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So I ran out of time last week to post this, but I was able to source another seat motor and it tested good when attached to the battery. Installed it in the seat and now it moves back and forth!! However, after I got everything bolted in and adjusted to where my feet could comfortably reach the pedals and push the clutch to the floor it felt like I was pretty far reclined in the seat. Is that a normal seating position for the seat? I dont believe the seat has any tilting feature correct? I may look into spacers for the rear so I dont feel like my lounging, too much, while driving.

By the time I got the motor in and the seat bolted down the sun was already set to the point I didnt want to take it out in the dark, so the following night I was able to take it for a small 4 mile drive to a gas station (took 15 gallons and the gauge reads full) and a stop at the pharmacy. Ran well and the lights work. Still didnt get to try to overdrive, dont know why I am so scared/reluctant to try it. One thing I did notice was while engine braking in second gear going down a hill it did pop out of gear. That should be a function of shift linkage adjustment, correct?

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Packard did use both hard compressed cardboard and plywood spacers to shim the seats in some models. The parts book lists 2 shims as being used on 55 senior models but none specified for 56 or where the 55 shims were positioned. At least they were factory available so something Packard thought needed and you would not be wrong to install some to make your car more comfortable.

Some years had thin shims which were more like a cushion or antisqueak with a standard amount added at each corner. There are articles giving part numbers for different thicknesses where dealers could add or subtract as needed to custom fit a seat to an owner.

Really not to much to report. I have been working on it when I get the chance and driving it when I can. So far I got 30 miles on it. I was able to get the seat belts in and the rear seat in as well. The under seat heater works and I got the fresh air blower in and working as well. The rear door seals are on. the radio and speakers are connected and working. At this point the rest of the interior could go back in, which is hopefully next weekends project.

I finally tried out the O/D, and it didnt work... I did find that if I try to ground out the connection on the governor that I didnt get a click from the solenoid or the relay, and I saw I had a lose connection. So I will try and get that taken care of (among other things) in hopes to get it out tomorrow again.

So I dove into the over drive this evening and ran into some issues. So I knew there was an issue with the governor, and I saw there was a poor connection to it so I removed the governor and repaired the connection from the wire to the governor. To test it out I attached it to the drill and and spun it and saw it close and open by using an ohm meter from the wire and the case of the governor, so good there (that didnt happen before repair).

in the process of all of this I saw the orange wire fell off of the ignition ballast, so I repaired that. I also repaired the pink wire attached to the "4" terminal on the soleniod.

Now before all of this I was able to get the solenoid to click by grounding the wire going to the governor.

When I turn the ignition to "on" now I do hear a click from what I believe is the relay on the firewall, but when I ground the wire to the governor I do not get a click from the solenoid. I did go through the trouble shooting section of the FSM and I see I dont have power at the yellow wire terminal on the relay, which means the relay is bad... Now how do I fix this? I really cant get a new NOS relay. I do remember a couple pages back that Howard showed how to adapt a new style relay in place of what is currently there, is that my only option? does the relay get its ground from the mounting screws?

Personally I would put in a new relay just to get going, if that's what it needs, and take my time later to find an acceptable and affordable period correct solution.

Car looks great btw.

Double check the wire colors but from one end of the ballast resistor there should be a green wire going to the solenoid and pink to the coil. Orange from OD and Yellow from ign sw would be at the other end.

It might also be a good idea to check the 4 pin plug and inline connector to make sure both are good.

The R11 relays are reproduced but are expensive. Several of the general vendors carry them, 5th Avenue Garage being one but a modern relay can be used by itself or some have said they gutted the old metal case and hid the new relay inside.

Using the old designations to new relay numbers, here is how terminals would connect.

IGN to 85
TH SW to 86
SOL to 87 Best would be a 4 terminal relay without 87a but if you use a 5 pin relay, 87a would be unused but would be hot when relay is relaxed. Make sure it cannot touch anything.
If gutting the old case the BAT thru fuse would connect to 30. If the new relay is standalone then you would need to add an inline fuseholder to replace the original fuse.

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yes that is how the ballast is connected.

The connections at the plug and the wire connector are good.

the relay was damaged before and I put in screws where the rivets have failed. I did put in the spacers that the rivets held in place.

so there really is no way to repair this? or am I correct in my assessment that it is damaged and needs replaced?

Can't answer without seeing what it looks like. If it does not pull in at all it could be a burned coil or one of the hair thin wires from the coil to a terminal is broken. If that has happened it is probably not easily repairable.

If it does pull in but no solenoid, could be the contact is misaligned or not closing or maybe dirty so there is a high resistance. Depending on exactly what and how the rivets were positioned or were holding, one of those could have been a connection that is now disrupted and the screws did not catch something in the electrical path.

It could also be the solenoid is being energized but mechanically inside the OD the sun gear and balk ring is not in a position to allow the solenoid to move the pawl. In those cases the solenoid only moves a tiny amount and does not make much noise until the mechanical parts inside reverse direction and align themselves to make a clear path for the pawl when you let your foot off the gas for an instant.

thank you for that. I got the relay converted to a new one. Im calling it a night (11:30 pm on a work night), ill test everything again tomorrow

So last night after work I was able to get the relay in. I am still not getting power at the yellow wire, anytime I put the test light on it, now the solenoid clicks when I do so. Which I guess is the same as grounding the wire at the governor which according to the FSM says the solenoid should click.

I also did some adjustment to the clutch and shifter and tried to rotate the passenger mirror a little bit more so I could actually see out of it. Still not working to well. I may just cut some of the plastic bushing so I can rotate the mirror head more.

I wanted to get all of this done so I could take the car to downtown Pittsburgh to pick up the wife from the train station. The pick up went well, but I tried the O/D and I'm still not convinced it is working. The electrical stuff worked before I left and it appears that there is no change in engine rpm when the cable is pushed in or pulled out. I converted the clock into a tachometer and it appears at 50 mph I am still turning 2,000 rpms.

Now, sometimes last night if I was coasting in gear and I rolled onto the gas I could hear the engine increase in rpm and not actually accelerate. It eventually would "grab" and start to accelerate. I did not have this issue happen when the cable was pulled out.

I kind of figured there would be a big "ca-thunk" when it would go into over drive once you took your foot off the gas above 40 mph, am I mistaken? Over drive is .722 to 1 so I figured I would see some difference in RPM's, unless my tach is not that accurate. I think I heard some "clicking" happening when I would get below 30 mph like it was telling it to come out of over drive, but again, I didnt notice difference. Is it really that smooth? or do I have a solenoid or mechanical issue? or is the torque curve of this engine that great that it just doesnt care about the gear difference?

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