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Tuesday 24th April 2012

After spending the morning with our daughter and one granddaughter, the other started school this year, it was down to the workshop in the afternoon.

During the course of the morning Wade had picked up the 426 water pump from Anglade Engineering and had cleaned up and painted the Delco-Remy mounting plate. But the mounting plate isn't going to work with an Auto-Lite distributor! Instead Wade had dug out an Auto-Lite mounting plate, complete with pointer, probably off a 120. That was my little task, cleaning the Auto-Lite plate. But a trial fit of the plate, on the old 110 engine out of John's '39 TJR Bodied Six, showed it too wouldn't work! However a little surgery by Dr Wade is now in it's future and then it will fit! Wade is going to use the Auto-Lite distributor that was in Junior prior to it's troubles a few weeks ago. It has a new condensor, Wade's filed and set the points, the cap including carbon is good as well as the rotor button. Thursday, all going well, Emily should be infused with the Auto-Lite while the Delco-Remy awaits parts.

Concerning the Delco-Remy, Wade sent away the vacuum advance to be rebuilt. Now that's something that slipped my mind, Big Red's vacuum advance was rebuild just prior to it's troubles. There's a guy in Queensland who provides this service and no sooner had Wade sent off Big Reds vacuum advance then it came back rebuilt. Turn around time was impressive. So Emily's will receive the same treatment. Wade is also ordering a distributor tune-up kit for Emily.

What also happened today was that Wade had Steve, a friend of John from the workshop, working on the bonnet(hood) for The Fossil. The Fossil! Bet you thought is was dead? Although it hasn't been mentioned for a while, other matters having priority, it's still there waiting patiently. The work Steve was doing today relates back some time to when the central hinge was riveted onto the left side top bonnet(hood) panel. Lets just say that this probably should have been left to the pros because it didn't turn out well. Anyway Steve is now sorting it out and has warned Wade off. Steve, after he has effected the necessary repairs to the panel, is adamant that he alone will rivet the new hinge to the bonnet(hood) panel!

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Thursday 26th April 2012

Morning was spent cleaning up Big Red's crankcase because it too is heading to Tamworth in company with the crankshaft and rods. Wade thought it would fit in the "washing machine", a hot water and detergent parts washer, but it wouldn't. Missed it by that much! Next stop was the parts cleaner, a large tray on top of a drum with a pump circulating the cleaning fluid. Very awkward lifting the crankcase up and into it then balancing it on one end and "hosing" it with the cleaner. Then balanced one end on top of the parts washer cabinet, with me hanging on to it, while the rest hung over the parts cleaner and Wade washed away. Did a reasonable job, but then John suggested the high pressure water cleaner. Outside and, after a spray down with degreaser, the crankcase was blasted clean. Turned out pretty well and was left out in the sun to drain and dry.

Next was getting Junior's Auto-Lite distributor ready to take over to implant into Emily. Main task was to modify the mounting plate, the Auto-Lite's being entirely different to the Delco-Remy's. That done gathered some tools, meter, battery pack and timing light and off we went. The main problem confronting the swap was timing. Note had been made of how the Delco-Remy was pointing when removed but the Auto-Lite was so different that didn't matter. Had to block off the vacuum advance line on Emily because the Auto-Lite doesn't have vacuum advance. Did that with a golf tee. Just as well Emily's Mum and Dad, Wendy and Richard, play the game so a tee was readily available. But the real problem was finding the timing. Remember I'd said "gathered some tools" earlier, well it was apparent that there weren't enough tools. On Monday I'd thrown in a spark plug socket but not today, and now needed one badly to pull #1 plug to find TDC. Tried to do it with the marks on the flywheel but the big blob of white paint there was so big determining what was TDC just wasn't easy. It must be said there was spark, plenty of it as Wade can attest when he was zapped at one point. I daresay you could just about weld with it! Many attempt later, even turning the distributor shaft through 180 degrees didn't help, it was time to admit defeat, pack up the meagre supply of tools and leave quietly. But we'll be back, probably early next week because there's a Packard Club run the following Sunday.

Back at the workshop after putting away the tools, surprising how little time that took, turned to a few other things that could help us when we again return to render further succour to Emily. First was a set of sparkplugs, cleaned and gapped the requisite six. Next was a compression gauge, although we think this has been checked before it'll be done again. And when tools are packed again there'll be plenty instead of too few. Then turned to Big Red's parts. Turns out DavidM is also going to Tamworth, he's taking his 1912 Maxwell, and because he's trailering the Maxwell will be able to take the crankcase as well as the other parts. There'll also be the two 426 water pumps, one of which is already assembled. The other, Wade commenced painting because it needs to be re-assembled tomorrow so it's ready to return to Tamworth at the end of next week. And speaking of tomorrow, I'll miss the water pump re-assembly as well as Noel who's dropping in with the new radio head for Fleurette, but will catch up with the action next week.

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Hi Mal!

Every week I read the OZ Packard story here in Souf Afffrika!

Keep at it and regards.

Greetings to all the Packard guys there!

Barrie

Mal, would it have been possible to remove the front valve cover and set No. 1 for the position of the tappets and pointer on flywheel? Just a little "Monday Morning Quaterbacking" as we say here in the States. Enjoy the posts, keep them coming.

(o[]o)

Wednesday 2nd May 2012

Arrived at the workshop in my '41 120 Club Coupe, but more of that later. Didn't get there Monday or yesterday because of our daughter and grand-daughter/s commanding my attention those days. In my absence Wade had taken up Big Red's crankcase, crankshaft and connecting rods as well as the two 426 water pumps to DavidM. At David's they were loaded into the Maxwells trailer for the trip to Tamworth at the end of the week. Wade had also been working on The Fossil! Yes, he'd assembled the windscreen wiper arms making new springs to fit. Has also sent an email to Ficken about wiper blades and is waiting to hear back about that. Steve, the panelbeater, has also been in and taken away the bonnet(hood) panel he's been working on. Apparently it should be back by the end of the week, all straight with new paint. The other thing Wade spent time on was Big Red's block. With his aversion to anything that leaks, and the water jacket side plate was one such animal, Wade was determined to fix it once and for all. Currently most of the bolt holes have been helicoiled, along with sealer, but still there were leaks. So all the bolts and helicoils came out and that was fine but, when examining the block afterwards, Wade found one of the sleeves had shifted! It had moved up a little in the block! When the oil was drained there were traces of water in the oil so maybe that's how it got there? Upshot of this further setback was Wade talking to Harvey who, good guy that he is, has donated a spare block! Also learned that Noel had been over to show Wade the new radio head for Fleurette, but it doesn't fit! Not to worry, apparently there will be still another one winging its way from the US real soon courtesy of another PackardInfo member. Noel has also prevailed upon Wade to re-assemble the engine for his '41 160 Club Coupe. So it looks like Wade will be doing a lot of engine work in the coming months.

But before going over to Harvey's to pick up the block there were some minor '41 Coupe issues to attend to. Why? Because Wade and Gina are going to Tamworth in the Coupe seeing that Big Red is out of commission. Barry Smith, from Tamworth, is having his two Packards on display along with two from DavidH from Wauchope and Big Red was going to round out the Packard display to five, DavidM's 1912 Maxwell will be one of about five pre WW1 on display which participated in the recent 2012 Expedition Across Australia. But one thing I'd noticed about a week ago on the Coupe was that the sound deadening material on the underside of the air cleaner top was being sucked towards the carburettor throats. I think it's doing that because the paper filter element I'm using is thinner than the original wire filled element. Consequently there's nothing to hold the material against the underside of the top when installed. Mentioned the problem to Wade who came up with a quick fix of cutting a circle of thin rubber to fit inside the cover with a small hole in the centre for the stud to pass through. Cut and massaged the circle of rubber to fit then a coat of contact adhesive to the underside of the cover and upper side of rubber, and hey presto, no more sound deadening sag! After re-installing the air cleaner top then did a vehicle lights check. Found the front left turn indicator bulb was fritzed so a replacement was installed. Now all lights work as they should.

Coupe taken care of, it was then off to Harvey's to pick up the block. On the way there dropped into Classic Vee-Dub at Rydalmere which Harvey had recommended to Wade. Reason being, they stock 3 pin 6V flasher cans, one of which Wade needs for The Fossil. And here's a little snippet, apparently the 3 pin flasher is for 356 Porsches. Then Hare & Forbes for some consumables for the bench grinder and wire wheel. Then onto Harvey's where under the house was the prize we'd come for, the block. So with Wade fully under the house, only about 3' of headroom available, and me down on my knees at the entrance we dragged, pushed and pulled the block out. From there onto a trolley then into the back of the Ute. Then lunch, despite our protestations. Well, we said no at least once. Carol made us a nice ham, cheese and tomato sandwich each and a cup of tea for me and coffee for Wade. Delicious too, have to do that more often, turn up at lunchtime!

Back at the workshop, unloaded the block, and commenced to examine it in detail. All valves still in, pistons and rods still in #1 and #3, lots of rust around valves and a quick check of the bore size revealing it looks std. Getting the pistons out was quite an exercise calling for a liberal application of brute force to hammer #3 out with wooden blocks, a large hammer, some penetrant/lubricant and some choice words. #1 was even tougher, not helped by the wooden blocks disintegrating from the repeated hammer blows, the chips were flying! With #1 almost at the bottom of the bore, and only a handful of splinters left, turned instead to some of the large round steel discs used as aids with the hydraulic press. They did the trick. Then removed the water jacket side cover, most of the bolts snapped off although some did screw out, with the internal baffle mostly disintegrated into a rusty mess. Cleaned it out and it looks reasonable in there but only a good hot tanking and subsequent inspection, including wall thickness checks, will confirm its viability. But by starting with an unbored block hopefully there will be enough meat for an overbore.

Wade is leaving early Thursday morning for the trip to Tamworth while DavidM is leaving Friday morning. Good clubman that he is, David will be attending PACA's Committee meeting on Thursday evening. Meanwhile, while those two are in Tamworth, other PACA Sydney based members will be going on a run to a visit relatively new PACA member, AndrewB, and his garage on Sunday. Andrew has a '40 160 Club Coupe and a '31 833 Coupe as well as many other collector cars, many of them early Fords. We'll also be catching up with Starliner, Chris, whose 48 Packard Woodie project is in a workshop across the driveway from AndrewB's. Unfortunately I had received an email earlier in the week from Wendy, Emily's Mum, that they couldn't make the Packard run on Sunday because of other commitments. So the necessity to get Emily up and running in time for the run dissipated. Because of that, instead of going over to re-time Emily today and install Junior's donor distributor that'll be done after Wade returns from Tamworth. Wade already has the rebuilt vacuum advance back and should have the tune up kit from the US by then too. So Juniors distributor fix probably won't be required as Emily's distributor should be good to go back in.

Quote:John,

No doubt possible but time and labour intensive. Instead Wade is going to pull #1 plug and find TDC that way. Speaking of which, we would have done that last time but someone(moi?) forgot to pack the plug socket!

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Mal, it's nice to see some work progressing on the Fossil, even if it is only bits and pieces. I'm pleased to see that the Fossil has not been forgotten!

Tuesday 8th May 2012

On my way to the workshop in the early afternoon after a grand-daughter visit in the morning mainly to give Misty, the shop dog a bone, when I received a call from Wade. He was there! Hadn't expected that as he was due to return today from Tamworth. Instead he and Gina had returned yesterday after a very enjoyable weekend away. The Coupe had run well with no real dramas just some "noises" at times when engaging OD and Wade jamming up the column change once. At Tamworth the five Packards on show comprised a '34 1101 Coupe, '36 1402 7 Passenger Sedan, '38 Twelve Club Sedan, '41 120 Club Coupe and '51 Convertible and were featured in a star shaped display. DavidM had also made the trip up but, instead of a Packard, had brought along his '12 Maxwell that recently completed the 2012 Expedition Across Australia a 4,000 km journey that recreated the first West->East crossing in 1912. David's Maxwell was displayed along with some other expedition entries as another feature piece of the Show. Many other cars were on show including Hot Rods, Muscle Cars, Antiques, Classics as well as modern cars in dealer displays. PACA members were successful with DavidM's Maxwell garnering the Vintage trophy and DavidH's '36 1402 7 Passenger Sedan the Veteran trophy.

Meanwhile, Sydney based PACA members had an event of their own last Sunday. A run to view member AndrewB's car collection. Andrew had bought a '40 160 Coupe about 2 years ago and had joined PACA soon thereafter. Then later that year I went to see the work being done on Starliner's, ChrisR, '48 Coupe to convert it into a Woodie. When I arrived Chris said would I like to see another Packard Coupe besides the '48, which turned out to be Andrew's Coupe. Besides the Packard Coupe Andrew had two large industrial units full of old cars, mostly Fords, from 1904 up. So on Sunday we were able to first view the Woodie then onto Andrews where we saw some of his collection. Apparently has about 65 cars now. We wouldn't have seen half of them with the rest in yet another industrial unit. Andrew has also acquired a very nice '31 833 Coupe, an older restoration. Beautiful. One of the runs attendees was packard34, Mat, in his '55 Caribbean. Finally back on the road after, I think, almost 2 years off. Mat only picked up the Caribbean a few days beforehand but since then, because he lives about 200 miles west of Sydney, has put some miles on it. Not without mishap though, battery not charging, flat tyre and T/L misbehaving, but not enough to stop Mat. Returning from the run I was able to drive Fleurette and can report she's running well with the trans and OD performing flawlessly. Also dropped in a spigot shaft to Harvey so he can put the trans back in his bosses '39 110 Coupe.

Meanwhile Wade tells me Barry's engine builder had a chance to look at Big Red's crank and rods on Sunday morning but because he wasn't at his shop didn't have all the necessary equipment. One thing he found, with the equipment he did have, was that a number of the crank's big end journals were tapered by about 0.0025"! Previous crankshaft grinder didn't do a good job! Investigation, measurement and inspection will continue. But speaking of engines, Noel's is bringing over his '41 356 engine to the workshop tomorrow. It's been disassembled and Wade will reassemble it for Noel so it can go into the '41 chassis when done.

And another unrelated item. A few days ago noticed there was a new member logged in with a Forum name of LJJ. So what? Well digging a little deeper I found LJJ is from Broken Hill. Again, so what? Well Broken Hill is a little bit further West than where Mat is, but only about another 500 miles, so another Aussie! With that, having no inhibitions where Packards and Aussies are concerned I shot off a PM to LJJ. Welcomed him aboard as another Aussie, enquired if he had a Packard and if he was a member of PACA and gave a couple of reply options PM, Email or Cell phone. Received a call early this evening from Lyndon(hope that's how it's spelled?) in response. He's on the lookout to buy a Packard, preferring a '38/'39 Six/110 Sedan with TJ Richards body so he can haul the family around. Has looked at a '39 110 in Adelaide, relatively close to Broken Hill only about 350 miles, but the seller wants a lot so Lyndon's still looking. And yes Pepe, I did mention BillB's '48 Sedan was still looking for a new home. Lyndon does have a Packard pedigree with his grandfather, a former PACA member, restoring a 426 Roadster with a body found in the '60's that had been through a bushfire. Grandfather also has a '30's and a '50's Packard. Lyndon is going to join PACA, so if anyone knows of a good '38/'39 Six/110 Sedan with TJ Richards body at a realistic price Lyndon would be interested I'm sure.

Link to pic's of Sunday's PACA run

Link to pic's of Tamworth Car Show pic's courtesy of Wade. Yes, he does know how to use a camera!

Link to Facebook page of Camden County Customs. Contains their pic's from Sunday's run.

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Thanks for the #s on the coupe. A very early 1931 car, both by VN and by body dash number.

Thanks for the welcome Mal.

Cheers
Lyndon

Wednesday 9th May 2012

With Noel and friend Les due to arrive later in the morning with the 356 engine from Noel's Coupe started on further dis-assembly of components off the likely replacement block for Big Red. Began with the valves, valve springs and cam followers/tappets. Many of the valves are stuck through age which was compounded by the effects of rust. A few valves came out easily, but not many. Most required force, to lesser or greater degrees, to get components to move for the dis-assembly process. Lets just say that penetrant, hammers, drifts, crowbars and, at times, colourful language were the most used factors in this process.

During the above process Noel and Les arrived with the mainly assembled 356 block, timing chain and crank sprocket, distributor, oil pump, water pump, timing case cover and assorted fasteners. Brief is to check out the components, address any issues and assemble once all is OK. First thing Wade noted, and verified later, was that the vacuum advance on the distributor probably needed rebuilding. It'll now go off to the guy up north who will probably have it back in Wade's hands by mid next week. Distributor will be gone through, likewise the oil pump, the timing chain and gears checked, etc, etc. Didn't get the flywheel with engine but now Wade is thinking it would be better to include it in the assembly process. Also it appears we are short some of the nuts and bolts so Noel will need to round those up. Just as well Noel said he's coming back in the next few days! Wade was also able to show The Fossil, and the work being done on it, to Les. This is because Les has two '33 1001 Sedans (with consecutive VIN's) amongst his collection, '33's and '34's being similar beasts.

Also received word from Noel that I would be welcome to attend the arrival of Peter Packard's '38 Twelve per Post #3 of this thread. So I will have to miss a day at the workshop next week for that auspicious occasion.

Quote:Lyndon,

Least I can do for another Aussie.

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