K8096

Look at the palm tree in the background. I would think the photo was taken he either in Florida, southern California, or Spain.

I contact Steve Babinski in NJ. He's an expert Minerva restorer & knows a thing or two about sleeve valve engines.

When I got my '55 400 it had Champion H10 plugs in it. Was told they're no longer available & that Champion H10C is the replacement. I'm not saying these are correct, but the car does seem to run fine on them. By the way, not to change the subject, but what octane gas are you guys running in your stock carburated V-8 Packards? Do you stay away from BP gas?

Installed modern inline fuel filter and went for my test drive. The car never ran better. Zero hesitation upon acceleration, smooth idle, ect. See y'all in Warren on Saturday.

I reused the original idle mixture adjustment screws too. The ones in the kit were pretty close but not exact, so I used to old ones.

Ok, started at 8pm tonight, carb on car. Took carb off & completely apart. Blew out all passages with compressed air again. One thing I did change was that in the rebuild kit I got the needle valves for the floats were of a different design that I didn't particularly care for, so I put the originals back in. This kit came with needle valves that were actually a piece of neoprene that did the stopping with a little metal cylinder that goes between the neoprene piece & the float itself. As I was reassemling it, I noticed the clyinders were sticking, thus perhaps not letting enough fuel back in the carb; so I put the originals back in. Got the carb back together and on the car & had it running at 10:30pm tonight! How's that for efficiency? <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Starts good, idles good, and revs up good with no hesitation now. I did buy an inline filter but didnt have the fittings to install it correctly tonight, so I put a new filter element in the fuel bowl for now. Fuel bowl does only fill up about 3/4 of the way now that I have a filter back in it, but carb is not starving for fuel. I will install a see thru filter soon though to see what's going on with crud in the fuel tank & lines. The tank has never been of this car, so I'm sure there's crud in it, I just don't have time to do everything at once right now. I'll probably have it boiled out over the winter. I'll go for a test drive tomorrow night & let you know how it went. Thanks again. Hey carbking, what are your thoughts on those neoprene needle valves? Is that something you consider to be part of a cheap rebuild kit?

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. Can't wait to work on it again tonight! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

When I get home I'll start it with the gas cap off & see what it does. A clogged gas cap vent hole wouldn't just happen from sitting for an hour though. It ran good on the way to the cruise in last night, just coming home it was bad.

Went in the garage & played with it for 5 minutes this morning before heading off to work. Car starts right up fine, but seems to be starving for fuel when reving it up. Runs very rough when holding throttle at 1000 - 2000 rpm. One other thing that's semi related. I'm not running a filter in the glass fuel bowl because when I do, the bowl only seems to fill up about 3/4 of the way & I thought that might be starving it for gas. With the fuel filter removed, it fills up 100%. Do other V-8 Packards have this charactaristic? I thinking the accelerator pump is the problem. Perhaps gas leaking past it?

Picture 27 is not a Stutz. It's a 1928 or 1929 Cadillac or LaSalle dual cowl phaeton.

As stated in another post, I put a kit in my Rochester carburator on my '55 400 because it was hesitating when starting off, so I figured the accelerator pump was worn. You would have to almost feather the gas pedal to get it to start off smoothly. Other than that it ran great. The car has 49,000 original miles & I don't think the carb was ever off the car before. Once completely disassembled, I soaked each piece in one of those carb cleaner buckets and rinsed them off & let them dry. The next day I ran compressed air through all the carb pasasages, including the venturi. Yesterday I reassembled it with the new accelerator pump and ran the car. The car ran, but not correctly as I had to keep it reved up to keep it running when I went around the block with it. The primary venturi has two pump discharge nozzles on it, and while the passanger side on squirted gas forcefully, the drivers side one was weak & dribbling. So I figured something in the venturi was still clogged. I took the top off the carb again & took the primary venturi out & ran more compressed air through it, reinstalled it, and found both nozzles to be working evenly & correctly now. Put carb top back on, started car & it seemed to idle correctly & rev up better, still with a slight flat spot, but it ran good enough to drive it. Cruise in time. Drove it to the local cruise in tonight 3 miles down the road. Still hesitates when starting off, but once you get going it ran great with plenty of power. Idled smooth, even when hot. Sat at cruise in for 1 1/2 hours BSing with friends. Then drove home. Barely made it home. Car starts fine, idles fine, still hesitates when starting off, but now wouldn't run smooth at all. Constantly sputtered on way home, & ran very unevenly at 20 - 40 MPH. When I got home, I took the air cleaner off & pressed the accelerator pump by hand & both nozzles were still squirting normally. What gives? A couple notes about my kit installation. The jets ARE in the correct places & not mixed up (I've made that mistake in the past on another car). During all of this, the glass fuel bowl at the carb inlet was full of gas & not bubbling which should rule out vapor lock. The little round ball and the spring were put in with the accelerator pump, and the round ball & spring were put in on that little "T" piece by the primary venturi. The floats hang about 2 1/4 inches from the top carb piece per the shop manual. I do not have an electric fuel pump on the car. A friend at the cruise in thinks it may be the accelerator pump not seating property. He said sometimes you have to "flare out" the rubber part by hand to make it seat better. I'll be working on this tommorow night after work again, so any daytime suggestions would be appreciated. I have to get this fixed by Friday night, or I'll have to drive modern to Warren. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> I realize it could be crud in the gas tank, but I've driven it on the freeway earlier this year with no trouble but the hesitation when starting off, so I don't think that's the problem. Do you think something is still clogged, or is a float hanging up? Help!

I remember on the 1948 Custom series sedan we used to have the only place it said "Packard" on it was on the head of the engine, the rubber step mats on the door sill, and I think the horn button. It did not say "Packard" on the truck. My dad used to tell me it didn't need "Packard" written on the exterior, people KNEW what it was when they saw it! Notice how lower priced cars have their name plastered all over the place.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Packard-1...sspagenameZWDVW

Looked at your picture in the photo gallary. Your car is definately a 1928. It has early style radiator shell, bumpers, 1928 only headlights too. Should be short wheelbase of 131". I don't know what Stutz called that body style, but it's basically a two door sedan. What kind of money are you talking?

NAPA or Federated auto parts stores. Also try any truck supply place.

What kind of crazy environmentalist law did they pass in Oregon? How many gas stations have been sued for gas spilling on paint & damaging it on either a new car or an antique?

That reminds meof the time we had our Twelve at a local gas station to get air in the tires (this was when gas stations still had free air) and a smart alec 16 year old kid gas jockey comes up & says "whut's it gut in it, eh big six?" You should have seen the look on his face when I told him, "no, it's a V-12" Priceless.

I would think 1927 wheels would be 20". I believe all 1926 - 1930 Stutz wheels were 20" whether they be wire or wood. The 6 cylinder Blackhawk wire wheels were 19". I would think the Blackhawk wood wheels would be 19" too, but I could be wrong.

This weekend I'm going to rebuild the carburator in my 1955 400. It's totally original and has never been off the car, so I'm sure it's all gummed up inside. The accelerator pump hesitates when you start off, that's why I'm doing the rebuild. I bought one of the carb cleaner buckets to soak the larger parts to clean the gunk off of them. I've rebuilt a Rochester 4 GC on a 1955 Cadillac before, and the Packard carburator looks to be the same thing except for some minor linkage differences. The one thing I remember on the Cadillac one I did was there is not much room for error when putting the floats back in. If they're not perfectly centered, they can hang up on the inside of the carburator bowl & you get flooded. This happened to me <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Sorry I can't help you, the ones I have of off of a Model M which are 20".

Are they 19" like the wire wheels?

Thanks! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The 1926 Stutz originally had wires in the windows and was the first safety glass put into an automobile. Since this glass is no longer available, what they did on this car is use modern laminated safety glass and have the lines etched in to look like the original wire that was embeded in the glass. While it doesn't quite look the same, give them credit for trying.

I'd rip the door out of his hands, throw the $15 on the ground and tell him you changed your mind & don't want to sell the door to him. If he challanges you, tell him you'd be happy to go to court over this. Tell him you'll also be contacting his local newspaper & TV station. I'm sure the media would rip him apart. There are laws about lying about hardships to get favorable treatment. Look up the stories about people lying about their kids having cancer when the really don't to get money & the like. You can get prosecuted for it.

Rolls built the chassis ONLY before WW II. There is no such thing as a stock Rolls or Bentley body until sometime in the late 40's or early 50's. Yes, there were bodies built in runs by custom body builders, but none are considered stock. That body may very well be referred to as Continental, but I would think one of the British custom body building houses had to build it.