Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Quote:

So I shipped them out in July of 2021. so if I get them back in march that would be about a year and a half. I did send the originals to them.

if this was a leather interior, or had one of the other simpler materials I may have just had them made locally due to time and cost.

Quote:

Yea I heard California is going after the chemical used in the process to make the 50's era chrome. There are others that are not being targeted (yet), but those apparently are more grey in color.

Got some good progress done on the car. I was able to get all the window regulators and motors in and all windows work as they should! Tried out the power lock button under the dash and most of the locks work, I think. I need to get the door handles on so I can see if they lock and unlock the doors (does the power locks work that way? or do they only unlock the doors?)

I tried to get the rear bumper on but found out I misplaced the stone splash shield that goes on before it? I definitely took it off because I have the screws. I just need to find it the next time I get back home. But noticed I was missing the vertical trim piece that covers the joint of the reynolds wrap in the back, never had it. Does anyone have a spare?

Also, how does the rear license plate bracket mount? the car didnt have one installed when I brought it over, but I believe I have one in my parts stash.

Got the front bumper torn apart, cleaned, painted, and assembled. it is ready to go on!

Also ordered the suspension bushing kit from Dwight. So next step is to get the front bumper, grille and trim on, hopefully find the rock guard for the rear, get the rear bumper on and start diving into the suspension.

Attach file:

---

  IMG_1679.jpg (278.50 KB)

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=244369&keywords=License+plate+bracket

This should help

Alright, I am having some suspension problems…

So I verified that the fuses were good, verified that my mechanical brake light switch was energizing the suspension by using a test light at the brake light switch connector and the light green wire was shown to be energized at that location and down at the control box.

Both solenoids were showing to get power. Both solenoids were lighting up the test light when probed at the top terminals.

At the control box I verified that all the orange wires were energized, all blue wires were energized. The light green wire was energized. I also took note that the yellow wire was energized as well. The limit switch towards the center of the car (which I believe is the limit switch that says it’s time to go down) was the one with the blue and yellow wires are attached.

Now the rear end is slightly higher, but not drastically.

Another observation is that the pivot on the compensation motor is basically perpendicular to the center line of the car with the long bar side slightly to the rear.

I tried to ground the top terminal of the solenoid that the blue wire was attached to, I heard the click of the solenoid but nothing from the motor. So I changed the control box.

Once the control box was changed and everything connected the yellow and blue wire were barely lighting the test light down at the control box and the blue wire was barely illuminating the test light at the solenoid. However, the brown wire was energized at the solenoid and was also energized at the compensator motor that was attached to the bottom terminal.

That situation was still occurring (brown wire hot) with the dash switch in the off position and the 7.5 amp removed.

So where do I go from here? The pivot is obviously position incorrectly, but how do I adjust that pivot while making sure everything else is okay? Is everything connected properly?

Pictures to follow

The picture from under the car is from the rear looking forward

Yes the bumpers and grill are on. Looks pretty spiffy!!

I was informed the suspensions bushings were changed in the early 90’s… but from inspection I don’t know what was changed because everything is dry rotted

I did grease all suspension fittings with the exception of two of the torsion bar compensator bearings where the short/long links attach to the compensator bars due to the extreme angle they are currently at

Attach file:

---

  EC01E531-B660-4CFE-8E1F-004FCA517C8D.jpeg (297.81 KB)


  CFF7DC15-26A9-40A0-A796-2B25B026CAB6.jpeg (307.42 KB)


  419E8B39-B5FC-46CD-8ACA-C13318AF7A60.jpeg (288.09 KB)

Here are two more pictures for reference. One is showing the the Compensator bar being wound on the drivers side from the rear looking forward. Than the other picture shows the link that attaches to the compensator box from the front looking rearward

Attach file:

---

  0A014B33-D55B-4EC9-A3C7-F6E5FF2E6FC7.jpeg (235.88 KB)


  0FF0969A-9FA2-4D0E-BE6E-7D2DCBACF133.jpeg (281.17 KB)

Your compensator is adjusted to pretty much the full up position which stands to reason as the back of the car is up, and the car does not have its full weight on it yet. The short link is to the front of the car and the long link to the rear which tells me the compensator has not gone over center which is good.

First, it seems that your motor simply doesn't run as you mentioned having power to one of its terminals and nothing was happening. One of those terminals hot makes it go up, the other one hot makes it go down. You will need to get that happy first before anything else can be addressed. Take the band off the motor and snap the brush holders in and out with your finger. Then get under there with a battery or even a good strong battery charger, ground the case and power the terminals one at a time. You should get up and down. Do not run the mechanism over center so that the short link is to the rear. Report back.

Quote:

thanks for that Ross!!

doing that power test as you suggested would bypass the limit switch that is currently active (or both wires are showing power going thru them), and that is okay? Could that be why the motor didnt want to run?

as you might be able to deduce from the photos, the compensator motor is covered in a ton of crud. where would I be able to locate the band where the brushes reside?

Which terminal is active that makes the rear go down?

thanks!

The band is almost at the end of the motor and is held by a screw that pulls the two ends of the band together tightening it around the motor case.

If you scrape off enough of the crud around the terminals you should also see an "F" and an "A" stamped on the motor case. If the diagrams are correct, powering "F" would make it go down and "A" would be up. If the wiring is still original you could also go by wire color as shown in the diagrams.

Here is the basic factory wiring diagram and second diagram showing all the contacts in the various components. On the second diagram, the optional manual over ride switch is shown where it should be if properly installed.

Attach file:

---

  56 factory dia.jpg (119.48 KB)


  56 with manual TL switch.jpg (94.39 KB)