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Hi all,

I bought this 52 Packard 300 back in March. Been so hot here lately in AZ, that I've just had a couple cooler days to finally install my new fuel pump and a rebuilt treadle vac.

The Fuel pump that was on the car was toast, and actually bypassed by an electric pump that was pushing way too much fuel. I need help in knowing where and how the fuel lines should be routed to and from the Pump. Any pictures would be great. The original hard lines have been cut. :(

The main thing I am wondering about concerning my Treadle Vac is; Is there a specified torque on the copper crush washers? I did use new ones and I'm kind of wondering if they're going seal. I will not know the outcome until I fill the reservoir and bleed them, which is still probably a month off. I'm in the process of installing all new wheel cylinders, brake hardware etc.

I've included a picture of the left front brake that I've finished.

Boro in AZ

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Something on the brake assembly looks incorrect to me. It appears that both the primary and secondary shoes have the same return spring, at least same color, apparent diameter and number of coils. I believe I'm correct when I say the primary shoe must have a weaker spring so it will release and contact the drum first and thus provide the camming action to the secondary shoe.

As far the washers go, I don't believe that they are actually "crush" washers, meaning a hollow core that collapses. I think they are solid copper washers; I don't know of any torque specification. If I were to use a torque wrench I'd tighten them to same torque you'd use for a bolt of the thread and hardness; actually most folks just use "feel" and tighten them just a bit past "snug".

Guess I used the wrong terminology for those washers. You're right they are solid copper. And were quite hard to find.
As the springs I took off had no color differences, I did not know that they needed to be different. I will check into that.
Thank you for your input!

Some mechanics refer to those as "banjo washers" these days - as they are more commonly used with banjo-style brass fittings on the ends of some hoses for front disc brake calipers. Any GM dealership parts dept. worth their salt will have 'em on hand for that purpose. I don't know how they compare to what was used on Packards, but GM's use of their P/N 231343 dates back to 1935.

I'm surprised at the difficulty some people have reported in finding these washers lately.

A real auto parts store (not mass-market places like AutoZone) will likely have a compartmented box of these washers on-hand with an assortment of sizes. Our local store even had an assortment of the crush-type annular gasket used for the engine oil and transmission pan drain plugs.

WRT to those springs, all 8 springs were the same color and strength on Juniors beginning in 1954, IIRC. Otherwise, there is a different color for primary vs. secondary. Yet, some cars even used different springs for front vs. rear axles - that is, four different color/strength per car.

Download the 1948-54 Parts List section on brakes (available on this site for FREE) and you'll see what I mean. Memorize the model number of your car and get familiar with the parts book and a lot of things will begin to come into focus.

the tail of the 2wo top springs should be bent so that they are parallel to the rest of the spring. Just use a pair of channel locks to do it without removing spring.

It appears that the rear shoe has a champfer cut on the top end edge the lining but no such champfer at the the other edges?????? All edges should be champfered but it is not absolutely necessary.

A round washer at the UPPER anchor????? i thot they were football shaped???

be sure to clean out the grease gutter at the bottom of the grease shield.

thanks for all the great input.

Attached is a picture of that same brake before I did anything to it. I take alot of pictures of before and after. :)

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Boro -

The brakes on my Senior series V8s used an orange-colored return spring on the primary (leading) shoes and a yellow-colored one on the secondary (trailing) shoes - same front and rear.

The first set of replacement springs that I got from Kanter were similarly colored, but the next set I got were black and natural (the latter, not colored at all) - though that was a good 15 years or more ago. I fired off an inquiry by mail, and they advised the black spring was for primary, while the natural spring was for secondary.

Again, I'm not sure how this may compare to what is correct for your model.

BTW, the big fat round washer shown at the upper anchor is same as on my Senior V8s, and I believe its use dates back at least to the 40s. Not sure what the Junior/Clipper models had.