34PackardRoadsta

I would suggesting having your friend install an independent oil gauge. The fault may be with the gauge.

What car and what carburetor? We need more information before an informed opinion can be offered.

Tex, I strongly recommend you deal with both the cooling problems and the Bijur problems as soon as possible. Your motor has babbitt bearings, which will fail much more quickly if the operating temperature is too high (as yours is). The clutch throw out bearing and spring shackles will also fail quickly if the Bijur system is not working. Both situations involve very costly repairs. Unfortunately for me, I base this on experience. Since those days I have learned how important Bijur and low operating temps (less than 180) are to Packards like ours. You have a great car, with a great known history. I wish you the best in your enjoyment of your rolling mechanical and visual art piece. Cheers, Tom

It might be possible to build it up with welding. The shop I use in MN can probably help. Odyssey Restorations (763) 786-1518

I suggest you contact David Flack. He is on this forum as Flackmaster.

If you can't find an original crank, you should be able to modify a 7/8" socket, then use a long breaker bar to turn the engine.

Hi Dave, Any chance you have a good horn button/center cover for a 38 120 banjo steering wheel? Thanks, Tom p.s. I lost your phone #. Please give me a call when you can.

PInfo was DNS spoofed. Should be fixed now. Tom

Tom, I would say to follow Ply33's instructions. At the same time you check for rim trueness, you can check the tires themselves (same procedure, just on the tire), though a dial indicator for the tires is overkill. Just use a stick and see how much the tires vary as they rotate. Place the stick horizontal relative to the tread, very close to the tread, and give the wheel a spin. If you see large variation in the gap between stick and tread, the tire needs to be shaved. Cheers, Tom

The inside of the frame is covered with trim and cloth. On my 733 sedan, the area underneath the trim was black. Cheers, Tom

Tom, I am not familiar with how wood artillery wheels are put together. Can the wood spokes warp? Did you check the rims for trueness? As ply33 stated, it is pretty easy to do with a dial caliper. Or bring them to a tire place and have them check. Good luck finding a solution. Cheers, Tom

Tom, Mine were pretty bad. I think they sit bound for shipping for a long time. I highly doubt that sandblasting would have generated enough heat to warp your rims. Are they spoke rims? If so, it is possible that some of the spokes loosened and the rim warped. Cheers, Tom

On my 733 sedan the heater was a Topic-Aire (photo below). I am not sure if that was a factory specified accessory, or up to each dealer to choose. I do know they were dealer installed (I have the original dealer delivery receipt). Cheers, Tom

Also have the tires checked for out of round. I had shimmy problems after replacing my 34 tires. No amount of balancing helped, because the tires were uneven.

What about lock washers? The split lock washers from the pre-war era (and perhaps later) are quite different in appearance and design from modern lock washers. However, these are big contributors to safety. So, is it safe to re-use old lock washers? What about the very large nuts on the cable brake backing plates? Is there anywhere, for safety, where you absolutely should NOT use old hardware? Thanks, Tom