewpucket if you are not in a space where you can let it run to a drain.

2. If you have a garden hose with a long tube end that you can use as a nozzle, push it back and forth into the 3' cavity where the distribution tube fits. That space is 3' long. Keep moving the hose back and forth. If you can bend the end of the nozzle down a bit you can force water into some of the other ports.

3. If you have an air compressor, use air blasts with the water to make a pulsing action to break-up loose rust and dirt/crude. Even without removing the freeze plugs there is a lot of crude/rust you can get out of your block.

How much crude was in your distribution tube?
(I suspect there might have been an inch or two (5cm) at the back end of the tube).

I know you want to go drive and play Packard, but this will help your engine run cooler esp in summer heat.

DanL

I'd strongly recommend following DanL'advice, especially before you install the radiator - the last thing you want is loosened debris circulating around and ultimately lodging in a nice clean radiator tube.

There is a picture of in my project showing me back-flushing the block if you are interested. It did get out a huge amount of crud.

I would second this!

O_D Wrote"I'd strongly recommend following DanL'advice, especially before you install the radiator - the last thing you want is loosened debris circulating around and ultimately lodging in a nice clean radiator tube."


Jim

You probably planned on using never-sieze on those bolts when you re-install them - but I thought I'd mention it anyway

Gerd!! Was ist Anti-sieze hier in Deutschland? Kupferpaste? (copper paste?)
Got my bolts at Schrauben-preisinger. Great shop, now I have a source for fasteners here. Awesome.

Gerd!! Was ist Anti-sieze hier in Deutschland? Kupferpaste? (copper paste?)
Got my bolts at Schrauben-preisinger. Great shop, now I have a source for fasteners here. Awesome.

Most auto parts stores here in the States carry something like this pretty cheaply. It usually an "over the counter" item.

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Oops, doppelpost (double post) (Was on my computer at work which has trouble with the cookies-hence the double post)

I picked up some of the keramik-paste from Liquimoly and will use that. (Over the counter also) You guys are a good influence on me and my packard! Thanks again for the help.

I also bought a sheet of gasket material and am going to have to cut my own thermostat gasket. Anybody willing to scan in and post as a pdf? It would be great to use that as a template. I can also use the thermostat housing as a template...

Scanned gasket templates might be a nice resource to have for us 'carriers of the packard flag in foreign lands'

In general autoparts stores here in Munich are not as good or as plenty as in any of the places I've lived in the US.

Aufwiederlesen.
Tobs