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Sounds GREAT on your video - like good music! Well done, quite a milestone to reach in your project.

Congratulations Kevin! It's a good feeling, isn't it?

Doug

Congratulations, Kev!

I know this day has been a long time coming - much longer than you originally anticipated. Though the path was littered with all sorts of obstacles and distractions, you sure have learned (and accomplished) a lot along the way.

However, before you try tuning the carb, distributor, etc., I'd suggest you deal with the exhaust leaks and check for any other leaks in the entire vacuum circuit.

Meanwhile, perhaps you can find some hose to run from the tailpipe to vent the exhaust outdoors. Then, hook up some gauges - if only temporarily - and give the engine another trial start, letting it idle until the thermostat opens up.

BTW, did you drain and refill the torque converter?

Then, if you're confident that the new brake linings will hold fast, you can run the Ultramatic selector through its stops in see what kind of reaction you get from the car.

If you're luck holds out, the tranny may only need another full drain and refill.

After that, things could really begin to snowball. Before you know it, this old gal back will be on the road and you'll be looking for your next Packard project car!

Kevin, congratulations - nothing like hearing an engine run for the first time. I have experienced this a few times and each one is special. You will sort out all the details in short order.

(o{I}o)

Some additional progress today. I removed the air-cleaner to get a better look at what was going on with the carb. I think the fast-idle problem is in the linkage. It's binding somehow. Not sure if it is in the throttle linkage itself, or at the carb itself. Using the turnbuckle on the linkage I lengthen it until the fast idle screw on the carb was firm against it stop with no play. Then it seamed to slow down to where I expected. Problem is when I work the linkage it sometimes doesn't go back to that stop. Perhaps a 1/8" -1/4" off the stop and this is when it starts running fast again. If I work the linkage a bit then it goes back to the stop. So I guess I could disconnect the linkage at the carb and see if the carb throttle itself resets to it's stop using it's own spring. Perhaps that would tell me where the sticking may be happening.

I remember when I got the car someone else had put another spring between the vacuum line that goes to the distributor and carb throttle. But I figure that was because the spring on the firewall was broken. I guess I can work through the various parts of the linkage until I figure out were the "sticky wicket" is. It could just as well be in the peddle pivot under the floor.

I ended up running the battery down from all the starts and not having charging system hooked up, so I will have to wait for it to charge back up before investigating further.

On some other checking I let it run until it came up to temp and it sat at between 185-195 measured on the top of the head with a infrared thermometer . So far no overheating. The smoke has also now started to dissipate. Perhaps I have finally burned off all the penetrating oil.

Also I hooked a vacuum gauge to the open vacuum port on the manifold. It was ready a steady 18lbs. When I first started it was at 20lbs, and then crept down to 18lbs after warming up. Normal?

Slow and steady progress. I need to clean up the garage a bit as I had a bit of an oil spill yesterday when trying to pour the old oil back into the bottles for recycling. Plus I have more tools outside of the tool box than it it!

Kevin, we'll make a scientist out of you yet, vacuum readings are not in lbs but in inches of mercury (Hg), and 18 and steady is a very good indicator of valve and ring condition. Sounds like you're really moving along.

On the binding accelerator linkage, don't discount that it might be inthe throttle pressure linkage to the transmission - just drop the link and try again - the need for a second spring on the throttle return shouldn't be necessary - probably a sign of a prior owner not willing to find out where the resistance to movement was.

Keep of slugging.
Dave

Congratulations Kev. Was nice to hear it crank and start.

Well a little more tinkering today....

I realized I am missing a linkage clip. This is the rod clip that connects the rod from the pedal pivot to the throttle cross-shaft. This is a rod retainer clip that the goes through the small rod end then snaps down onto the large portion of the rod. It look similar to the picture below (but reversed I believe). If anyone has a spare one or can point me where I can buy the correct sized one, then please let me know.

Also I went to check the timing, but I quickly realized my timing light must be FUBAR. It is an inductive pick-up model, and it fires if the inductive clamp is connected or not. Which means it is totally useless for checking the timing.

Next I checked the transmission fluid and realized it was very low. I guess the converter must have filled up since I initially filled it to level after cleaning out the pan. So it took almost another 4 quarts.

With the transmission filled, I put it in gear (rear wheels off the ground). It appeared to respond on all the gear positions. I did notice that even with it in park the rear wheels still spin with the brakes off. If I depress the brake they stop, and then slowly start to spin again when I release the brake. Also with it in park I hear a chik-chik-chik noise as the wheels spin that I don't hear in the other gears. Also the speedometer needle is bouncing around between 0-10 mph. Not sure if that means the parking prawl is broken, or that is symptom of something else.

On a positive note, no more exhaust smoke.

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If no one has new or used closer, try Mr G's fastenershttp://www.mrgusa.com/fasindex.htm

miscellaneous clips section 45-49---just looking again but can't tell exactly which is discontinued. Think it's the 1/4".

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Thanks Howard. I believe it is this one:

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