May 1, 2001
The kit for replacing the malperforming vacuum wiper motor with a new electric one arrived today. I installed it on my 1955 Patrician in a couple of hours. The kit comes with a new wiper control switch of course, but the stock dash bezel & knob fit perfectly. When the time comes, I’ll order another one and install it on the Panther.
May 2, 2001
I cleaned out the junk and dirt from the trunk and look what I found: an amateurish “access panel” to the tank sending unit. I removed gas tank and discovered a hole in the right rear bottom. Although it’s repairable, hopefully, the 4dr Executive parts car will have a good tank. I also removed the rear bumper and taillights, the latter safely locked away in the house.
May 3, 2001
I started cleaning the rear half of the frame, working from the rear forward. All of a sudden, the left rear tire started leaking air (big hissing sound). So, I jacked up that side and replaced it, but would you believe that a tire split this badly could hold air?
May 5, 2001
Fellow Packard owner Gerry Bonner came over for about 3 hours to discuss his ideas for art work, emblems and color schemes on the Panther. He had some terrific ideas and we agreed upon the details. This will all be unveiled when the Panther is completed!
May 6, 2001
I removed the rear axle from the Clipper for future cleaning & inspection. I jury-rigged up a cross bar (5-x1” steel pipe) to stabilize the loose ends of the rear torque arms and lowered it down onto the wheel dollies.
May 7, 2001
The reground cam arrived from Lazer. It was stored away until engine assembly time. I also added two pages to the Library section describing and explaining Packard’s Torsion-Level Suspension.
May 11, 2001
I removed the old mufflers and pipes. A Clipper 2dr HT came with single exhaust as standard equipment. Sometime in the past a prior owner had cheap muffler shop equip this Clipper with duals. The mufflers were glasspacks and rusted out by this time. I also removed the rear torque arms in preparation for final frame & et al cleaning prior to painting. Supporting the Torsion-Level rear load arm with a 2nd pair of jack stands took the load off of the torque arm stirrup, allowing removal. However, now I cannot move the car until I re-install the torque arms!
May 12, 2001
I discovered that the rear suspension bushings purchased from Kanter were not quite right. In the picture, the center bushing does not fit anything, but two of them were supplied instead of one more each of the two end bushings. Since it's the weekend, I'll have to wait until monday to call Kanter and have them send me the right ones. Meanwhile, the rear suspension stays disassembled and the Clipper sits on jack stands and my 1955 Patrician is parked on the street...boo!
May 14, 2001
I called Kanter and had them send me the correct rear suspensions. I removed the Torsion-Level rear track bar assembly. The inner rubber bushings were in bad shape, one almost gone. Removing and replacing them requires modifying the pivot pins. I drilled out the solid pin with a 5/16" drill, drilling from both sides and meeting in the middle. I then removed the mushroomed end of the pin by removing the raised material with a 9/16" drill until even with the plate. With the end plate loose from the pivot pins, I could easily clean everything. I reassembled it with 2" long 5/16" bolts, washers (flat & lock) and nuts. The shoulder on the inner side of the pivot pin determines the distance between the end plates. I expect to fine tune this later for clearance.
May 17, 2001
The custom flat top aluminum forged pistons arrived today from Ross Racing Pistons. They have a shorter skirt than the stock Packard cast aluminum piston. The diameter is 4.125" which is 0.125" larger than the stock 352 CID bore; it results in 374 CID, the largest production Packard V-8 engine. Interestingly, the piston pin is the same diameter as a Pontiac: 0.980". The pins are held in place with double spiral locks and free float in the rod small end in a bronze bushing. During trial assembly later, I'll determine the piston to valve clearance with the Lazer cam and have valve reliefs cut in the piston top, if necessary. There are eyebrow bulges under the piston dome for this purpose. Also of technical interest (to be determined later) is the skirt length (shorter than stock) and the piston pin offset (Packard is 1/16" toward major thrust, Ross is zero.) These techical issues will affect the "piston slap" noise.
May 18-20, 2001
Today I went on a short vacation to Lake Havasu, AZ for my birthday. All is not "sex, drugs and rock & roll" there as you may have heard. But it's difficult to avoid the aforemention. I drove my "other" collector car, my 1972 Cadillac Eldorado. the 330 miles round trip. On the way back home on sunday about 20 miles north of Parker Dam, the right rear tire blew out. Fortunately, I was able to get stopped safely on the narrow dirt shoulder of the two lane highway. I backed up about 100 feet to get off the shoulder on to a relatively flat spot to change out the tire. This mangled the tire even worse that it was when I stopped. I made it safely home on the spare tire, which is one of the original 29 year old Vogue brand tires. We have a saying in Las Vegas: "Better lucky than good" and it took a little of both on this trip. Those of us who make relatively long trips in our "collectible" cars know of what I speak. There are many hazards. Most of which were experienced repeatedly by our ancestors on their "sunday outings" me thinks.
May 21, 2001
Today I cleaned up the steel wheels from the Clipper. The reason for this is that I've decided to install the disc brake conversion on my 1955 Patrician rather than the Panther. Since it'll be many more months before the Panther gets on the road, installing the disc brakes on the Patrician means I can get real world road testing on the conversion and work out all the details since this is the first such conversion that I am aware of. Later, I'll order up another conversion and install it on the Panther. One of the details is that the conversion will use the "junior" series (Clipper & Executive) wheel bolt pattern of 5x4-1/2" rather than the "senior" series (Patrician, 400 & Caribbean) 5x5" pattern. Why Packard used two different wheel bolt patterns for cars which were very close in size & weight is beyond me and no one I have asked knows why either. Be that as it may, I'll have to use the Clipper wheels on my Patrician after the brakes are converted to discs. The Patrician will also get new Coker wide white wall radials. The Panther will get new steel wire wheels and Goodyear tires when the time comes.
May 22, 2001
The final cleaning on the rear half of the frame and suspension components has been completed (yeah!). I got out the trusty (but cheap) spray gun, fired up the compressor and sprayed "Corroless" anti-rust to the rear half frame and underbody. Since I ran out of "Corroless", I primered the suspension components with "Rust-Oleum" brand gray auto primer. Painting with Eastwood's "Chassis Black" is next.
May 23, 2001
The rear disc brake conversion (one side shown) arrived from The StreetRod Mfg. Co., Inc. of Castle Rock, CO. This conversion is based upon a Ford using a Dana 44 rear axle assembly. I ordered the kit without calipers and bought them locally. While several different makes, models & years will work, I chose 1980-85 Cadillac Seville rear brake calipers because of their parking brake capability. Here's an inside and outside view of the trial assembly. I'll install the rear axle and disc brakes on my 1955 Patrician sometime in the future. I’ll order up another conversion for the Panther when all the details are worked out and I’ll document the entire conversion in the Special Projects section when it’s completed.
May 24, 2001
The front disc brake conversion arrived from Richard Graves Machine of Long Beach, CA. This conversion uses calipers from mid 1970s big Chevy and early 1980s Mopar rotors (NOT Mustang II that I posted earlier), but required custom machining of the Packard steering arm (for clearance) and spindle (for wheel bearings). Here's an inside and outside view of the trial assembly. Ditto above on installation, working out details and documenting this Special Project.
May 29, 2001
In preparation for the disc brake conversion work, I cleaned up and painted all the wheels off the Clipper. These wheels are 4-1/2" diameter bolt pattern and fit the lugs on the front & rear kits. I had the spare tire from my 1955 Patrician mounted on the cleaned up Clipper wheel whose tire had previously blown out (see May 3rd entry).
May 30, 2001
Fellow Packard owner and enthusiast Kevin Gillooley from Tucson, AZ was in town for a few days and volunteered to help me install the front disc brake conversion. I'll install it on my 1955 Patrician since the Panther is still a long way from hitting the street. Since my Patrician also needed a front end overhaul, we'll do that at the same time using the refurbished components from the Panther. Here's a shot of the nearly completed driver's side. I have to order flex lines, banjo bolts and dust covers from the local auto parts store. I'll do the passenger side overhaul and conversion myself this coming weekend. See the Special Projects "Drum to disc brake conversion" for details.
May 31, 2001
Today I ordered the remaining small parts described above to complete the disc brake conversion. They should arrive by early next week.
Continued...
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