Re: IT'S ALIVE
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My' 54 smoked horribly when I revived it. It had stuck rings from sitting for 20+ years.
I put in a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer and drove it for 100 miles (round trip) on the interstate. Problem solved. She still smokes a little when cold, on acceleration from a stop. But that's it. Before, it looked like I had a smoke screen feature on the car!
Posted on: 2023/1/13 13:57
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-BigKev
1954 Packard Clipper Deluxe Touring Sedan -> Registry | Project Blog 1937 Packard 115-C Convertible Coupe -> Registry | Project Blog |
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Re: IT'S ALIVE
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Home away from home
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Dan, Not long winded at all and very enjoyable reading. Glad to see another survivor getting back on the road! I’m contemplating replacing the steel brake and fuel lines on my own 1951 as they are crusty on the outside so may be too thin to be safe.
Posted on: 2023/1/13 14:00
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Re: IT'S ALIVE
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Home away from home
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Wow great news!
Does this have power brakes? Did you rebuild the Treadlevac? Does this have a manual or automatic? Also can you tell us more about replacing the pinion seal? I have to do that sometime. I got started but was flummoxed by the amount of force needed to remove the U-joint, the C-clamps I had were pretty marginal. Also what did you do to re-set the bearing clearances, or did you just count turns? Congratulations!
Posted on: 2023/1/13 14:04
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Re: IT'S ALIVE
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Home away from home
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Congrats on getting the car back on the road! Looks like a great survivor that will clean up nicely.
Like BigKev, my car smoked quite a bit when I first got it back on the road. Driving it consistently basically solved the problem. It will smoke a bit on startup if it's been sitting a long time, but once it's warmed up it does fine. I'm in the same boat as you on the upholstery. Correct material is available for me from SMS, but it was $180/yard for mine....and that was 2 years ago, so who knows now. -Kevin
Posted on: 2023/1/13 14:12
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Re: IT
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Forum Ambassador
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Quote:
The car starts fine but the starter kicks out of engagement occasionally so I am hoping the correct battery cables will help. Since it turns over and does start, new cables probably will not help much with the kickout as such but definitely will help in other hard starting situations such as a weak spark that could be the reason for an occasional misfire and the resulting kickout. Regarding the kickout, sometimes engines would misfire or otherwise could be reluctant to fully start so the starters had the kickout issue you are dealing with because the brief almost start kicked the starter pinion out of mesh with the ring gear. Packard corrected that issue by going to a different Bendix in 52. As the article starting on page 35 of the linked counselor mentions, that Bendix was made retrofittable to your 51 and even earlier models but your car may or may not have had the change. If it was updated, there could be an issue with the locking pin in the Bendix but if it still has the original starter and Bendix you will either need to live with the issue or find the new Bendix or a later starter with the updated Bendix.
Posted on: 2023/1/13 14:31
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Howard
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Re: IT
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Does this have power brakes? Did you rebuild the Treadlevac? The car is a 1951 while Treadlevac was first used in 1952. They can be added to 1951 cars but I doubt many were done. Quote: Does this have a manual or automatic? The script on the back fender says Ultramatic.
Posted on: 2023/1/13 15:13
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Re: IT'S ALIVE
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Home away from home
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Very nice progress, sounds like it's going well!
Engine smoking: First, there's still oil in the cylinders so that's gotta burn off. Second, as Kev was mentioning it's likely the rings still have a bit to go. Even if none are actually stuck, whatever rust that happened in the cylinders I'm sure would cause a less-than-perfect seal until you break in the engine again, so to speak. Starting: Contrary to popular assumption, these cars turn over pretty easily. I wouldn't be surprised if crappy battery cables would cause enough voltage drop to weaken the solenoid enough to cause that problem, while still letting the engine turn over. If the starter draws 500 amps you are looking at 1V of drop from the battery assuming a circuit length of 3½ ft. Some 00 cables would reduce this to only 0.3V. Oh, and many of us are quite a fan of the non-power steering.
Posted on: 2023/1/13 18:22
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1955 400 | Registry | Project Blog
1955 Clipper Deluxe | Registry | Project Blog 1955 Clipper Super Panama | Registry |
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Re: IT'S ALIVE
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Home away from home
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Congratulations!!!
You didn't mention it/them, but TIRES!!! You'll need to reskin it before going out of the neighborhood. Man, I ran some crap way back when. Never again!!!
Posted on: 2023/1/13 19:15
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If you're not having fun, maybe it's your own damned fault.
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Re: IT
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Quite a regular
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"Also can you tell us more about replacing the pinion seal? I have to do that sometime." Pinion seal on Ultramatic equipped 1951 Packard: First remove the lower drain plug on the rear axle and drain old fluid. Next there are two roughly U shaped clips inboard of the outer part of the U-joint. One leg is peened over so you straighten that little leg and pull the clip(s) out with a screwdriver. This lets the bearing caps come out and then the U-joint can be manipulated out and driveshaft dropped. Put a short 2x4 under the driveshaft at the frame X to keep it up out of the way.
Now the fun part. I used a sharp center punch to mark the pinion yoke, the nut and the shaft all in a row for use when re-installing. After trying various bars with extensions, I gave up and used a 1/2" impact at 120#. Still nothing. Tried penetrating oil and some heat from a propane torch on the nut. This seemed to do the trick and the nut loosened. I had already counted the threads showing (2) on the shaft but I also counted the turns to remove the nut. (9+). That is when it got fun. The seal is cone shaped to the outside so there is very little room to get anything between the shaft and the seal. I tried drilling and screws but couldn't move the seal at all. Finally out of desperation I cut the protruding part of the seal out with a small air rotary cut off tool. That gave me room to put a screwdriver with a bend at the tip between the seal and the bearing and pry the seal out. By then I had had enough fun and cleaned up and quit for the day. The next day, with a little blue RTV around the outside the new seal tapped in with no trouble. ( I soaked the seal in oil for several days first ). Oiled the pinion shaft and slid the yoke on so my marks lined up and it went into the same spline as before. Put the nut on and tightened it with the 1 1/4" socket as tight as possible with a breaker bar and went back to the impact for the final 1/4 turn. The impact ran out of steam at about where my marks on the nut and shaft were in line so that was it. My U clips were a little out of shape so I straightened them in the vice until they fit the U-joint bearing caps correctly. The bearing caps have a screwdriver slot on the outer cover and this slot has to be parallel to the way the clips tap in for the clips to follow their intended path. Put the drive shaft back in and tapped the clips in with a ball peen hammer and bent over the one leg that sticks out. Re-install the lower drain plug and refill with fluid thru upper plug hole. I used 85-90 lube. This took me two afternoons but I am sure I could do It much faster the second time but I am sincerely hoping there will be no next time. Best of luck with your project, I hope this amateur tutorial helps. Dan
Posted on: 2023/1/13 19:25
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