April 1, 2001
I removed the steering column, entire dash including pad & instrument panel, brake pedal and Easamatic power brake (Bendix Treadle-Vac). I fully disassembled the panel, including instrument cluster, heater controls and decorative facia. See "The Project Plan" for more one what I plan to do with the dash and steering column. I'll provide before & after pictures when I get it all figured out and installed.
April 3, 2001
Jimmy at Motor Mission called to tell me that everything in the Packard engine magnafluxes OK. All the valves are good except one intake that is bent. After discussing the crankshaft main and rod clearances, he’s going to double check to determine if I can use .002 undersize bearings rather than going to 0.020 (0.010 are not available that I can find). The 0.002 undersize is less expensive by 50%. Motor Mission is also sending one of the stock pistons to Ross Racing Pistons in El Segundo, CA. Ken Crocie of H-O Enterprises has arranged for a custom set for the Panther project.
April 4, 2001
I finally found the front bucket seats I’m going to use to replace the stock bench seat. It turns out that front buckets and console from a mid-1990’s Chevy Suburban SUV have the correct seat height (14”) and mount on a flat floor, as in the Clipper. I was going to get a good pair from a salvage yard, but I found a supplier of custom new replacement ones for the same price. The ones I chose were “Chevy Sport 3-Piece” where all 3 seats move independently of each other and the center seat can be folded forward to form a console.
April 5, 2001
I removed the front suspension upper & lower control arms. This required some special preparation and care in execution. The Packard Service Manual calls for the use of the special “Front Load Arm Holding Tool J-6065.” This is the equivalent of a coil spring compressor clamp, but for Packard’s Torsion-Level. I don’t have one and there aren’t many places to get one. But thanks to an answer on the PAC Forum some time back, I knew of a “shade tree mechanic” way to safely accomplish the same thing. I went to the local Lowe’s and purchased two 2-ft lengths of 5/16” “Hi Impact” chain and two 3” long 1/2” (fine) grade-8 bolts with 6 “fender” washers and 2 nuts (also grade-8). The idea is to loop the chain around the front load arm and secure it at the top shock mount hole. Since I was doing this after the engine & trans were removed, I had to stack a lot of weight on the frame to get the upper control arm off of its rebound bumper. If you’re just R&R’ing the control arm bushings, then this won’t be a problem because your car would be at its normal ride height. WARNING: Be sure to reattach on each side the two inboard nuts & bolts on the front torsion bar attachment bracket. These two nuts & bolts attach the rearward lower control arm in addition to the T-L attach bracket. When I saw the bracket separating from the frame, I knew I’d better bolt it back down, even though the service manual says nothing about this!
April 6, 2001
I dropped off all the front end and miscellaneous pieces at the machine shop to be tanked on the way to the NHRA SummitNationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (through April 8). John Angeles, an old racing buddy, was competing there in Super Stock with his 1969 Firebird 400 Ram Air IV. His daughter Keri now drives it...and very well too! She was runner up at last year’s Winternationals in Super Stock Eliminator and qualified well in Las Vegas, although she didn’t win. This car is the quickest steel-bodied muscle-car era Pontiac Super Stocker in the country, having run 9.97 E.T.s at Pomona. I’ll be going to these drag races the next two days, so not much will happen on the Panther project until next week.
April 10, 2001
With Ken Crocie of H-O Enterprises, we agreed upon the cam specs. I sent the used core off to Lazer Cams in Memphis, TN to be reground to those specs. Jimmy from Motor Mission called with the results of the ultrasonic tests on the cylinder wall thickness of the Clipper’s 352 CID block. At the top, the thickness was between 0.280”-0.320”. At the bottom (about 6” down the bore), the minimum thickness was 0.183” Therefore a 0.125” overbore (0.0625” per side) of the 352 to 374 CID will be safe and reliable to do. Since it’s now after business hours, I’ll call Ross Pistons tomorrow and the bore and ring specs.
April 12, 2001
I finally got the Twin-Ultramatic transmission case cleaned up enough (man, was it caked with dirt & grease!) to feel comfortable removing the pan without gettting the surrounding grunge into the transmission internals. There was about 1/16-1/8” of sludge stuck to the bottom of the pan, but the valve body and other components are clean. The filter was also pretty clean. At some point in time at least the filter had been serviced (maybe the T-U overhauled?) as evidenced by the filter being retained by a wire instead of the factory retaining clip. Later, I’ll install this T-U in my 1955 Patrician and see how it performs.
April 13, 2001
The power booster and remote-fill master cylinder arrived from Master Power Brake company. I trial installed it in place of the troublesome “Easamatic” (Bendix Treadle-Vac) original equipment. See the “Special Projects” section for details of this conversion.
April 14, 2001
I attended the local Studebaker Drivers Club annual meet & car show. My 1955 Patrician won 2nd place in the non-Studebaker category, losing to a restored 1955 Chysler C-300. A fellow Packard owner Gerry Bonnar with a 1952 250 custom convertible also attended and was forthcoming with many artistic ideas for the Panther.
April 16, 2001
I found an aftermarket conversion for the poor vacuum-powered windshield wipers to electric motor. With the removal of the vacuum pump from the bottom of the oil pump and plans to drive the Panther anywhere, anytime, electrically powered wipers are mandatory! I’ll provide details of the installation later.
April 17-18 2001
I continued the arduous task of cleaning the front half of the frame. The Clipper must have sat axle-deep in mud for a while because there is dried mud almost as hard as concrete inside the frame rails. Power tools (wire wheels & brushes), scrapers and even crow bars are the tools of the day. Even though I don’t mention it in the future daily diaries, rest assured that I am still cleaning that frame. When I get done, I’ll post a JPG.
April 19, 2001
The 0.020” undersize main and rod bearings and a NOS intake valve arrived today from Max Merritt. I took these to Motor Mission so they can get going on the crankshaft grinding and finish up the cylinder heads. Also in the delivery was a new mechanical fuel pump and an engine O’haul gasket set. I stored both for future assembly.
April 20, 2001
I removed the Torsion-Level control box and sent it to Gary Russell for conversion to solid state. At the same time, I ordered from Gary the 2-prong stop light switch and relay conversion of the expensive 3-prong switch. I have one of these on my Patrician and it works as advertisd. I’ll have JPGs of this conversion when I get to that point of reassembly.
April 21, 2001
I attended “The Auction” at the Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino here in Las Vegas. Over the two days there were 14 Packards for sale, an astounding number. Some sold and some didn’t meet their reserve bid price. For instance, a 1939 V-12 7-passenger Sedan was bid up to $47,500, but didn’t meet its reserve of $75,000.
April 23, 2001
I received the body-to-frame rubber insulators (cushions) and rear suspension bushings from Kanter. After getting some good advice on the Packard Chat Room, removed the Torsion-Level compensator assembly.
April 24, 2001
I cleaned up the T-L compensator assembly and removed the electric motor, which I took to Interstate Rebuilders. While there, I picked up the reconditioned starter and solenoid they had overhauled. I stopped by Motor Mission and picked up the front spindles, king pins and steering arms (they had been hot tanked) and packed them for shipment to Richard Graves Machine in Long Beach, CA. He’ll machine the adapters for the front disc brake conversion. I discussed valve train components with Bill at Lazer Cams and ordered lifters, springs, retainers and locks. The used piston from the Clipper 352 arrived at Ross today. I discussed with RC the bore size, ring sizes, pin dimension and piston crown thickness.
April 25, 2001
I spray painted the front half of the frame with Corroless rust inhibitor from Eastwood. I disassembled the Torsion-Level compensator assembly. I discovered that the splines on the compensator lever assembly were twisted. This part is not usable, so I’ll have to wait until I get the parts donor car over here to the garage and see what kind of condition it’s compensator is in.
April 26, 2001
I spray painted the front half of the frame with “correct” Chassis Gloss Black from Eastwood. Now the Panther Project has made some progress, albeit small, towards it’s final incarnation! With the help of a neighbor, we spun the body & frame around 180deg inside my garage. Now I can work on the rear half.
April 28, 2001
I removed the right rear drum brake and axle to take measurements for the disc brake conversion. The 1956 Packards had rear axle assemblies manufactured by Spicer rather than the 1955 and earlier Eaton units. The earlier units had a tapered fit drum and are a bear to get off, even with the correct puller. By contrast, on the Spicer units the drum slips easily off the axle’s wheel studs. Also, when the bearing & brake backing plate retainer is unbolted, the axle comes out easily.
April 30, 2001
The valve train components arrived today from Lazer Cams. The valve springs, retainers and split locks are standard issue, but the hydraulic lifters are for the Chrysler 383 V-8. The pushrod seat height is about 0.100” higher than the stock Packard, but this is OK for the Panther since the base circle radius on the camshaft will be reduced a like amount for the regrind. The camshaft itself should be in a couple of weeks.
Continued...
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