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As the old saying goes - Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?

Tuesday 17th February 2009

At the workshop in the afternoon and found the '34 chassis back in it's slot complete with exhaust system installed. Wade had taken it to the exhaust guy yesterday together with the remains of the old rusted engine and tail pipes to use as templates. The guy there who did the job has years of experience and when he saw the '34 his eyes lit up. When Wade told him what he wanted and whether he could do it, he showed Wade his '56 Chevy with Big Block, etc, etc, it's got stainless headers on it and said words to the effect of: "if he can do that he'd have no trouble doing the '34". Even cleaned up and re-used the heat shield where the tailpipe kicks up over the diff housing. See pic's for details.

What got done today was the dis-assembly of the trans and R9 O/D picked a couple of weeks ago. Wade has no O/D experience because all his Packards and the ones he's worked on previously didn't come O/D equipped. So rather than just pull it apart Wade studied it on a step by step basis as it came apart. Wade's got a great memory which he demonstrated on the '41 re-assembly where my 'old-timers' disease reared it's ugly head time and again, I think! Because comprehensive instructions were not included with the O/D it's dis-assembly posed some problems in finding the right way to do it. The "finding" usually came down to literally finding the circlip holding whatever it was in place before that part could be removed. And on first glance the R9's internals look OK, not that we've got anything to compare it to. All the parts we brought back showed the effects of sitting out in the weather for the last 5 years. This was in evidence internally in the trans with water penetration and some rust evident, although Wade is optimistic that they could clean up OK, we'll see.

Wade had also looked further into the steering box partly dis-assembled last week and found most of it too far gone to keep, although the worm gear might be OK so it's been retained. And today threw out the very rusty tailshaft but retained the 3 uni caps and felt washers still attached.
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And Dave,

Mentioned your concern to Wade about the Bijur lines and plugs and there won't be a drama because all the lines and fittings are new. I forgot your comment about the gaiters but I'm sure Wade will have this covered.

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G'day Jay,
Along with Gerd I'd like to add my to PackardInfo. And I invite you to add your '54 to the Owner Registry together with a pic, any known history and how you acquired it.

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G'day Jack,

to PackardInfo. Great story about your '51. Looking forward to seeing it in the Owner Registry when you get that digital pic.

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G'day redneckatw247.
to PackardInfo. I invite you to add your '56 Clipper Deluxe to the Owner Registry together with a pic, any known history and how you acquired it.

Because the car has been sitting for 40 years be very careful about how you go starting it up and stopping it! Plenty of good sensible advice here from Packard people who have been there and done that.

Like the pic's you've posted, shows a good solid foundation for your project. Keep 'em coming and, I'll look forward to seeing it progress.

There are now 331 Packards in the Owner Registry, and 1053 Forum members.

A BIG to all those who added their Packard/s to the Registry, and an even BIGGER to all those I've harassed and, in spite of that, still added their Packards in.

To all those who haven't yet added their Packard/s to the Registry -
PLEASE DO IT NOW - add your Packard/s to the Owner Registry!

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G'day Quill,
to PackardInfo. Quite a spread of Packards there and I invite you to share them with us in the Owner Registry. Include a pic, any known history and how you acquired them please.

G'day Faust,
to PackardInfo. Please don't forget to include your '38, and any other Packards you have, in the Owner Registry together with a pic, any known history and how you acquired it/them.

Friday 13th February 2009

After managing to avoid walking under ladders, running over black cats and breaking mirrors on this inauspicious day went to the workshop.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th

Started by asking Wade where the '34 grill pieces were and he pointed out to me they were now boxed up and will go to the chrome platers next week. He had also put out the old wooden body rails and a cross piece which he's taking down to a guy in Canberra who's going to use them as patterns for his '34 resto. The other pieces he had out were the front floor panels which he's going to clean up in preparation for the body arriving. He explained there are differences between the LHD and RHD panels because of the mechanism used to convert the pedals from one side to the other. I've included a couple of pic's here and this link to a Picasa album for others.http://picasaweb.google.com/ozstatman/WadesWorkshopFeb09#

First item on the agenda was to load the '34 chassis onto the workshop car trailer in readiness for it's trip to the exhaust shop on Monday. Wade hooked the trailer up to his Holden Ute and brought it down and backed it into the workshop from it's rooftop parking berth. Trailer disconnected from the Ute and manually aligned to enable the chassis to be pushed straight on. First attempt was a disaster because the front of the trailer lifted right up when the chassis weighed down the back. The trailer was then re-hitched to the Ute and succes, there it was on the trailer. BUT, couldn't get the swing up trailer ramps back into position because the rear frame rail horns hung too far over the back. And at this point Wade remembered the same thing had happened some years earlier. Thanks Wade, would have done nice to know that earlier. So off the trailer, then manouevoured the chassis into position by a bit of too and froing and turning, actually quite a bit of that, because of it's not so small turning circle so that the rear was facing the trailer. First attempt with a bit of a run up just failed. Second attempt, with a longer 15' run up, succeeded in spite of your correspondent slipping and finishing his push on his hands and knees. No doubt an hilarious sight but fortunately no images of this were captured. The loaded trailer was then backed into the depths of the workshop and Wade checked the tyres, ensured the '34 was secured properly and all was in order for Monday.

While Wade was doing that I turned to Packard parts cleaning. First up was the EE-11 carb the top of which was melted. Because it had this damage, opened it up to determine whether it was worth saving, unfortunately it wasn't so it got the bin treatment. And cleaned some other parts including a road draft tube and an oil pump pickup assembly. By this time Wade had finished with the trailer and we turned to the distributor which had been partially dis-assembled yesterday. Saved the cam from the distributor shaft along with the cap clips, all the small screws and the bakelite insulator(may use this as mine has a crack). Next I selected the steering box, which has the steering shaft oxy cut, but lugging it back to the bench it started dribbling water, not a good sign. Set it up to drain and Wade took off the bottom cover then the side cover. Surprisingly the gears look in good condition, but that's as far as we got, and will have a detailed examination next week.

And here's something for you '34 guys. When Wade bought the car it was literally in pieces. As you know he's restored the chassis, engine, trans, rear-end, suspension, steering, etc, etc. Because it was in pieces, when Wade came to the tie rod and he'd never seen one before, and because it had a bend in it thought it had suffered some damage earlier in it's life, so of course straightened it. Only later when assembling the front suspension did it become apparent that the bend was there to clear the sump so he had to then undo what he'd done before. As soon as Wade told me this today, and my eye's lit up about taking a pic and publishing the story, I sure he regretted it but agreed that it made a good story.

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Thursday 12th February 2009

Arrived at the workshop to find that, earlier this week, a new dance craze known as "The Packard Shuffle" had been in vogue with Wade's '34 rolling chassis now next to my '38. This had been accomplished by pushing the '37 right back in it's slot, lowering the '38 off the jack stands and pushing it right back then manoeuvering the '34 with it's front up on a trolley jack past the '37 and '38. This in preparation for taking the chassis on Monday, by car trailer, to a local exhaust shop at Gladesville to have stainless steel engine and tail pipes bent and fitted. I think Wade would have rigged up an old soap box and driven it up but he hasn't got upper and lower radiator hoses fitted yet! Then, after the exhaust and radiator hoses are fitted and water added, the engine will be ready to be fired up.

Next will be getting the body back and fitted to the chassis. The body is just about finished with only two things to complete, the top of the body where the insert is and the grill surround which has been slightly damaged and needs repair. Once these are done the body will be transported from the panel shop to a paint shop just down the same road. It will then be sprayed and arrangements made for returning it to Wade's workshop. Other parts Wade will have sprayed include the 'valance' panels, a cross member, from I think, behind the grill shell and various minor bits and pieces. There is also some thought on how to return the body to the workshop. One being to trailer over the rolling chassis and mount the body on it for transport, another just to transport the body separately after painting. Wade also told me that before the body went to the panel shop all the doors were set up on the body and it will be painted with the doors on rather than take them off and have to re-fit them again.

All this talk about Wade's '34, but what happened today in the workshop? Not much really, just cleaning up some of the rusty parts brought back from the Central Coast recently. Wade had done some earlier in the week in my absence, an oil filter housing and bracket and a Delco-Remy coil and bracket. Don't know if the coil works yet, Wade's going to try it on the '37 120 in the near future to check. I started on the other oil filter and had to discard the body of that when rust through was found, retained the brass fittings though and the top and bracket are OK. Next was a thermostat housing but it too was rusted through so it joined the oil filter housing in the bin. Had better luck with a fan pulley and a clutch rod and both cleaned up OK. During all this Noel arrived to pick up the Battery case shell for the Optima battery he's fitting to his '39. Wade had charged up the Optima and also performed minor surgery to the Battery case shell which came from Gary O... of The Southern California Region of Packards International, being one of their clubs projects.http://www.packards-today.com/catalog.php Also rang Wayne tonight about the 2 engines needing to be picked up, but nothing has happened with them although he expects to get them organised tomorrow all going well, so I'll call him again next week.

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