1937 Super 8 questions - desparate

[carlchiaretto]

A good friend wants to drive the old 1501 roadster to a show in Cohasset MA this week-end . Older full restoration on a car he's had since 1963 but it only gets out once or twice a year , if that .

So answers to the following questions would be greatly appreciated .

1. Are the lifters solid or hydraulic ? They are noisier than I'm comfortable with . How difficult are they to adjust ?

2. The engine was rebuilt well over a decade ago and probably has about 600 miles on it . What weight oil is generally preferred ?

3. One family member mentioned that the transmission tends to leak due to a rope type gasket that is no longer available . Any insight as to availability , were located , difficulty to change ?

Don't you love all of the "I think----- " 's when the car is basically just a show piece . Well , I intend to straighten a few of these things out and give the old girl some of the attention it deserves .

Any info will be greatly appreciated .

Thank you

Edited September 15, 2011 by ozziewynot (see edit history)

[Dave Mitchell]

The lifters are solid and not hard to adjust, a bit hard to get in there, but pretty standard set up. If they are making noise, you should adjust them. Thin valve adjusting wrenches will help.

Probaby use a 30 or 40 weight oil. Hopefully it has a spin on filter inside the original L8 filter. Pull the inspection plate on the pan and you can clean the fine screen on the pick up at the same time.

I don't think there is a rope type seal on the trans, but the old felt seal may be leaking. You might be able to pull the rear drive flange and just drive the seal in a little tighter and expand the inner felt and then clean up the sealing surface on the flange and reinstall it.

The rear main seal of the engine may be leaking. There isn't much of a seal there and some Packard rear mains have string driven in to the sides. You can put in new string and coat it with a good sealer and tamp it in slowly, carefully and solidly.

[carlchiaretto]

Thanks Dave for your info . I went over it before heading to Jiffy Lube . I know , I know , but the one of the guys there is a friend and the car was treated like a museum piece . The looks on the young peoples faces and the questions were priceless . "What kind of car is it ?" , " A what ? ".

I have a lot of hands on experience with 50's and up autos and didn't realize how foreign the Packard could be in spite of it's simplicity . Such as , where is the oil filter , what does it look like and what is this L8 of which you speak ? I'll be looking for a TSM in Hershey , thats for sure !

I was able to contact the restorer while at Jiffy and confirmed that the engine is a rebuild-------- 15 years ago and may have traveled 200 miles . So we were able to use a modern 10W - 40 without worry . Aware of the many debates , I will add the CamShield zinc additive to be on the safe side .

It was quite a day on the streets of Newton MA today . By the way , the Vin plate on the firewall reads "Presented by Turner " , "3 8 37 " , " Newton " . This where she still resides . There was honking and waving and a man actually jumped out of his car at a stop light and ran up to my window .

" What a gorgeous car , what year is it ? " .

" 1937 " I replied .

"Wow , thats the year I was born ! " he said .

As he ran back to his car , I had to marvel that he ran almost as well as the Packard .

Funny and scary was a left hand turn with proper hand signals . The car behind blasted their horn and I looked to see them waving in approval . I waved back with my left hand while still in the turn and wished I hadn't . Boy, that freighter has a lot of determination .

The Sunday 4th Cohasset show should be very interesting . Triple A is paid up and their # is logged into my cell phone . The owner asked me if he thought it would win an award to which I replied , "There are only 4 cars and 3 awards in your class . Odds aren't too bad ".

Thanks again for the input ,

Carl Chiaretto

Edited September 15, 2011 by ozziewynot
tile change , thank you (see edit history)