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I am in the process of reassembling the chassis of my '28 Packard Speedster project. The original plan was to rebuild the original Bijur(?) oiling system for the chassis lubrication. In my case this would require replacing all the lines and rebuilding what appears to be check valves at the fittings and duplicating the unusual flare on the tubing. As this is not a strict restoration I would think a reasonable alternative would be to install zerk(?) grease fittings at all the locations the tubing went into and use some other type of lubricant injected through these fittings. Is there another alternative? What type of lube would be recommended? I would think that current standard chassis grease would be too heavy to flow into all the spaces originally designed for oil. Thanks, Ron

Yes, I'ts Bijur and they're still very much in business up in New Hampshire as I recall, but they ceased servicing the auto units some years back.

What you call check valves are actually metering valves with a filter (known as drip plugs), metering different amounts of oil depending on the specific location's requirement. For example, the clutch throwout bearing gets less oil than spring shackles. The lubricant used was Bijur Oil which is approximated today by either SAE-50W motor oil, or SAE-85 gear oil.

The Bijur system was a trademark feature of better cars of the era and I hope you change your mind and decide to restore it to operation. Frankly, removing 43 drip plugs and lines and drilling/tapping for as many Zerk fittings is probably more work than restoring the Bijur, not to mention the effort to get at them all with a grease gun every few hundred miles. Many Bijur parts are available from Classic & Exotic including the very special size tubing, and from Bruce Blevins for the drip plugs. I'm a bit of purist to say the least, but I know many share my view that a restoration that eliminates the Bijur degrades the value of the car, and is a sign of a lesser quality restoration.

Bijur plan from 7th series attached below, earlier series are similar. I've a bit of experience with the Bijur, PM me if you want more info. A Bijur manual is on this site and available for download.

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They said at the time that heavy oil was a better lubricant than grease but there is no reason chassis grease won't do the job.

You had to keep an eye on the automatic lube system. If a line broke or got plugged up its fitting would receive no oil. Savvy owners or chauffeurs would park the car in the garage over sheets of paper or cardboard, push the button, and examine the pattern of spots to make sure no lube points were missed.

My 34 has the later "automatic" or continuous-feed Bijur rather than the earlier "push daily" system, but with the exception of the pump the systems are very similar. In the 47+ years I've been driving the car I've only had to replace one drip plug. In addition to the filter in each drip plug there is a filter on the suction side of the pump which certainly should be cleaned occasionally. Other than that it's been totally reliable - though it surely has made a mess of the garage floor!

But perhaps the difference is that my car has never been out of service except during WW II. The cars that seem to have major Bijur problems are those that have had prolonged layups - or those neglected or butchered by prior owners.

Dear RAS:

The Bijur system is designed for oil only. Substituting grease fittings for the Bijur lines will not work. Thus grease can be used only if each individual pivot point receives a dedicated grease fitting.

The hand pump systems usually work better than automatics which worked for a few years then broke, and quite frankly, the Cadillac and Lincoln cars with their dozens of individual grease fittings demonstrated superior longevity to the Packard. Rolls Royce kept the manual system through the Cloud I models in the 1950's.

Bijur stopped supporting the system supposedly after someone with an old car complained about the price of parts (I heard though that the guy at the company who was helping the old car people retired and the new staff pulled the plug after a few phone calls). The stock was sold to Bruce Blevins (810-744-1820).

Lube line is still available from Bijur (800.631.0168)

If you need your pump rebuilt you can contact Jim Simpson at oddparts.net (707-939-1457). Jim is a great guy.

I have not run into an intact system that I was not able to get working. The metering units are robust and usually suffer only from a lack of understanding of how the system works.

If you have nothing then grease fittings are probably a better choice.

Good Luck

P.S. If you use a manual grease gun then Pennzoil 705 or Staylube Super White (Available at NAPA) have the pumpability you need to get through the job without making you sorer than a dislocated thumb.