And, if you can't afford the $7,000.00 how about $1895.00 for this -
http://cgi.ebay.com/Motor-City-USA-1-43rd-1941-Packard-Woody-Wagon_W0QQitemZ110309400779QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDiecast_Vehicles?hash=item110309400779&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

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Gene and Connie,

It'll be great to have both of you onboard. I'm looking forward to seeing Connie's '37 115c Touring Coupe in the registry and it's pic and history.

Friday 7th November 2008

At the workshop yesterday Wade had put the front wheels and sidemount spares back on Kevin's '35 and it was sitting again on all four tyres on the shop floor. First time I'd seen it like that, had gotten used to it over the past year being much higher than it is now. All that needs to be done now is replace the carb, once it's back from the carb specialist, drain the fuel tank, check it for any contamination and, presuming it's OK, refill it with fresh fuel. Then Kevin, you can drive her home!

But back to the '41. First up checked that the cowl vent gasket was sealing properly as it had been sitting there since Wednesday with a heavy weight on the vent to ensure its positioning was right, and it is right. Then onto re-connecting the cowl vent with the hinge mechanism. This is held together by five small nut/bolts/washers, two in the shorter left side, and three in the right side. And a pivot bolt, with shoulder holding the two hinges in conjunction with the end of the opening lever mechanism. First though, had to do my usual clean up of POR-15 overpaint, a light application of grease to the hinge pivot areas, then cleaning up the nuts and bolts to make re-installation as easy as possible. No point in struggling with cantankerous threads upside down in a confined space. Went together well with Wade offering advice and grease where required. Result - works like a charm!

Next, was re-installation of the left side hood prop assembly. Someone had literally pulled it out of its firewall mounting and it was a twisted metal contraption when I got it. Early in the dis-assembly process Wade had straightened it out and it now closely mirrored the one on the right side. I'd also POR-15'd it along the way. But to get it back in, even with the dash removed was still a daunting prospect. I didn't want to disturb the internal firewall insulation as trying to take it out would lead to its fragmentation with the ravages of time at play. However if the insulation could be left relatively alone it would be fine, but how to do that? The short bolt holding the bottom hinge against the firewall is held by a nut with a 'D' shaped head which fits into a correspondingly shaped depression in the firewall metal. Can't get to it at all, so drilled through the insulation with the intention of using a longer bolt, large washers and a regular nut and split washer to pull through the insulation up tight to the firewall at the prop's lower anchor point. Ended up having to cut a small hole in the firewall insulation to be able to reach the bolt when it was inserted. Not pretty, but practical, and discreet, being well up under the dash.

Then on to the demister hoses. The '41 has an aftermarket heater/demister installed under the right side dash. But there was only one hose running from the demister blower motor atop the heater box across to the left side demister outlet. The right side demister outlet at the base of the windscreen wasn't connected to anything. Needed to replace the demister hose as it was brittle after deteriorating over the course of time. It was suggested by John that flexible plastic tubing as used in swimming pool cleaning might be a practical replacement in lieu of the fibre unobtainable originals together with a PVC 'T' plumbing fitting. A visit yesterday to Grippy Rubber found some suitable tubing of 1&3/4" ID, and from Bunnings (Australia's largest hardware store chain), the 'T' piece. The first piece of tubing for the left side to 'T' piece was cut after trial fitting, measurement and marking in situ. Then, because the ends of the 'T' piece are a slightly bigger diameter than the tube, the end of the tubing was immersed in hot water which softened it sufficiently to allow it to be forced over the 'T' piece, a great "shrink" fit. The right side to 'T' piece and demister blower to 'T' piece sections of tubing were similarly measured, marked, cut and fitted. Result - Although not "correct", an operative demister system. There have been concerns raised by some that the hot air in the tubing could cause it to deform but I'm prepared to take that chance.

The heater controls are located in a steel mounting bracket under the centre of the dash and comprise a 3 speed switch for the heater fan, an on/off switch for the demister fan and a manual cable pull knob for the heater air intake in the engine compartment. While Wade cleaned the switches up, I cleaned up the mounting bracket, taking off the old black paint, prepping the metal then spraying it gold with the same rattle can I used on the heater box. Will fit in "better" than the black I think. Wade had all the switches working well including a liberal application of Rick's Magic Electronic Spray Cleaner. Next the wires powering the switches were gone over, one piece being twice as long as necessary, new bullet connectors crimped on and two wires joined into one to tidy it all up.

There had also been some tidy up of the courtesy light wiring, rejoining and soldering where required and then retesting and everything still works! Also tested the wiper motor worked, it's electric in the '41, and it does work giving both a low and high speed. However there is a piece broken off in the wiring onto it and Wade is cogitating how he'll go about fixing that and the scrappy looking wires attached. I have a pair of wiper blades, but they are pretty perished! So - I'm looking for wiper blades for a '41 120.

And again, no pic's, so maybe next week.

John,

Sorry to hear about your problem. Does this mean you wont be at the Wyong run on Sunday?

Seriously though, there is a carburettor specialist on Parramatta Road Burwood, Carburettor Service Company, who could probably do the carb for you but I expect they are expensive. I'll have a talk on Sunday with Wade, who uses these people for rebuilds and help on carbs, and let you know.

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G'day GeneL3c,

to the Site. And could you please add your wife's '37 115c to the Owner Registry together with a pic, and any known history? Or, from another angle, maybe your wife could join and do that? We have a few female members here and one more would be appreciated.

Quick - Snap it up NOW!

Buy It Now is reduced to only $7,000.00

What a bargain!

Thursday 6th November 2008

Dug around in the garage this morning and found:
1) The two packets of small instrument and other lightbulbs I'd bought off eBay over a year ago.
2) The column mounted turn signal unit I'd bought off eBay almost as long ago'
Took both items to the workshop and determined the bulbs were OK for those needing replacement. In fact we'll replace all the dash light bulbs because of the current easy access we have at present.

Wade was working on the distributor out of Kevin's '35 on the bench. Seems he's almost solved the carburettor problem but needs to eliminate the miss caused by the crappy points before he can adjust the idle properly. And he'll use the pair of points he found in Kevin's glovebox to do the job.

Left Wade to it and headed off to Grippy Rubber where I bought a length of hose/tubing to replace the heater to demister pieces. Will install them tomorrow. And again no pic's, the fix is not yet in.

EDIT - Caught up with Wade tonight at the monthly Packard Club meeting and he tells me the carb is off again and now with a carb expert to sort out the gremlins.

Eric,

Was in the For Sale Forum here, see
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1620&forum=8

And in the AAACA Packard For Sale Forum, see
http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/541869/1937_Packard_12_1508_Custom_Bo#Post541869

Wednesday 5th November 2008

Arrived at the workshop to find Wade working on Kevin's '35. Yesterday he had the '35 running but couldn't get the idle speed down by adjusting the mixture screws so was now trying to troubleshoot it. Took the carburettor off, then on the bench took the top off the carb. Thought the float level might be too high, although he set it as per spec, so proceeded to reset it lower. Put the carb body back on the '35, connected up the fuel line and throttle linkage and started it up. Although Wade said, while doing this, that the car would run without the top on the carb I wasn't that inclined to believe him. But as he said, it started and ran, and ran well. Smoothly although there is a miss which Wade thinks is points needing cleaning and richly because the mixture adjustment is out of whack, But best of all silently, with good oil pressure, and no noises or dramas following the rebuild. Next thing Wade will look at is the Economiser Valve in the carb which can be an area of concern apparently.

Next turned to the '41 and commenced to install some bigger rubber bumpstops for the glove box door. I'd bought some bumpstops yesterday from Grippy Rubber to replace the small ones inserted on Monday. But the new ones although stopping the metal-to-metal contact between door and dash didn't take up all the slack. Instead I need to find out whether the glove box lock assembly is "correct " or not and I strongly suspect it is either not correct or has been modified. It doesn't have a catch part(like a hook) at the end of the tongue just a small slot that corresponds with the thickness of the catch bar mounted on the clock.

Then on to attaching the wires from the new harness to the instruments and switches on the dash. Used the wiring diagram in the '41 manual together with the accompanying coded wire listing as well as a few rough diagrams of our own from the dis-assembly stage and with reference to the old harness which was returned with the new one as the old harness had been tagged during dis-assembly with descriptions rather than numbers. Along the way tested various dash light bulbs where there were bulbs, and the ammeter to determine which terminal was which because it wasn't marked.

During the course of this Kevin arrived with the 2 gas tanks for his Daimler V12 which John is getting into running order. The gas tanks were full of crap so Kevin had had them cleaned, internally and externally, and lined and painted with POR-15 products. And don't they look good. So much so that John's talking about getting the tank for his Mazda RX7 done by the same people. Wade was able to bring Kevin up to date on the '35 and also started it up, without the top on the carb, so Kevin could see and hear it running. Suffice to say he was impressed with how smoothly and silently it was now to how it had been previously. Kevin had also brought over Robert Neal's book Packards at Speed for Wade to read, a very impressive tome.

After Kevin left returned to the dash and finished connecting all the wires that could be done so up to that point. However Wade was worried there was a terminal on the instrument light switch which didn't have anything connected to it. So after re-reading the wiring diagram and wire listing it seemed we were missing the map light connection. And funny it turned out to be this as we'd been puzzling over the small fitting, shade and wire which we couldn't remember what it was for. Turned out to be the map light, but where did it go? No illustrations so turned to the dash and after turning it over worked out it fits under the brow of the top plastic dash piece. But before installing it had to rebuild it because although the bulb tested OK by itself, when in its fitting it didn't work. Turned out to be a bad contact between the bulb housing and the piece it clips into to be screwed into place on the dash. Fixed that and also replaced the wire which had also seen better days.

Turned to the interior of the car, mainly the dash area which still had some wires in place, mostly for the interior light and the courtesy lights. First the interior light, hooked it up, didn't work. Tested the bulb, it works! Released the switch from the right side B pillar but left it connected and by-passed it, the light works! Disconnected the switch from the wiring, which was held to the terminals by looping the wires, no connectors. Tested the switch on the bench, didn't work. Cleaned the switch including a good dose of Rick's Magic Electronic Spray Cleaner and......it works! Wade crimped new connectors to the wires then it was my turn to get involved. Now, trying to hold, position connectors and tighten up tiny screws is no fun let me tell you. And in spite of myself I managed it, but not before dropping about 4 screws, changing my own position twice and the liberal use of "magic words" in an exasperating situation.

Second was the courtesy lights and these are activated by switches in each A pillar. The courtesy lights themselves were located under the lower corners of the dash. Testing them in situ produced the usual result, nothing. I had some expectations here because one, the right side, was working when I got the car. Testing each separately brought the same result, although it was apparent why the left side wasn't working, with only one wire connected and not two. So off to the bench with the switches and lights. Here the main drama was dis-assembling the glass and bezel from the body of the light. There appeared to be three tabs at the back of the bezel needing to be straightened to release the glass. Not to be, although Wade managed to lever up one tab the rest remained defiant. Then in a stroke of genius Wade pulled at the Bezel/glass and it released from the body. A 'click' fit, easy when you know but otherwise difficult to determine. Found the one globe was a dud, the left one while the other tested OK. Then cleaned the muck around the switches and the contacts, but still unresponsive. But, after a very good dose of Rick's Magic Electronic Spray Cleaner and......they both work! Replaced the switches in the A pillars but held off on the courtesy lights. With the kick panels removed it is obvious there is provision for them in the kick panel area themselves. So they'll be relocated there when the dash goes back in place. And will look much better than hanging off the bottom of the dash.

That was about all that could be accomplished without further wiring connections and mounting of the dash. But there were a couple of things to be done before that can happen. One is installing the new cowl vent gasket and reconnecting the cowl vent operating mechanism. Glued the new cowl vent gasket into the channel on the cowl with contact cement, placing the cowl vent on top with the vent weighted down to ensure the cement and gasket adhere properly to the cowl. I'll connect the vent operating mechanism on Friday while there is still reasonable room to move under the dash. And the other is replacing the demister vent tubes running from the heater to the dash outlets. There was only one tube there today, the left side one, so have to find a tee piece and some heater duct tubing to make it all connect up as it should.

Quite a saga in the telling, although the visible results aren't spectacular (we are talking about wiring here), it's the piece of mind in knowing that it'll work when it's all back together. And it was a great practical lesson in showing the importance of having good clean contacts for electrical connections. Sorry to say I can't post any pic's of today's effort as I can't upload to my PC at the moment. When tech support (AKA eldest son) comes over on the weekend I'll catch up with that then. In the meantime these words will suffice.

G'day Damien,

See you're a new member, welcome to the Site. Quite a wealth of information there about some rarer Packards.

And if you've got a Packard/s could you please add it/them to the Owner Registry together with a pic, and any known history?

Again