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I am replacing the wiring harness on my 1950 Series 23 touring sedan. The main harness goes from the engine to the dash through the firewall. There is a big irregularly shaped hole with a cap screwed over the hole. There must be a rubber grommet in the hole to seal the leak but mine is missing. Fumes from the engine can enter the interior. Does anyone know what belongs in this hole? Is it a rubber grommet? Obviously I need to find one too. I did not find anything in the Steele catalogue.

I bought one from Steele for my 1940, but little of it shows and I had to slit it and drill it to make it work, which it does. Get a quarter inch piece of rubber. Size up the wires and cables that go through the firewall. Drill corresponding hole, Cut a slit from the outside to each hole. Stuff the cables and wires in each respective hole and stick the cap back on.

EDIT: JD's photo lightened

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Fred,
For the '50, there is a plate with a bell-shaped protuberance that the harness goes through. Here's a picture I took of the '50 firewall when I first got it. Sorry for the quality but this is just a small section cropped from a larger shot.

Edit: I think this is part #371599 "COVER ASSY-FRONT WIRING HARNESS DASH". As part of that assembly (I think) there is #371600 "RUBBER-FRONT WIRING HARNESS DASH COVER". I don't see either item listed at Max Merritt. If you need it, I can pull the cover and see what the rubber (if any) looks like.

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JD thanks for the info. I really would appreciate seeing a picture of what the rubber part looks like. The cover is easy to remove with little sheet metal screws.

I would also be curious at to what the later cars used. The 47 arrangement is similar and it sounds like maybe used the same items. This one appears to only have had a single small piece of weatherstrip like material at the end of the cover. There is a strip of what appears to be a sheet or foam rubber like material wrapped around the loom and then covered with the outer cloth braiding.

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I'll try to get a photo this afternoon, but I suspect it will look just like Howard's.

The part numbers are the same for the Clippers and the 22nd/23rd series. The only difference is that there is an additional something referred to as a Seal for the Clippers that apparently is not found on the 22nd/23rd series.

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I pulled the cover from the '49. It's pretty much the same as Howard described. The cover has a piece of spongy rubber in the lower groove that squeezes against the harness when the cover is tightened. You can see from the picture of the harness where the rubber presses against it by the black rubber residue. The harness appears to be built-up with an additional layer of rubber where it passes through the firewall. I would have removed the rubber piece from the cover but it's really starting to disintegrate and I don't want to replace it just now. I would think that you could find some closed-cell insulating material in the window/door section of your local big-box home improvement store that would work well.

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JD thank you very much for all your trouble. The photo and description says it all. My old harness has that heavy rubber doughnut held on by a ring of heavy wire. That is not a seal but apparently is the backup for the soft rubber that makes the seal. The soft rubber is long gone so there is a gap where there should be a seal. Now I think I can design and create a seal. The Packard parts sources do not have these parts.

A handy material to have have around the shop is closed cell foam rubber available in various thicknesses, sheet sizes and durometer values. I get mine from MSC. I've found it handy for all manner of gaskets (line the 41 parking lamp lens gaskets), seals and other uses.

A shopping binge at MSC or McMaster for such things as foam rubber sheet, solid rubber sheet, cork sheet, gasket paper, brass and steel shim stock and the like is a worthwhile exercise.