Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Found a site that has reasonable prices on clutch pressure plates and disks. $89 for plates and $24-85 for disks.http://www.vapinc.com/clutch/main.html

Thanks, I am looking to buy a new clutch disc.

I send mine, for rebuild, through NAPA to Memphis. My cost is about $135 for both disk and pressure plate. So your prices are not out of line from what I know, especially for new.

Found a pair of NOS rear axles for a '41 Willys on this Site for a guy in the Packard club here who's also restoring a Willys. They have a lot of other parts for many and various makes of cars. And......when the courier delivered the axles my wife, Kath, almost suffered a hernia when he handed her the package!

I guess nobody knows that Chevy clutch discs and Ford pressure plates will work on Packards, right?

No, I think the pressure plate interchangeability is reasonably well known at least to those who read the various interchange manuals like Hollanders and the PI manual which make note of it for a variety of Packards, Oldsmobiles, LaSalles and Cadillacs but also carries the notation that they (Ford pressure plates) are of a lesser quality and should be used only in an emergency. [/i] Source for this statement is Packards International Interchange Manual of November, 1978.

My personal preference would be have an original Packard pressure plate and/or disc rebuilt or relined before resorting to an interchange, whenever possible.

That may have been true 20 years ago, but with today's materials I'm willing to bet a quality clutch disc or pressure plate would be better than an NOS Packard part. Or, if it's that big a worry, buy a performance SFI approved one from Summit or Jegs. If the appearance is identical to the original, I wouldn't think twice about using a modern interchange part.

No doubt that's true.

The differences in the Pressure Plates is the (oem) Ford specs were less than Packard, particularly on the 9.5" clutches. I learned from experience on that - weaker Ford PP didn't last a few hundred miles. NOS, NORS or New, the issue is specifications (and quality of course). Fort Wayne Clutch "speaks the language", as does most any Good clutch rebuilder in any (major) city. Personally, I keep an eye out for the 9 spring 9.5" version, that's the only one that is not always readily obtainable.