fred deagostino

Thanks JFranklin, I was just going to go ahead and replace the coil as it had been mounted too close to engine heat for quite awhile so I can't really trust it. So I'm just looking for a coil/resistor combo that will bring my current to the points back in bounds, figuring that someone out there who's done a 12v conversion had already 'been there' and could supply that info. Thanks again, Fred

Gents, I have a '40 Packard eight here (converted to 12v) that is in need of a coil and ballast resistor. I'm using the original Autolite dist. w/ Echlin points (part#CS720A). I've just come to find that the coil I've been using is not a resistor coil after all (Sheeesh !) and so want to rectify the situation. I'm getting misfires when under load. The question here is, does anyone here have a recommendation for a suitable, off the shelf ballasted coil, or seperately ballasted for that matter. Thanks in advance..! Fred

What a great thread! I've been smiling all the way through. Sitting behind me as I write is my '68 Flatside shovel HD old school chopper, I built that between '02-3. Sitting in front of me is my freshly restored '68 Penton Six Day, which I'd bought in '70 (?) sold in '75 to a cousin, and was returned to me by him in '91, finally restored it 2012-13. Over in the corner on a shelf is a framed pic of me sitting on my old 36&39 cobbled together Indian in '72. A 'Rat' bike decades before that became 'fashionable'.

'First thing I noticed in the pic was the cooler, but I'm voting for chilly bin. It may take me a year or two but a dollar to a donut says I'll have my pals using that instead of 'cooler'. :cool: They tend to follow my lead, which doesn't speak well of their judgment! Thanks NZ !

Hi Packardlover, 'wondering if you'd changed your mind about the parts. No harm no foul if so. Nothing has showed up in the mail and I wanted to make sure your money order hadn't gotten lost or some such thing. yours, Fred

Packard lover, I sent you a PM this AM. 'Seemed like it went OK but does not show up in my 'sent' list. Just wondering if you'd gotten it anyway? Thanks, Fred

I have a few leftovers from my project a few years back that must be of some use to someone: 1937 '110' transmission: The cane has been re-bent at the original bend but can be re-bent to original. I have either the '110' or '120' yokes, whichever one you need. I ran this in my car for three years,it's fine. I switched to an OD. 1940 '120' front drums/hubs w/bearings, no heat checks or grooves. The rears cleaned up with one cut to .020 over. Need to be reconditioned.. 1953-4 (?) 6V OD solenoid (works). 1940 Autolite generator rebuilt, converted to 12V model# GEA-4801A. The shop says it's charging 13.6 V at a 32A draw but it never charged in my car. (?) At any rate I know I paid $135 for the tranny and I don't recall what I paid to have the gen. rebuilt, but $150. buys it all. The catch is you have to take it all, and, pick it up to boot. I'm in NY's mid Hudson Valley. Thanks, Fred

RE: Post #59 Hey! I made the 'Wall of Shame'! I know the thread's a bit stale and I haven't been on in quite some time but believe it or not I actually agree with the restorers lament re: trashing good vehicles. Read on, but first jump over to the gallery and punch in 'Raw Material Rescue' and have a look at the car that yielded my drivetrain. It was due to be crushed in two weeks at the local junkyard. Everything even remotely reusable in a resto was saved and took up a lot of space in a 12 x 12 box stall for two years. I listed it all here on the forum and there were no takers for anything (dirt cheap) so I GAVE it all to the president of the local Packard club just so it might get used. Fair enough? As for the drivetrain keep an eye on the obit's for my demise and buy that jalopy to get the motor and tranny. The motor's had a complete overhaul (including hardened valve seats), conv. to 12V, and is bone stock. This yr. I finally took out the '37 junior tranny and replaced it with a '54? unit with R11 overdrive. That means someday someone who's doing a resto can take the whole shebang out and drop it in their car and some unimaginative soul will take my jalopy and put a SBC in it. Fair enough? In other news: 55Packard will be relieved to know that the car's been repainted. I had to give up on the 1918 style cross having gotten sick to death of giving history lessons and explaining that it wasn't Nazi stuff. There were no graphics on the visor or roof. And my dog's a mutt just like the car, half hound and half Black Lab. He got rescued from a different junkyard, chained out to a coop with his food and water frozen in the bowls. I just couldn't have that. He actually likes the car too..., he told me so. :-) The whole idea behind the car was to build something early '50s made from whatever came to hand to a farm kid with no money. It's literally made from junk, the latest yr. part on the thing is a pedal set from a '55 Chevy. It took 5 different Mod A bodies to make one, that's how bad they all were. The frame is homemade etc. etc. At any rate, no rancor here. This forum provided an incredible amount of help and advice to me during the build and someday when I grow up maybe I'll have a real Packard like you guys. I'll see if I can get a pic attached of the new roller and brush paint job. Hell, maybe I'll make the 'Wall' twice with the same car. :-) Cheers, Fred

Great! I'm just finishing an install of an R11 and in that process found out about the 90W GL1 mineral stuff. Since I took that opportunity to replace the badly leaking pinion seal on the rear I began wondering if I'd had the right stuff in the rear also. The GL1 didn't feel right to me either, but I needed a sanity check anyway. Thanks very much for putting my mind at ease. HP it is. Fred

Gents, I'm wondering what weight and type gear oil I should be running in this '40 rearend. It's had plain old 85-90 HP Hypoid in it the past few years but I'm wondering if maybe it shouldn't have the Mineral based 90W like the R11 O.D. uses. Your collective thoughts?

Thanks Coley, I will look into that too. I'm still exploring options. 'Still interested in that V reducer that Carcrank mentioned but I had a quick Question for Bill Dewey the supplier, and both his email addys get spit back so I'm a bit put off on score. I'll check with Obsolete Chevy Parts for starters re: the solenoid. Thanks again! Fred

HH56, re: the stem length. Roger that. I have the standard 1" stem (actually more like 1 1/16 on mine). From what I'm finding out the longer stems are more like 1/2" longer and were on station wagons and commercial applications due to a crossmember issue. Does that sound right?

Thanks for your response gents. From what I'm learning (?), that solenoid, pricey item that it is, needs consideration when converting voltage and polarity. My sources so far, as I'd mentioned are Pinto Electrics (phone), and Fifth Ave. Garage (website). Both warn of burnout @ 12v, Pinto questions the change of polarity also. I'm going to check into the resistor that Carcrank mentions. Dope that I am, I went ahead and bought a 12v to 6v resistor but it only has a 6 amp rating and so will not throw in the solenoid. My solenoid draws 4.1A in the hold position but I don't know what the 'throw in' Amperage is since it happens too fast for the digital voltmeter to pick up. So, I gambled and lost on that one. By the way, Fifth Ave.'s site is very good, with info. on correct lubricants for O.D. units, vintage engines, etc. Plus details on solenoid health. 'Well worth a look over. Stay tuned.........misery loves company! yours in winter doldrums, Fred

Walt, does that home made shifter work and do you plan on using it? Don't throw that away just yet ! Thanks, Fred

Gents, I need to change from my 6v pos. gr. solenoid to a 12v neg. gr. It appears so far that my options are A: a new unit from Fifth Ave. Garage or, B: Have mine rebuilt and converted over by Pinto Electrics. The rebuilt sounds like it will actually cost a bit more but I'm worried that the new units may be some flimsy 'almost right' import. Your collective thoughts/experiences ? 'Thanks in advance!

OK, I've made a note of that. It strikes me as one of those things easily missed by a first timer (me). Many thanks !

I checked out that thread and it's pretty much outstanding! Ten thousand thank you's!

I can't imagine my good luck here! I was just about to post a query on what's involved in converting the cane shift lid to the R11 when I came across your post. I have a '37 transmission from a 110 sedan currently and the R11 will replace it. Of course I wish to keep the 'stick', and I know it's possible, so the obvious question is, what will I need to do? Any info. and insights would be most welcome! Thanks in advance......

Hi gents, 'just thought I'd stop by and say hi. It's been awhile. I did get the jalopy on the road (that silly green thing with the German crosses on the doors) but didn't get to run it as much as planned. Be that as it may, you guys helped me out a lot so I just thought I'd check in. Cheers........ Fred

Thanks for your posts gents, re: the 'off brand' rear, well, that would just be too smart. I can't say I'm getting any particular delight out of doing it the hard way at this point but I've come this far......... Never say never of course, but I'll go kicking and screaming if I have to break up my "Packard drivetrain" bragging rights :-) If the roads would clear for just a bit (it's snowing as we speak) I'm going to give it a run with the tach. In the meantime I'm just trying to explore every option just in case. Two mos. till spring and I want to be ready. By the way, I did get my spring and radius rod brackets from Speedway. 'Good outfit. Cheers.........Fred

Thanks Rick, I didn't even know about that site. I'll take a look. And yes, not that it matters where a 'find' is, but the whole cave thing just kind of has the smack of some dime novel come to life. I've known about this for a few years and my cronies and I were always going to get together and go check the whole thing out. you see, the packard just happened to be the last car pushed in. There are more. But the 'old timer' didn't remember off hand what else was in there, or how many. I've been in these caves myself years back but not where the cars are. They're on private property now but my contact knows him so it's a bit of logistics to get the whole adventure together. Everybody thinks it's a great idea but nobody ever finds the time. I guess that'd be me and maybe now's the time. Oh, and yeah, if we do it, I'll bring a digital.

Well, I've spent the last week exploring my options on this. I've found a neat tidbit of info re: the rear axles. That being that there should be a brass tag 4 digits long attached that will tell you your ratio. This is done by dividing the smaller into the larger, and, viola, you have your ratio. Of course, my tag's missing so I did the rotation method and mine is a 4:09. Then, having talked to an ex Packard mechanic from back in the day, was informed that cars equipped with the Ultramatic had 3:54 and 3:07 (special order) rears. The 3:54 being recommended. He was of a mind, based on his recollections that the rears could be adapted to the pre-war cars by swapping the earlier spiders in to accommodate the early axles. The only way to prove this out is with parts books covering the '40 120 and the Ultramatic cars from'53-'55. I have access to neither at this point. Would anyone out there have them and be willing to undertake this tedious project? If it is do-able it seems it would be a handy piece of knowlage for everyone with these early rears and no OD. I'm pretty sure I know where there's a donor wreck if it works. Pushed down into a cave in the 50's by teenage boys it's been sitting there untouched since then. One of the boys, now in his 60's or 70's offered to get me in there. How about that? A Packard in a cave!

Yup, I have it. If you send your email thru the message list I''ll send you a pic of it. I just took some. cheers...

It's the short engine life that I'm trying to avoid. Not that I'll ever wear it out, but why use it up just because I can. The next guy may have use for it in a resto somewhere down the line. As for the noise, it goes with the territory, and taken in total with the rest, keeps the weak knee'd from asking me for a ride. :-) I like that. A friend just gave me an old SW tach which I'm going to hook up, then, when the salt's off of the roads, I'm just going to go out, have somebody clock me (I have no speedo) and see just what this thing's actually turning. 'Just trying to protect vintage iron. Always in the back of my mind is that reciprocating parts with little or no load, ten to fly apart, and I'm pulling probably less than half the weight of the car the engine was designed for. That's probably the heart of my high rpm concerns. Cheers.........Fred

Gents, I'd saved whatever I thought might be reusable when breaking down that 120 for the drivetrain and the stuff's been sitting in the barn for the lsst 3 yrs. Maybe it's time to get it back in circulation. 'Not in the greatest of shape, unfortunately. If there's anything on the list you might be interested in contact me on the message list, or call (845-895-2976) Wallkill, NY, and I'll give you as honest a description as I can. I have: Speedometer, Clock/door/latch, Pass. side H/light bucket, side curtains w/latches, 4 door garnish mouldings, side grills, 4 door handles w/springs etc., 2 window cranks (same), license plate lens, 2 front shocks, master cyl. w/all shift rods attached, steering box,pitman arm,shaft,and steering wheel. I'll describe it, you make the offer. thanks....Fred