I stumbled upon the website of the car maker Bufori a couple years back, who obviously copied, if not pasted directly, the hood and grill of a late 30s Packard; One carried the very hood and louvre design of a 1939 Six.

The website claims inspiration from cars of the 30's but makes not admittance to the cloned Packard body components.

www.bufori.com/en/worldofb_evolution_intro.htm
www.bufori.com

Although I can not help you on the correct paint color, I would like to offer a couple suggestions based on my experience rebuilding these Borg clocks.

I suggest that while you have it apart, you add a bit of clock oil to each of the shaft ends. There is a tiny oil reservoir well at each end. You can get this oil from a clock, sewing, or hobby shop, or use the age old 3 in 1 household oil. It is typically an oil that has a 'stringy' thick characteristic.

Also, I would suggest cleaning the electrical points with a small steel file. Given the fact that the clock is essentially a mechanical clock that is rewound every 2 4 minutes by a electromagnet, the points will build up arc damage over time. Gently dragging a steel file over the points, even just a small amount will keep them clean and the allow better current flow through the points. As the points become damaged, they carry less current each time they close. THis results in the clock being rewound to a less degree, which then causes the clock to require rewinding sooner, thus calling on the points to operate more often in an already weakened state. This causes a very fast decline of the function. So, keeping the contacts clean is a very simple way to keep it running. My experience is that these things are very reliable.

I hope this helps,
Pat

In case your friend Kurt doesn't turn up any leads in M?nchen, I have a few old car buddies that live in Untersleissheim (north of the city) that may have some specialty welding contacts to help you. I know it can be done.

Pat

Ken,
Forgot to mention: I seem to recall some repro floor pans on ebay, hopefully for your car. Don't underestimate your owns skills with the welder. Sounds like you've got em.

I understand the wife convincing thing, you gotta both be happy.

PM

Ken,
I wish you luck in your pusuit of the car. We are all jealous of your last name.

I own a 39 Six Sedan and was 29 when I bought it and am 42 now. Old car disease doesn't discriminate by age. Many people my age seem to lean toward the 60s muscle car and wonder why I have an 30's car that hasn't been rodded with all the shiny horsepower. To each his own.

I must admit I have enjoyed the restoration of my 39. One could debate that I started with a car that fell off the truck on its way to the scrap yard; it was much worse than what yours appears. I also enjoy learning about, repairing and maintaining the mechanicals of the car. Most of all, I enjoy driving it and spending time with those that share the disease.

Perhaps you are not new to the old car hobby; but, to keep your expectations in check, you'll need to accept the limitations of 80 year old technology: Reliability requires attention to your car, safety requires defensive driving, parts searches can be journeys and there is always cost. I have seen guys buy an old car and only then learn they are not driving a jackrabbit modern car. Or, they tear into the project, life happens and years later they sell off the project and parts in frustration.

One of the best ways to avoid the frustration is to get involved with the network of those car lovers, attend shows and find ways to get a ride in the old iron, and start the learning. While I was bringing my car back to life, I was still able to spend time with others and their cars. Its a great hobby.

Everyone here wants you to succeed and enjoy. You'll find help here.

Pat

THanks for the feedback, guys.

Regarding the small business thought: There are many days that I wish I could quit my paying job and turn my hobby into money, but I don't expect to be able to make that work. I've rebuilt many parts for others ranging from fan and wiper motors to transmissions, and truly enjoy it, but not sure I could feed the family with it!

In the meantime, if there is a serious request for a modified governor, I would entertain making a few more.

In the meantime, I need to rebuild my carburetor so I can get back on the road.

Thanks again.
Pat

Regarding the fact that my car didn't originally have OD: good point. My car has a 4.54 rear end, which was the middle choice for the non OD car (4.7, 4.53, 4.3?). For OD cars, 4.7 was standard ratio and 4.54 was optional. So, if I had the 4.7, my sitiation would be worse: OD would engage at an even lower speed and at cruising speed mean the engine is running faster than with a 4.54 rear end. There were different speedometer/governor gears to correct for the axle differences too. Of course, rear end ratio may be more critical to my six cylinder car as since the horsepower to weight ratio is greater for the larger cars. I am happy with the 4.54 rear end.

So, now for the fun physics. The governor used on the R9 and R11 (and I think all of Borg Warners full electric ODs) uses the simple but proven design of two centrifugal weights that swing outward, lifting a pushrod that develops a force on the switch inside the governor switch cap. The force is proportional to mass of the rotating weights multiplied by the square of the rpm of the governor. The rpm can be equated to the car's speed. So, since the force of the governor top switch is constant, the tradeoff between mass and speed (velocity) can be calculated per the math below as long as any material removed from the brass results in the weight still having the same center of mass (if not, then the force on the switch changes and the math below is not accurate):

m1= original weight mass = 28grams
v1= original engagement velocity = 22mph
m2= new mass value to be determined
v2= new target engagement speed = 30 mph

So,
a) m1 x v1 x v1 = m2 x v2 x v2
b) m2 = (28x22x22)/(30x30) = 15 grams

So you are left with 15/28ths or 53% of the original mass. Here are values for other speeds:
25 mph: 21.68 g
30 mph: 15.06 g
35 mph: 11.06 g
40 mph: 8.47 g

Notice that to get really high engagement speeds, a large amount of mass must be removed. This is because of the speed squared relationship. I chose 30 mph because it seemed to give a good tradeoff.

I considered two different ways to remove material. The first involved machining material off the outer surface of the weight. This approach would make the determination of how much material to remove easy, would maintain the center of mass, and would be simple to machine, but would remove a bevel on the lower part of the mass that cleverly limits the weight's travel at high speed and therefore prevents large forces acting on the switch (smart engineers back then).

The second approach was to drill a hole along the center of mass. This would maintain the center of mass, would be even easier to machine, but more difficult to accurately predict mass reduction without more math. However, instead of predicting exactly what drill size would result in mass reduction, I could sneek up on the target with progressive drilling and weighing. This sounded good and worked better. The final drill size was 3/8" drilled radially at the centerline of the center of mass.

My photos of the weights did not turn out well (I knew I should have had you there, West), but if there is enough interest I will either take the unit off the car and take some new photos, or create some drawings. The dissassembly of the governor was a delicate operation, and the counterweight shafts have a knurled end that must be restaked. It was also a good opportunity to get some oil in the small bushing bearings in the device.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, I am very pleased with my result and happy to help anyone else through it.

Pat

After logging many miles with an R9 overdrive, I am quite pleased. However, there is one aspect of its function I have concluded I would like to change and that is the engagement speed. The governor switch engages at about 22 mph per Packard's plan.

I know Packard chose this speed range so that the driver could negotiate city traffic without having to upshift and downshift, just let the OD go from 2nd standard to 2nd OD and back again as speed necessitates. For that matter, you can start in 2nd and leave it ther. There is a great explanation of this in the 41 110 Brochure on this site. This period in automotive history show great focus on ways to make the driver's job easier and the technical offerings show it: transmission freewheeling, overdrive, electromatic clutch, brake hill holder, variable coupling fluid drive, etc. all leading up to automatic transmissions.

As I said, I would prefer it engage at a higher speed such that I can shift to third and let the OD take care of cruising speed needs. Also, when decending hills it is occasionally awkward to accelerate while freewheeling to then have OD engage without freewheeling,

Packard offered several different speeds for the governor switch (but I don't know if they are available from our vendors) and makes clear cautions to mechanics in the service literature about not attempting to change the speed by bending or changing the switch springs. I can see why...a small tweak to that system may have a large result...hard if not impossible to correctly adjust. So, still not giving up, I put my engineering background into action and began evaluating the physics of the governor. I determined that a reduction in the mass of the two brass counterweights would increase the engagement speed. I further determined the amount of mass to remove in order to have an engagement speeed of 30mph.

Having the guts of a used governor found in the bottom of a swap meet box, I asked a friend whose machining skills far exceed my own for some help. After removing the confirmed amount of material and making sure the weights were still balanced, I reassembled the governor, installed it and took the car out for a nice drive. I am pleased to report that the OD engages exactly as the math predicted with engagement at 30mph. Now the OD no longer "gets in the way" for those specific situations and I can shift up into 3rd and let the OD take over.

If anyone wants to know more about the details, I am happy to ramble on a bit more.

Pat
Packard Engineering Department

OD,
Thanks for pointing me in that direction. My 39 Six has a Carter 530S and after my last posting, I pulled out some original literature on it. The two page document includes text instructions to adjust the Anti Percolator valves, but I have not yet become familiar with how Carter implements this and therefore, what to do. The literature does not specifically show the valves.

I have assumed that the valve either blocks the flow path into the carb bore, or opens a pathway out of the carb for fuel to drop to the ground, kinda like the tube from the manifold on the Su8.

I'll be trying to figure this out over the weekend. Thanks again for the guidance,
Pat

Michael,
I ownd a 39 six that originally had no over drive; however, 39 was the first year Packard offered an OD, but the only year for the R6/7 asd in 1940 the R9 was offered. I found an R9 and it bolted right in (as mentioned by others)> I needed to extend a hole on the frame X member to allow the solonoid to have room, but I think the 48's accomodate the OD as is.

Now that I have the system, I would now never want to go without it. It is a pleasant and well performing system. My only wish is that the engagement speed would be a bit higher, but it is not bad.

As others have mentioned, the function of the electricals is accomplished differently between the R9 and R11, and the R11 is definitely simpler. I was fortunate to find a system with all the items needed and perhaps more fortunate to have found some spare items at swap meets. With that said, I would state that both are very reliable and provide a great ride.

What I don't know is if there are any Right/Left Hand drive implications. I would still say it is worth the effort.

Pat