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AWESOME!

Great news on getting the engine sorted out! A major hurdle cleared!

Quote: I'm a bit confused by this. The 54 Ultra wouldn't have a "direct drive."

Is your fuel tank nearly full? The concentration/dilution of crud factor gets very unfavorable as the fuel level goes down. Always running off the top half of the tank may eliminate the stumbling and also give your big filter a chance to clean most of it. And some will just break down into finer particles as is "sloshes" around. It's a judgment call.

The problem started after I filled the tank completely up. I am guessing the crud is coming off the roof of the tank. This is really the only part of the tank were I could get the muriatic acid to soak like the bottom and the sides. The sloshing appears to breaking lose the scale and crap that is was left on the roof of the tank.

I pretty sure what is happening is all the loose crud is then settling in the sump area of the tank. This is choking off the pickup at times. After we got the car back to the house, we could see the filter itself was still clear, so that means the problem is at the pick side of the line.

Once I get the fuel down to the point where I can drain the remainder into the gas cans I have available then I will drop the tank and clean it out again. Better to just do it then have this problem rear its ugly head at an inopportune time.

That is great that you got the clicky clack worked out. I am so impressed with the progress you've made.

There is an old fashioned "Farmer Don" type trick to getting all that crap out of your old tank. I used to help my grandfather out during the summers on his farm, and whenever he had crud in his old 40's Chevy Grain trucks we would drop the tank, rinse it out, and dump a paint can full of clean Gravel in the the tank and plug the holes. Then my cousin and I would shake the heck out of the tank. Turn it over and shake it even more. All that gravel would knock all that scaly, nasty dried up varnish so we could rinse it out. It worked well.

Don't know if you want to give it a try, but if you have a bunch of gunk on the top of the tank, and good "Gravel Shaking" might get a bunch of it off.

I found a video which is almost exactly what we used to do.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ef2zydL3IYI" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe>

i just remembered that i had this link saved. and on page 11 there is your light socket that you need.

http://www.restorationstuff.com/RSC27.pdf

Quote:


No one else has chosen to address this comment, so I will. Yes, they do. All of Packard's "Ultramatic" automatic transmissions (1950-56) have a direct drive clutch in the torque converter that locks up to provide a direct 1:1 drive.

(o{I}o)

From my understanding (which isn't much, so correct me if I am wrong), the regular Ultras (early 1954 and prior) would start off on the Torque Convertor and then lockup into Direct Drive.

Owners wanting to "get off the line" quicker would start them in Low and then shift then in the High.

Packard responded to this at the end of '54, and came out with the Gear-Start Ultramatic, which like a Twin-Ulltra had the option of operating it like a normal Ultramatic mode (the 'Dot' on on the selector quadrant), or in 'Gear-Start' mode (aka D or Drive of the quadrant). The "Gear-Start" mode would start in low, and then shift in Torque Convertor, and then finally it would lockup into Direct Drive.

The '54 Gear Start is essential an early Twin-Ultra that was mated to the Straight Eight motor. Hence why the service information for this is part of the 55/56 Twin-Ultra section in the Service Manual.

Quote:
JW, I wondered why there was no response to what I thought was a pretty straightforward question. Maybe everyone was being nice to me in my ignorance, or just didn't think it warranted an answer. My knowledge is obviously limited. All I can add by way of clarification is that the transmission upgrade to the Ultramatic (which was originally designed with a direct drive clutch), took place during the 1949 model year, on May 2nd, so it was part of the 50th Anniversary model run.

Kev -

You're essentially correct with your explanation. Although I've heard others describe the Ultramatic operation as going in and out of converter, that style of speech kinda confused me. Perhaps I can reiterate this, then summarize with some visual cues.

With the original Ultramatic (1949 through early 1954), you could start out, forward, with the transmission in either High Range (1:1 ratio) or Low Range (1.82:1), combined with a multiplication of power (of up to 2.33:1) from a true torque converter. While Low range was provided for long hard pulls or traversing steep grades (or quick starts), there was no automatic upshift from Low to High with the original design; you had to accomplish that manually.

No matter which range was selected, the Direct Drive converter clutch mechanism would automatically engage at steady speeds or when decelerating, above 15MPH (IIRC) - providing the ONE and ONLY sensation of an automatic upshift in those units. Direct Drive effectively bypasses the torque converter, with the intent of eliminating the slippage of a fluid coupling for a true 1:1 transfer of power. Yet, push the gas pedal, and the DD clutch automatically disengages, returning you to the variable power multiplication provided by the torque converter.

To sum it up, you had a choice of only two forward driving ranges with those units:

"H": High Range Converter <=> High Range Direct

"L": Low Range Converter <=> Low Range Direct (with manual shift to/from High)

Appearing late in the 54th Series production run, the Gear Start version of the Ultramatic finally offered an automatic shift from Low to High (and vice-versa) by way of a new, third choice of forward driving ranges:

"D": Low Range Converter <=> High Range Converter <=> High Range Direct (with a kickdown to Low Range Converter available, below a certain speed)

High range was now identified on the Gear Start quadrant with a mere "•" (dot) - as if to emphasize the use of "D". In addition to the shift in/out of Direct Drive, you should now feel an automatic shift from Low to High using Drive Range.

While the quadrant symbols changed a bit for the Twin Ultramatic in '55 ("^D" for High and "D^" for Drive) and again in '56 (back to simple letters, "H" and "D"), the basic operation was the same.

Personally, I find the 55-56 shop manual a little confusing to follow for the Gear Start; I'm always wondering if I may have overlooked some differences between Gear Start and Twin Ultramatic versions in that text. Instead, I prefer the 1954 Gear Start Ultramatic Service Training Manual, complete with its own GS-specific hydraulic flow charts. That title is duly noted in the Recommended Literature lists for our 54th Series Model Info pages.

Hope this helps newcomers.