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Randy, Glad I could help. Although not an exact replacement, I found that my local Ace Hardware had rubber fender washers. They were about 1.75" in diameter but easily sealed the cowl hole with the flat washer.

I have not removed my antennas but took a couple pics for you this afternoon. It looks like there is rubber protruding from both the outside and inside from the original grommet. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Robert.

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There was some discussion on the fact that the 55-56 frames did not have the front brace that ran from one frame horn to the other as in previous models. I just happened to look in "FRAME" in the shop manual. This pictures the frame as a line drawing showing all the dimensions and measurements. The drawing DOES have the front brace including the 56 supplement. Did Packard plan on having this brace and then not do it for some reason??

Is it a case where the Torsion Level suspension equipped cars had it without, and the conventional suspension cars can the "horn" cross-member? All the '54s had them.

They show the front crosspiece on frames for 5682, 5687, and 5699 - all have T/L. I guess it was just a mistake. Damn! and I told everyone of those Chebby owners Packard was perfect. Well, they can't read anyway so they'll never know.

The PB motor wasn't functioning so I removed it and found a small brass extension on one brush tube had broken. One of the field coil wires was soldered to this tab. There is not much clearance there and little room to work. I retrieved another field coil from my stash and installed it. I have a piece of heavy sheet metal bolted to the frame so I can mount the PB and T/L relays to verify every thing is working. The PB unit still would not actuate with the buttons although the motor will run either direction. I determined the eight-wire plug contacts were at fault, so I slipped them out of the plug one at a time and used the Dremel and a bristle brush soaked in Brasso to polish them. I didn't have to remove the contacts in the male side of the plug. Here's a pic of the female side which I have cleaned up now. Pretty cruddy. I used a very small screwdriver to unlock the tab and another one to push the contact out of the plug. I sprayed everything with contact cleaner to remove any Brasso residue.

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Randy--I encounter that broken tab from time to time, I am doing one for a client right now. I make a piece out of sheet brass that I solder to the brush holder to give another tab for that wire. You hit the nail right on the head--you have to be careful inside the motor, it's tight and some things are delicate. Then there is the business of getting the brushes apart to reinsert the commutator!

I should have told you - I have a series of words I say when holding the brushes apart to slip in the armature. They don't work all the time but I feel better I readjusted the brass plug to just hunt a little sometimes when going from R to P. I knew I should have perfected my relocation scheme but was just too busy. Oh well, those contacts needed a good cleaning anyway.
By the way, I used a trick you told me about years ago at Perrysburg. I took a fine file and dressed down the edges of the contact segment so there were no burrs or sharp edges.
Thanks for that tip.

Good--the contact segment came from Autolite with a sharp edge leftover from the stamping process that saws the contact fingers with every operation. I have never seen one sawed all the way through, but I have seen them sawed 1/3 of the way through!

how'bout an update ????

OK Keith, you asked for it. Work has been progressing slowly. I thought I would fire the engine this week, but the #$%^ing transmission oil cooler has a leak and every time we try to weld it the arc just eats another hole in very thin metal. I am going to try to cut out the rotten metal and weld a patch in place. If that doesn't work, I'll call Minnesota Mike. The asbestos? covering the choke tubes cleaned up nicely and I'm proceeding with wiring the headlight relays in place. I did hang the pass. door back on the car and all by myself (pat on the back) which was no small feat. A friend made a comment about lining up the fender. He always drills a 1/8' hole thru the bolt flange down into the body BEFORE removing the fender. Realigning the fender is then simplified by having that guide hole when reinstalling the fender.
The door doesn't close easily as the new cowl rubber between the fender and the door has not been compressed in place yet. The gaps around the door are all even and it opens/closes without hitting the fender.
The radiator seems much too close to the fan and I may have to remove the flanges and reposition them. Friend ACOlds has come up with a tool adaptation to help me if I go that way. There is only about 1/2 inch clearnace between the fan at its lowest point and the rad.
Keith, how do you like my substitute left fender?

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