Bloo

True enough. There are several towns in Washington like that still. It doesn't change anything. From the original post, we don't know if the seller has a Packard. We only know he has some 5 year old pictures of a Packard and a post office box. The original poster says there are various reasons he can't go look. That is unfortunate. I would say either find a way to go look, or don't buy it. The seller should welcome that. Call me a cynic (which I am), but I don't expect the seller to welcome that. I expect some cock and bull story from the seller about how there are multiple people interested, and the original poster needs to transfer some funds right now to secure the sale. Why? because the seller probably doesn't have the car at all. All this could be sorted out by going to look at the car. It would also sort out another possible issue, that being that if the seller does have the car, and paperwork proving he owns it, it's condition may not be the same as it was 5 years ago. If this is an honest seller, there should be no problem having a look. It's a shame the original poster can't.

I have heard horror stories of several different wrong combinations of piston and pushrod that are possible, and of people not being able to get the brand new cylinders to fit at all. I have never run into it myself. I usually overhaul the old ones.

In my opinion, you could buy a nice running driving Lark for less than it would cost to get started with this.

I wonder if they were really police package cars? I am unsure if black and white as commonly used was ever factory paint. Maybe, but white wouldn't surprise me. I used to own a Belvedere police car, a 65. It was light blue metallic, and not two tone. The second digit of the VIN tells the story. A police package has "9" in 1965 (it starts out R9 for Belevedere police), and a "K" in 1966 and several years afterwards (RK for Belvedere police).

I probably wouldn't use the word "performance" in any conversation about vacuum wipers, especially combined with the phrase "full load". What a vacuum pump does is make it so you don't have to let off the gas to get a wipe where there's any sort of a small hill, maybe, if the wiper motor is in good shape. Yours work better than most others.

No. Does your manual have any pictures of the underside of the head? If there is a machined surface over the piston at the far side of the cylinder, like on these head Pontiac heads: Then there is a way. It might even still work if you don't have the machined area. The piston area is at the bottom of the heads in this picture. Fashion a pointer for the front pulley or balancer. Make it so it can't get bent easily or move. Disconnect the battery and take all the spark plugs out. Feed a giant plastic zip tie in through the spark plug hole, which is presumably over the valves. This should be a really big one with a huge head, and a tail way too long to fall in. Feed it in sideways so the head of the zip tie touches the cylinder wall on the far side of the piston. Slowly crank the engine with a wrench until it stops, carefully managing the zip tie so you know it's head is on the far side of the cylinder stuck between the top of the piston and that machined surface. Make a temporary mark on the front pulley or balancer. Now use the wrench to crank the engine the other direction until it stops again with the zip tie caught the same way. Make another temporary mark. Make a third mark between the first two marks. This third mark is top dead center. Myself I would use a paint pen (junkyard marker) rather than cutting on the pulley if possible.

Yes. That cuts through most of the wild goose chases and cars that are not really for sale. FWIW the last time I went tire kicking, I went back a couple weeks later and bought the car. That gets right to what is important. Good advice.

I agree CO2 is another good option that will probably not cause additional damage. I think it is going to be big and heavy compared to Halon or Halotron, but probably more affordable.

We don't know. No current pictures. No physical address. This is 99.98% a scam. People in this thread so far are being nice about it, on the 0.02% chance that the seller is a person not technically inclined, possibly older, possibly physically unable to do the things considered normal to sell a car today. I get that. It might be so, and my aunt Mavis might be an astronaut. That could be sorted out by going to meet the seller, looking at the car, knowing ahead of time what combination of title, registration, and/or bill of sale constitutes legal ownership in the states or provinces involved, buying the car, loading it into a trailer or onto a slideback, and leaving with it. What are you going to do otherwise? Send money to a post office box? Wire the money via Western Union to my long lost half-brother? You can trust him. He's royalty in Nigeria you know. Notice the giant bold type and multiple links in Peter's post above. Scams are pervasive on all car forums today. Peter has posted warnings all over. Nobody reads them. This subject comes up constantly AFTER another person gets scammed. Don't be a statistic.

If you can't go buy it and take possession of it in person, don't buy it.

I doubt anything can quite touch an Optima of their "spiral" type. My first one was bought in 1995 and was stolen when it was 18 years old. It was still working fine. I have had several others, and they no longer have that sort of durability, but they are still worth getting in my opinion. The rectangular AGM batteries I have owned have not held up as well.

So far the Halon one is propped up between the back seat and the armrest. As long as there's luggage back there it's fine. My trunk would be way too slow. I've not yet found a good spot to put one of the little "Element" sticks permanently. I have the bigger of the 2 sizes. They don't fit the glovebox.

I wish I could answer that but I don't know. The idea that you need more Halotron than Halon is just something you see all over the internet, but I suspect it is true because Halon is still recommended for aircraft. This in spite of the fact that new production of Halon is banned, and new extinguishers have to be made from recovered Halon. It is expensive. If buying Halotron, I definitely would not get the smallest size. More is better of course. At some point the size and weight might become a problem. Where do you put it in the car so you can get to it quickly?

"The Invaders" was full of Fords. David Vincent's 1966 convertible:

Is this a Champion or is it something bigger? Does it have Overdrive?

IMHO bite the bullet and change the head gasket, how hard could it be on a 51 Chevy? More to your question, it probably depends how the head gasket is blown. If it's water in the oil, or maybe even oil in the water, there might be a pretty good chance of success. If there is combustion pressure getting into the radiator, there really isn't any way it could work. You would be trying to seal against the fire and high pressure that pushes the truck down the road, with goo, from the OUTSIDE. Not a chance.

It's the "within tolerance" comment that might explain the brushes not seating properly, as they are attached to the endbell, not the case like on other makes. A slight tilt and there goes the connection (brush to commutator). Wait what?! Yeah, I think that would do it. Sounds like a good plan.

Are your threaded holes and bolt sizes lining up in the right place when you clock it? Many alternators are clockable, but generally speaking I don't think generators are. I would expect them to use different end bells for different applications like opposite side of the engine, or upside down mounting with the adjuster on the bottom, etc.

Those are load testers, mainly intended for testing car batteries (not that there is anything wrong with that), and quick alternator testing by the "pull the battery voltage down" method, but aren't quite set up for test procedures as described in most old service manuals. I have a harbor freight one with no return spring on the knob, so that's a big plus. It's useful, and affordable, and it has a carbon pile. It could be bigger though. It really could use some modifications to maximize its usefulness for generator testing, but offhand I don't remember what.

Low reading is probably a sunk float. Disconnecting the wire should make the gauge peg high. Ground troubles at the tank should also make the gauge read high not low. Bounciness might be unavoidable because the AC (GM) gauge is an instant response type. In the mid 30s, the senders had a brake made of cork to counteract it, but the brake might not work after all these years unless someone rebuilt it. When they are working right, the senders don't really respond until bumps and road vibration are encountered. These are the sending units that have 2 exposed gears. I think Buick may have stopped using them by 1940(?). The newer Buick type does not appear to have a brake, but I am not 100% sure of that. A modern replacement sender definitely wouldn't have one. I don't know if the Bob's and the C.A.R.S. sending units are the same or not.

Something has to be making a bad connection. I see no way for it to make any difference. Also, I am 99% sure those terminals were up on my 1961 352.

Dry chemical fire extinguishers are the most common, and are better than nothing, but might do quite a but of unnecessary damage if you actually had to use it. At least it would probably put the fire out. For something that will put out a fire without causing more harm, Halon is preferable, but expensive and hard to source. Halotron is a modern substitute for Halon. It is easier to get and cheaper, but maybe less effective. Buy a size bigger in that case. There are also "Element" fire extinguishers that are a stick of a chemical compound that "lights" or "strikes" like a highway flare. Like Halon and Halotron, they do not cause more damage. I bought a couple of them on the recommendation of another member here, but have never discharged one. They do look promising.

Most of these little auto electric shops will sell you starter, generator and alternator parts. I still have one locally, although it has been bought out by Romaine Electric, who once upon a time were a rebuild shop like this near downtown Seattle. Now they are a chain with a big hub in Kent, WA. Prices have always been reasonable when walking in. I don't see a shopping cart, but I'll bet if you contacted them you could get the parts you need. It would pay to know exactly what brand and model of starter/generator/alternator you have, and exactly what parts you are looking for. The make model and year of the car might be useful too. Be an informed customer. I have never tried to buy over the phone from them, but I'll bet they would help. https://www.romaineelectric.com/index.html

I'm no GMC expert, but I'll bet the Pontiac engine is original.

I think so, and that is what I remember from a couple of cars I owned. I looked all over for a picture like you did. It was inconclusive.