Rusty_OToole

An old trick for finding a current draw is to disconnect the battery ground and connect it thru a test light. If the light glows even faintly you have a current draw. Then you go around disconnecting things, pulling fuses, jiggling wires etc until the light goes out and there is your draw. Be sure everything is turned off such as dome lights etc.

They had copper brake lines too, although made of thicker copper than the tubing you get today. I would use the latest copper nickel line, double flared and never have to worry.

Auto parts stores have tools to rent or to loan. Your local store may have what you need.

There should be holes in the tube to let the oil pass thru. The filter needs to fit tight around the tube. Don't know what filter number will fit. There is a difference between bypass and full flow filters, bypass are finer and do a better job of filtering but take longer, 15 or 20 minutes to filter all the oil. I don't like Fram filters, their quality isn't what it used to be. Would prefer another brand like Hastings that will fit.

I did mine in the car. It was a running motor with an overheating problem. If the engine is out and being rebuilt it is a cinch, you can hot tank the block and it will come out spotless. Or dunk it in a barrel at home and use a battery charger for electrolysis.

I have done this on a similar DeSoto flathead six cylinder engine. Took out the core plugs on the side of the block, removed the water pump and radiator, pulled out the water distribution tube and washed out the block with a pressure washer. There was quite a bit of sediment settled in the bottom of the water jackets. It took a bit of poking and scraping with a coat hanger wire to loosen it up but the block came clean. Put the distribution tube back in, put in new core plugs, flushed the radiator and it was good as new. I think I also put in a bottle of CLR and fresh water when I put it together and ran it that way for an hour to make sure it was clean.

Top speed of a 1948 Packard sedan would be about 90 - 95 MPH when new. Sun visor was an accessory, it could have been added by the dealer (at extra cost) or put on by a local garage.

Did the clutch ever work? I ask for a reason. It is very common if a car sits around for a long time for the clutch to stick together and refuse to release. This can happen in as little as six months or a year. If this is the case the cure is simple. Get under the car and find an access plate on the bottom of the bellhousing. Prop the clutch pedal down with a stick between the pedal and dash board, or just have someone hold the pedal down. Slide a knife blade up between the clutch plate and pressure plate, or clutch plate and fly wheel. To prevent this happening again prop the pedal down during long term storage.

You already know what kind of "mechanic" has been servicing that unit in the past. The kind who thinks it's clever to do the job any way but right, and to use any parts but the right parts. As I said, I wouldn't put anything past him.

Possible but not likely. Much more likely that oil is finding its way into the manifold past worn intake valve guides. If you want to know if the mechanical pump is working try disconnecting the electric. I would rather have the stock pump in any case.

As others pointed out the electric will prime the system for quicker starting if the vehicle sits for a long time. I would leave it alone and use the electric for that purpose. Do not run the electric and mechanical at the same time, you will over pressure the carburetor. This won't do any permanent damage but will flood the carb.

The crankshaft issue Bloo mentions is this. Early engines have the flywheel bolted on with nuts and bolts. Newer ones use cap screws threaded into the flywheel flange. The newer engines have a shorter crankshaft since they don't need room to put in the nuts. This change took place in 1962. The bellhousing of any A, LA or Gen III Hemi transmission will bolt up but there are other details to worry about.

Carburetor mixture adjustment is the mixture control at idle. Screw in is richer, screw out is leaner. Slowly turn in until engine slows or blubbers, then back it out 1/2 to 3/4 turn until you get the best vacuum reading. Must be done with engine warmed up and choke off. There is no mixture control for medium and high speed, those jets are fixed. Except for the choke which richens the mix.

OK good put the idle screw back in and GENTLY all the way until it bottoms then back it out 1 1/2 turns, that should be a good spot to start. Warm up the motor, take off the choke, adjust the mixture for highest vacuum, adjust the idle speed for 400 RPM or slowest steady speed without stalling. You may have to go back and forth between mixture and speed a couple of times to get it just right, if the idle speed is too high to start with.

If you drive the adjusting screw in hard you can wreck the carburetor. It is supposed to have a long tapered point that goes into a hole. You could take it out and look at it. If it is a smooth tapered point ok. If it is mashed and chewed up it is ruined and possibly the carb is ruined too. If it is ok put it back in place and GENTLY screw it in until it bottoms then back out 1 1/2 turns, that should give a good starting point. Maybe the carbking will chime in I am about out of ideas.

No just shift into third.

Saw a comment from a Ford engineer some years ago. All the car companies buy competitors' products for testing, tear down and analysis. His job was to analyse other makes of cars in detail. He said that if the Studebaker car had been made in the Ford plant it would have cost 20% less than a Ford. But the way Studebaker worked, it cost 20% more than a Ford. One problem was Studebaker's excellent labor relations. They never had a strike and basically gave the unions everything they wanted. It was common for 2 or 3 generation of one family to work for Studebaker. But, much as I hate to say it, this came at a cost. In addition to high labor cost Studebaker was not efficiently organized in many ways. Also they were under capitalized and had to go to the banks every year to get enough capital to stay in business then scramble to sell enough cars to pay back the banks. This led to them cheapening the cars to try and get the money. Some say their problems dated back to the early years of the 30s depression. At the time Studebaker was the biggest, oldest and strongest independent auto maker. They continued paying dividends out of savings until their savings were gone and the company on the verge of bankruptcy. They just had no idea how long the depression would last and how bad it would get. But this bad decision left them permanently weakened.

Insider in the top photo in the above post you can see 2 adjustment screws at the base of the carb. The 2 spring loaded screws with coil springs under them. The one on the right is idle mixture, the one on the left is idle speed. In the last photo you can see the idle mixture. Hope this is clear. Warm up your motor first. To adjust carb, Start by backing off the idle speed to 400 RPM or as slow as it will go and run steady. Then, slowly screw in the mixture screw until the engine slows then back it out 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn. This should give the best or fastest idle speed. If the adjustment is way off you may have to go back and forth a couple of times, fine tuning to get it exactly right. When it is right you should be able to drop it in gear without moving, or moving very slowly, and take off without stalling or bucking. By the way it's good you did not disturb the distributor, I think I was wrong in my last post, in your motor the gear stays in the motor and pulling the distributor will not change its position. Your distributor has a shaft that ends in a tab that fits in a slot in the drive. Later.. just remembered you have a vacuum gauge. You can use it to adjust the carb mixture, adjust for highest vacuum and smooth running.

Last time this happened to me, I parked my pickup truck in the driveway of a house I was looking at to buy. The parking brake failed, the truck ran backwards down the drive, across the street, and into a grass boulevard about 50' wide beside a river, with a stone wall and a vertical drop of 10' to the river. The truck coasted straight across the street then the wheel cut itself hard left, for no reason I could see, and the truck came to a halt parallel to the river half way across the boulevard. I was in the house at the time so did not see the fun but thanks to my guardian angel, or something, no harm was done and I drove out unaided.

20" vacuum is pretty good, probably about as good as you are going to get. You can get more adjustment on the distributor by moving the plug wires one spot to the right or left as the case may require. Or you could really go to town and time it from scratch, moving the distributor to the recommended position and changing the mesh of the gears. To do this you would have to pull out the distributor and put it back in with the rotor repositioned, after setting the engine to top dead center. There are 2 spring loaded adjustment screws. One at the bottom of the carb for mixture, the other on the throttle linkage for idle speed. Start by turning in the mixture screw until the engine slows down or blubbers, then back out 3/4 turn. Now go to the idle speed and slow it down as far as you dare, stock is 400RPM* very slow, it may not go this slow if the engine is worn. You want the slowest idle speed without danger of stalling. If you had to adjust the speed a lot, you may have to go back and touch up the mixture then do the idle speed again. Carb should be adjusted last, after the ignition is optimized. The rule is, adjust valves first, then do ignition, carb adjustment last. Some carburetors also have a fast idle adjustment for when they are cold and the choke is on, this is like the idle speed but separate. *Idle speed is about HALF a modern engine, if it seems too slow, but idles steady and picks up smoothly when you hit the throttle it is about right. 400RPM

Now we are getting someplace. The lettering on the unit looks considerably newer than 1922. So you may stand a chance. It looks like the kind of vacuum booster used on big trucks vacuum brakes much bigger than a car booster.

Words of wisdom. Can only add, zinc was first added to motor oils in the early fifties when some of the first OHV engines had cam and lifter wear problems. Their valve trains were heavier with stiffer springs than flathead engines and put more stress on the cams and lifters. The zinc was taken out when all OEM manufacturers went to OHC and roller lifter cams and flat tappet pushrod V8s joined the Dodo birds. In other words if you have a flathead, OHC or roller cam engine don't worry about the zinc. If you have a high perf pushrod OHV V8 you may need the zinc.

I was wondering about that myself. OP wants to reproduce the blocks, presumably to put on an engine? But he doesn't have an engine, or at least, does not have one block (out of two) intact enough to take measurements off of? Maybe he has got hold of an incomplete engine with the cylinders missing and wants to rebuild it for some reason?

The OP would probably be ok to use 30 oil in his airport tug, as it was recommended by Chrysler in warm weather and I doubt he drives it when it is freezing. As for the sludge problem when using non detergent, his engine is on borrowed time so it probably wouldn't make much diff. The big joke is that 15W40 is thicker than straight 30 when it is hot, so I was the one calling for thick oil. Only it is thinner when cold, for easier starting, and better lubrication when cold. And of course the detergent package helps keep the engine clean and free of sludge, important when the vehicle is used for short hops. So if you want to go to the extra trouble of tracking down an oil that is admittedly inferior go ahead. But why pretend it is better for your engine when it isn't.

The one time I needed a brake booster rebuilt (an under the floor booster for a 52 Chrysler New Yorker) I sent it to a rebuilder thru the local auto parts store. It is possible a rebuilder could match up the diaphragm from the many they keep in stock IF they had to booster and the old part to compare. But expecting some random guy on the net, to know off hand what kind of booster Mack used in 1922, and what new parts will fit it, seems like a stretch.