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Carl,

A wonderful story. Quite a journey and great perserverence to ensure you made it to your destination. I really enjoy reading histories or anecdotes from Packard owners about their cars. Just one thing, could you tell us a little more about the 3 pieces of wood in the gas tank?

Looking good Phil!

Friday 16th January 2009

After arriving at the workshop rang Brian, the guy who'll do the front end alignment, but no answer so I'll try again on Monday. Then it was under the '41 for the trans oil leak fix. From inspection it appeared to be leaking from where the O/D solenoid meets the O/D housing. There hadn't been any leaks from the trans or O/D for the 13 months the '41 sat in the workshop. Although that could be explained by the lack of oil in both when they were drained and re-filled as reported earlier.
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Anyway, last year, we'd re-assembled the O/D solenoid the way we found it on dis-assembly with a new MBM gasket between the solenoid housing and the adaptor and no gasket between the adaptor and the O/D housing. There is a little stepped shoulder where the adaptor snugs into the O/D housing and it appears this is where the leak's coming from. So to try and seal the situation MBM sprang into action making a small circular gasket out of paper gasket material. Took three goes, first two stamped the outer ring then the inner ring but each time the gasket split, being only about 1/8" wide. With the third attempt stamped only the inner ring than using scissors cut the outer ring and success. Also used some gasket cement on all surfaces to help the sealing process, although it wasn't used on the other larger gasket which is doing a great job. Didn't take it for a test run as this will be incorporated in the drive for the front end alignment which is about 9 miles each way.

Then Wade turned to workshop maintenance in the absence of other things to do. Yesterday he'd gone to Hare & Forbes a machinery business and bought new "gloves" and new media for his blasting cabinet. The old gloves had split after about 5 years service while the media had lots of impurities from it's operation. He was giving it a re-build and also adding a vacuum to it to make the process easier, visibility or the lack of it being a major issue in it's use. First thing was to drain out the old media and this was done by taking out the plastic plug in the bottom of the trough reservoir and catching the media in 2 buckets. It'll be saved and cleaned of major impurities and used as top up for the new media. The gloves, perspex cover, the filter from the side and the sponge stripping sealing the edges of the cover were all removed. Cleaned the upper edge of the cabinet using brake cleaner to provide a clean surface for new sealing strips. It also prompted a general clean up of the immediate area around the blasting cabinet, as escaping dust coated everything in the vicinity. Filed out the hole where the filter element vents to accept a plastic fitting from an old vacuum cleaner. Then looking at the new gloves it was obvious they were much bigger than the ones they were replacing. I suggested that they could be cut down to size but Wade didn't support that theory. So I left Wade to clean up the perspex cover, which has a stick on plastic throw away panel, to provide vision of the job, while I went to Hare and Forbes to change the gloves for ones of the right size. Mission accomplished, except I returned with the gloves I left with because Richard at Hare & Forbes said they were a "one size fits all applications" and you cut them down to suit the size you require. But the trip wasn't wasted, because on the way back to the workshop I went to Grippy rubber to pick up some adhesive sided rubber stripping. Also took the opportunity while there to pick up three more rubber grommets for the '41, but more of those later.

Returned to the workshop to find Wade screwing on the freshly cleaned perspex cover complete with fresh plastic viewing section. It had taken almost all the time I was away to get the gunk off the perspex from the additional tape used in securing the plastic viewing section over the years. The sealing stripping was then measured, cut to size and applied to the lip where the perspex cover seals. Because this is a self-assembly type cabinet the perspex cover didn't fit as squarely as it should at the two lower corners. The bottom right corner was fixed by packing under that leg with some cardboard. The left lower corner continued to catch so out with a big file and after many passes and trial fits managed to have that corner clearing the cabinet frame too. Then the gloves, using an old glove as a template Wade cut the left side glove then trimmed about another 3/8" after a trial fit. The next step, installing the left side glove and securing it with the large radiator type clamps used is easier than it sounds. But Wade, with my minor holding and poking assistance, managed to do it. The right side was a little more difficult because the glove was cut to just the right size not allowing any leeway to help in fitting it. But three attempts later it was on. Almost there, now came the fitting of the vacuum cleaner. Wade has an old household vacuum he uses for his cars but it was at the end of it's life with not much suction but should have enough for this job. Tested it, gave very weak suction, and then fitted the hose piece to the filed out vent hole. Fired up the cabinet then switched on the vacuum, no or very little effect was noticed. Scratched heads then Wade said the vacuum should have a bag but hasn't had one for years. He then proceeded to open it up to be met by all the crap he'd vacuumed out of his '34 years ago. No wonder it had low suction, it was chock-a-block full! A clean up of the dirt recepticle and the hose which was also blocked and what do you know? It works much, much better with very good suction! Plugged it all back in and the improved suction almost had the perspex cover imploding into the cabinet. Earlier Wade had pointed out a plastic plug on the cabinet back wall and this he now removed. Tried again and almost perfect. By the way, thanks go to Barry Smith for the vacuum fitting suggestion, he's got one on his blasting cabinet! End result - A better functioning blasting cabinet now awaiting it's next Packard job!

Now back to the '41. As mentioned earlier I'd bought three more large rubber grommets from Grippy. One was to replace the grommet for the accelerator pedal shaft with a larger grommet, but I ended up with one of the same diameter so no joy there. The other two were to provide perimeter rings for each of the courtesy lights in the front kick panels. And these worked well, so there was joy there. However the #$%^&*@ clips that hold the kick panels are something else altogether so any joy gained was offset by the struggle to get these pressed into place.

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Eric,

There could be a "twinkle" in my eye for such a project. Our hours in the Chatroom, yours being late at night or more correctly early in the morning, have drawn me to that concept at times. However, my skills in fabrication are extremely limited, and I'll have to resign myself to working within the means and abilities I have at my disposal. But I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when I unveil my "secret project" at the appropriate time.

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John,

You're right, it isn't 'finished' yet, and probably never will be. There are some things still to be done and other things will come up from time to time needing to be done to keep her on the road. But that's part of the "joy" of owning an old car, isn't it?

And your comment about the enjoyment and pleasure of working on it is very true. I'd never really understood the term "enjoy the journey" before, but having gone through this experience I now well understand it's meaning. It has been a wonderful journey over the past 18 months. In fact my wife Kath is now worried that I'll be around the house more and getting under her feet because the '41's done!

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Kev,

I don't think the planet's axis will shift for the sake of a few, well quite a few, pounds of Idaho dirt now being down-under. But if some Idaho bureaucrat wants a tax-payer funded "junket" to come down-under to retrieve their precious soil they are welcome to do so.

I'd like to thank a long list of people who have contributed to me and the '41 is some way over the course of this journey. Instead of listing them I won't, because if I do I'll be sure to miss someone out along the way. Instead I'll categorise them and you'll recognise yourselves from the form of contribution made, some in more than one category!

The seller of the '41
The prior owner of the '41
The shippers of the '41
The eBay sellers - funny, how often a particular part required would come up at the appropriate time. They must have been reading the Blog!
The Packard parts vendors
The Australian businesses and workers who performed work on, or for, the '41.
The Australian businesses and workers who supplied parts/hardware/paint/lubricants used in the work performed on the '41.
PACA members
Packardinfo members
Those who critiqued
Those who offered advice
Those who offered help
Those who offered support - at times this helped carry me through, lying underneath a Packard for long hours scraping and cleaning isn't a very uplifting life experience.
My family - For supporting me wholly with this strange obsession I now have for a long defunct automobile.

And the blog wont end at this point. As things happen to the '41 I'll continue to update here but it will be a more irregular occurrence than before.

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Barrie,

Good to see the doors and hardware turned out well.
The starter, that's another matter altogether! Can you get a replacement locally? That break on the starter body looks very nasty as does the bendix drive. OUCH!

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Gina,

That's the beauty of it, I don't have to, so it suits me perfectly!

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Dave,

Thanks for the advice about ensuring a vented cap is used and it appears to be so. We also checked that the venting setup was working and it appears to be OK from our tests, as I noted.
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And, today I found on this eBay "Packard gas cap, for all 1941 thru 1950 models. This a new VENTED cap, not NOS. It is NOT made in China.". Looks entirely different to the current cap on the '41 (see pic's below) and although the price US$14.00 is "reasonable" the shipping in the listing of US$22.50 for this is unreal so I'm looking at AU$50.00 total!

You are right, that first drive is a very sweet moment, with the term "King of the Road" coming to mind.

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Eric,

Although it works, and the gauge looked to work reasonably well when I half filled the tank initially, when it starts indicating close to empty I now know it's closer to empty than I'd first thought.

And following our conversation in the Chatroom just now, where your offered advice was dismissed as too impractical at this time, your fallback option of carrying a spare can of fuel will be taken up. As well as keeping the tank filled up as much as possible. In fact that will be my next test, filling the tank to see what the gauge indicates.

Edit - Your advice of filling the tank in increments and monitoring the gauge readings is good practice. But seeing we just dumped in close to 5 US gallons I might just try leaving the fill to brim approach for now and wait till some is burned off and do it from there. Will keep you posted.

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Keith,

As Dave quoted for Canada, where there is a split between public and private costs, Australia has a similar system. And although government agencies track healthcare costs there is NO recoupment from the estate of anyone should they die. The costs covered by the government are as Dave said, paid out of the higher taxes and charges they gain as revenue from us.

Pat,

Those wedding pic's with your '34 are great, keep 'em coming. And the Wicker Luggage Trunk, can we have a look inside?