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The interior chrome piece must be removed. Outside of that, I don't remember any real problem?

The window is rolled back in into the body right now. The regulator and PW motor have been removed. The problem is where the pivot of the window sets into part number
31.2912.

They won't separate.

The deconstruction continues. I sure hope it's as much fun to put this automobile back together as it is to tear it down. I'm sure my bank account will play a role in that.

I finally got the rear windows out. Just kept working and working them until they broke free. There was a thin layer of rust on the pivot piece and I guess it was creating enough friction to hold them in place. The trick is to leave the pivot bolted in and push the glass toward the rear as you are pushing the window down into the body, after 10 or 15 times it comes loose.

So now all doors, side windows and regulators are out. All the chrome and stainless trim around the door frames are out. I had to use my air impact hammer to break many of those tiny screws loose. Some of the wiring harness have been labeled and removed. The headliner and all the braces underneath are out. Working on the wind shields now.

Just posting some of the pics I am taking as I go along.

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I have no idea how long my Packard was parked before I purchased it but I think I may have found the reason why it was parked.

Back a couple months ago we discovered that the wiring harness on the right side of the engine bay had been replaced. Someone had just spliced new wires onto the original harness.

In close inspection of the harness on the left side of the engine bay and I have found that many of the wires have melted.

There is especially heavy damage to those wires that connect to the starter. There are a couple images below.

All the harnesses have been labeled and removed except for what's under the dash.

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Been working all over the place lately; interior, exterior, engine. I spend an hour or more on the Packard most evenings, just taking my time, no since in rushing it. I don't have any heat in my shop at the moment so I don't expect to get much time out there from Dec to Feb.

I'm not posting all that often as I know the work I'm doing at this time is not all that unusual. There are several guys tearing down Packard's at the moment. I am taking lots of photos as I go and just keep trucking on.

I've found that the rust on the passenger's side of the car is worse than the driver's side. I am hoping that the only panels I have to buy are one front floor panel and both rockers but I have only started cutting into the rust so I may find more. Everything else can be fixed with patch panels. There will be some tricking places around the tail lights.

I have also found more melted or burnt wires under the dash board, thinking more and more that's why it was parked. I have taken the heads off the engine block and the only thing unusual I have found so far is a couple of the rods do not match the others.

Will probably have some questions about removing the steering column and gear this week but I take a closer look first.

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I finally broke down and got some heat for my shop. All that cold and white stuff that you folks out west have been sending our way have kept me away from my 400 for the last few weeks.

I bought a torpedo heater that runs on kerosene and within 40 minutes I took my coat off. My shop has no ceiling so I was afraid I would lose all the heat overhead but it did pretty good considering our high today was only 27 degrees.

I cut out the drivers side rocker panel today. The floor pans is in pretty good shape on that side and so are the floor braces. I am going to have to earn my money fixing that area right in front of the rockers though. It is easily the worst the worst rust on the whole car (pics below).

Also pulled the oil pan today. I'll be off work the last two weeks of the year and hoping to finish breaking down the engine.

One last thing. I was web searching a few days ago for a new spare tire well for my 400 and came across a site that sells replacement floor braces very similar to those that are in our Packard's. I may yet need some for the passenger side so wanted to share the link here as I have seen a few blogs asking about them.

http://emsautomotive.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=74_77&product_id=405

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Quote:
Though billed as universal parts, the one that your link points to certainly has a familiar look, and they offer a couple of variations on that theme.

I also found a recessed plate that might help with repair where the body holddown bolts drop through the floor pan - provided the surrounding metal is still sound.

As for the bottom of your hinge pillar, TroyT's project blog, on his 56 Patrician, may provide some additional perspective - beginning right about here.

I got back to tearing down the engine today. Today it was timing chain and piston removal.

I was not expecting to find the pistons already numbered. So unless someone tells me that Packard numbered them during assembly I am going to assume this is not the first time my engine has been rebuilt. The pistons and cylinder walls appear to be in great condition. Will know more when I roll the block back over. I might try removing the crankshaft tomorrow and roll it.

The crankshaft itself also appears to be in good shape. So far the only part that looks like it has to be replaced is the timing chain. Perhaps the mouse fragments I found in the timing gears wore the chain out. I really wasn't sure what it was until I saw whiskers.

I was not expecting the harmonic balancer to come off with the fan belt pulley (shown below). I thought they were two pieces. There were two different pulleys of course. The first separated easily with a little prying but I kept trying to pry off the other pulley and gave up and used the gear puller instead.

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Double check the state of the rubber ring on the harmonic balancer. Unless it's perfect, it would be good policy to get it redone. I had this problem recently and the iron outer ring came loose. Others have had this happen too.

Craig

I was not expecting to find the pistons already numbered. So unless someone tells me that Packard numbered them during assembly I am going to assume this is not the first time my engine has been rebuilt

Traditionally, factory-installed pistons on most (all?) makes of engines were hand-selected for individual fit to the bores and thus were numbered. A careful engine rebuilder would also number pistons, so I would NOT automatically assume that having numbered pistons means the engine has been previously rebuilt.

PS - just looked at my spare V8, a 1956 Patrician. OEM pistons and they are numbered.