Owen_Dyneto

Generic window and door handle escutcheon springs seem to be on eBay every other time that I browse there.

I'm completely unfamiliar with a Rockne engine but if the oil pump is not submerged below the oil level in the crankcase but rather external and mounted above the oil level, it's a general practice to pack some light grease or gear oil in the pump when reassembling to help it prime.

You don't state whether an Eight, Super Eight, or Twelve. I have very limited experience with the Twelves, but with regard to at least the Eights, it seems there were 2 types of bumpers used, the single bar and split bars joined in the center behind the center plate, and on 34 Eights I seen all the possible combinations of split both ends, solid both ends, and a mix, though of course collision repair might be a factor. My own 34 Eight is very original, a fairly early car, and has the split bumper halves front and rear. I've removed both types with no problems, if the eyes at the ends of your one-piece bumper can't simply be unthreaded and removed, I'd suspect some distortion of the bumper, the irons, or both have distorted things. The 33-36 Parts Listing doesn't seem to give any clue as to the differences in bumper type for 1934. 1933 and 35 bumpers are physically very different.

Is the 54 a 4 door as well? A Patrician IS a 4-door sedan.

From their work that I've seen, Daytona Parts does exterior finishes to match the OEM finish and they seem quite successful at that. Why not just give them a call?

Tom, I've had manifolds off a 34 Eight quite a few number of times, can't say it was any problem at all. But I did separate the two manifolds at the heat box first. By the way, the car isn't a Std. 8, it's just an Eight, the designation Standard having been dropped after 1932.

You might ask Joel Ray (Patrician Industries) about the small B-pillar trim piece, I'm pretty sure I saw that amongst his wares at Pontiac last year.

You might get a little relief by lowering the fuel level but really the proper solution is to install smaller main jets.

Agreed, those brakes are Lockheed, not Bendix. The primary (and almost only) user of Lockheed brakes was Chrysler Corp.

I use the very large commercial NAPA 7212 6-volt lead/acid battery in my 34 Packard which also does not have full amperage regulation, the batteries typically last 8-10 years and have more CCA than an Optima, very bright lights, never a problem. However, on long continuous daytime drives I do drive with some lights on to sop up the unneeded generator output, just as drivers of the day did.

Packard last offered a business coupe in 1951.

Using the switch to break either the hot or ground cable will be equally functional, with either as an open circuit the disconnect is complete. The majority of installations I see break the ground circuit which most folks consider safer in terms of something accidently contacting the switch terminals and ground, for example a dropped wrench, etc.

Are the brakes 3-show Bendix-Ferar, or 2-shoe Bendix, or perhaps Lockheed? Sorry, I know very little about Stubebakers but they are Bendix Ferar 3-shoe brakes you'll find an original adjustment guide on Packardinfo.com. that may be helpful. http://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/1929_BendixBrakesServiceBulletin.pdf

It would be extremely helpful to those who might be interested to know which 29 Packard 8-cylinder engine it is. How about a quick measurement of the bore, it's either 3-3/16 or 3-1/2.

IMO the carb kits from Daytona Parts in FL are the best. Call them if you're in doubt about the proper kit.

If you're referring to the pinion nut, you don't tighten it to any specific torque; you tighten it until you begin to buckle the crush sleeve (using a new one each time) and attain a preload on the bearings of 25-30 inch-pounds to rotate the pinion. If you don't have a new crush sleeve the best one can do is to tighten the nut EXACTLY the same number of turns it took to remove it. Sounds like you need to read up on this, there's a good discussion in Motor's, as well as the Packard manuals.

If it's truly NOS it will have a steel needle and brass seat which is fine with today's gasoline, as will be the leather accelerator pump, no other internal parts should be of concern. Your Neatsfoot oil will wash of the leather almost immediately though if allowed to "work" for a few days first it might help. So it all depends on the condition of the leather - if it' still soft go with it, if it's not I'd just replace the pump plunger.

Though very few in number, Packard offered RHD right thru 1956; thru 1954 the RHD conversions were done by Packard I Detroit and thereafter by Leonard Williams.

Many of you know that Robert Neal is working on a companion book to his recent one on the 48-50 Packards to cover the the 1951-1954 models. As all of Robert's previous books have been, I'm sure it will be a superb product, excellently researched with lots of appendeces and data previously not generally known. Robert is asking for some help and I'll just add below part of his recent email to me; hopefully someone here can assist him. His email is RJNeal0000@aol.com. I am getting fairly close to finishing the 1951 to 1954 book. I desperately need a copy of Trade Letter 52-1012. Can you get the word out on the two Packard sites.

I have great respect for Rusty and his experience and advice, yet I'd dispute that Egge pistons are only suitable for trailer queens. There are MANY collectible cars happily driving the length and breath of the country on tours with Egge pistons, including my own 34 Packard. They did have a quality problem, but that was about 8-10 years back. Unless you're going for a very modified, high-output performance engine, I'd have no reservations about Egge pistons for a older car to be driven in pretty much the same manner that it was originally intended for.

There were very few bona-fide Full Classics that didn't make their own engines. DuPont and later Peerless' come to mind; also British Railtons and a few others. Some might say that Auburn, Cord & Duesenberg didn't as well, but that's a technicality as they were made by Lycoming which had common ownership with ACD.

Packard always produced their own engines throughout their history, and there is a massive amount of information available on the two different V12s, the early one (1915 thru 1923) and the later, 1932 thru 1939. To begin to describe them here in any details would be impractical, just what kind of information are you looking for?

Yes, for certain Pertronix sells 6-volt positive ground units. I have several friends who installed them on Packards and subsequently suffered a commonly reported problem, removed them and went back to points/condenser system. The major issue that's reported regularly is that the draw of current for the starter motor, if not in excellent condition along with a healthy engine in a good state of tune, drops the available voltage below the minimum triggering voltage of the Pertronix. I too have a 6-volt positive ground car and have stuck with the OEM ignition system, more reliable and easy to maintain.

If you have an original distributor cap, the spark plug #s are indicated on the cap below the cover adjacent to each terminal. Otherwise I could take a look at my spare cap and give you the order - let me know. Thanks for a picture of your patent plate. Your 703 is a very late one, the last # known to me is 2637. I'm fortunate in having copies of all of Autola O.Y.'s sales records from 1936 thru 1939 - and I'll add yours to the file. Can you give me the large embossed number (the theft-proof number) on the engine side of the cowl for my study? And if possible the motor or engine #? I've been researching the 1934 Eights for decades and your appears to be a survivor I'm not familiar with. PS, looking at the top of the distributor cap with the cover removed, the plug wire #s are, going counter-clockwise, 1-5-7-6-8-4-2-3

Firing order is the same as for almost all other US-made straight 8s except 1st and 2nd Series Packards, 1-6-2-5-8-3-7-4 but that won't correspond to the wire order in the distributor cap because of the dual-point, dual coil and double-ended rotor because the ignition firing alternates between point sets and coils. Actually, 33 and 34 Packards have the highest survival rate of all years of Packard production except for 1899 and possibly 1900. They are rare because so few were built in the first place. Please take a look at the patent plate (vehicle number plate) and advise if you can, I'm curious if it was built in Detroit or Canada.