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Tuesday 9th December 2008

Another afternoon at the workshop. Arrived to find Wade cleaning up the O/D Solenoid for club member Peter's '38. Wade looked over the connectors I'd bought yesterday and for once luck was on my side, they're the right ones! Then we re-installed the right sidemount to Kevin's '35, that was just a bit too much even for Wade to do on his ownsome.

Then to the '41. First figured out how the 3 pieces of underfelt fitted. Wade vacuumed out the dirt and work particles from the interior and I then vacuumed the front carpet while it was on the shop floor. Fitted the rubber underlay I'd cut to replace the disintergrating original. Fitted the the underfelt and then fitted the carpet, perfect! Except the carpet fits under the kick panels at each side! So while Wade looked on in bemusement I removed the kick panels and then re-fitted them with the carpet tucked under and behind them. A bit harder to do because clearances were now that much tighter but I got there. Next were the aluminium sill plates which hold the edge of the carpet along the door opening. But first, out with the toothpaste and toothbrush and cleaned them up, look and also smell a whole lot better!

Then the seat, carried it from where it had been lying on Wade's '34 chassis for the last several months and into the '41's cabin. The seat sits on wooden spacers about 1/2" thick through which the mounting bolts pass to bolt to the floor. A couple of months ago I'd made some thicker wooden spacers but discovered today that I'd only bought 2 longer bolts instead of the 4 required. So we mounted the seat using the original thickness spacers and bolts. Can be a little future project to install the thicker spacers and longer bolts. A bit of a struggle to align and start the bolts but with a bit of seat frame juggling, not helped by the weight of the seat back and the influence of gravity, we got there. Then slipped in the seat bottom reasonably easy.

Next the steering wheel and horn. Wade pushed through a new wire from the bottom of the steering column until it extended about 1' past the top of the column. He then ensured the front wheels, sorry brake drums as there are no wheels yet, were pointing dead ahead. Then the steering wheel was aligned, slipped onto the splines, the big spring inserted, the spring cover plate and the big retaining nut slipped over the virgin horn wire, and tightened up securely. Now here's where some help is required. Because the horn wire didn't come with the car we, meaning Wade (I wouldn't have a clue anyway), are unsure of how it's supposed to go together and work. Reference to the manual and the 35-41 parts book doesn't shed any light on the subject and '41's in Oz are few and far between so reference to another car is impractical. Also I had bought a '41 110 horn button and the contact and wire off eBay earlier this year but the button is different to the horn ring on the Coupe. The Coupe's horn ring is good, the contact we got from the 110 eBay horn is good and will be used in conjunction with the new wire Wade pushed through. But is there a piece, another contact or small spring missing which we don't have? Any advice, drawings, pictures or narrative descriptions would be most appreciated.
And in anticipation

From the interior turned to the rear rubber bushes for the spring shackles. Originally wasn't going to worry about these but seeing Wade do the ones on John's '39, although somewhat different, together with my order of rubber parts recently from Max I took the plunge and bought the shackle rubbers too. First jacked up the diff housing and removed the jack stands supporting it. Replaced these with the big jack stands that had been under the front of Kevin's '35 but positioned them behind the rear spring hanger supporting the chassis directly. Then jacked up the left side of the diff housing under the U-bolts to take the weight off the spring at that side. Some force to break loose the nuts holding the shackles on together with greater force to free the shackle from the hold of who knows how old rubbers and there we were. Cleaned up the shackle and pins, ran a die nut over the threads, lubed up the rubbers and pins and reassembled. Well, not quite as easily as that but that was the sequence.

And as I left I took some pic's of John's '39 110 which had survived it's trip to and from Wades place. And he's doing it again tonight and tomorrow morning. One thing that Wade did mention was a lack of power compared to his '37, and that was the '37 120 that is and not the '37 Super 8!

That was it for the day. And what will tomorrow bring? Ahhh, that's for me to know and you to wonder. Rest assured it will be Packard related, but have a Christmas theme.

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Wednesday 10th December 2008

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This morning I DIDN'T go to the workshop. Instead I went and visited my daughters mother's group at Chiswick, a Sydney suburb, where Wade used to live he tells me, small world! And surprise, surprise who should show up at mother's group but Santa Claus! And in a '38 Packard Eight Sedan just like mine, it really is a small world!

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Wednesday 10th December 2008

I did in fact go to the workshop today, but later than usual, to do some work on the '41.

But first up, I understand that when Santa called in earlier he found Wade had got the horn going and Santa was able to test it for Mal - PAAAAAARRRRRP. Wade had found a small spring at home which he was able to use in assembling the horn ring and contact. Wade also took a pic of Santa next to the '41 and by the look of it you'd think he owned it!

But when I arrived, there was no standing around taking pictures, it was straight into the removal of the left front shackle, and because of the weld like effect rust has on rubber, this was difficult to remove. I must say all the rubber bushes exhibited this to some extent necessitating longer levers and bigger hammers until broken free of the death grip they were in. And it isn't easy lying on your back on a creeper trying to get leverage under a Packard. But suffice to say all were removed and the shackle bolts, nuts and retainer plates cleaned up. Seems like the previous owner or his mechanic had replaced a few rubbers with something close and cut to fit. And it appears this was done on the right side only, probably because of the proximity of the exhaust pipe. But we got the correct replacements in, sometimes with a little difficulty, but get them in we did. All helped by the liberal application of rubber grease to all rubber surfaces.

Next removed the bump stop rubbers from each side of the chassis above the diff housing. This was made difficult my the POR-15 with which they were painted. Right side came off after a battle while the left side bolts both snapped. Left things at that stage and will clean up surfaces, etc and install the new bump stops tomorrow.

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Thursday 11th December 2008

On arrival at the workshop found Wade had been working on the front fender lights. Putting in new contacts and wires also cleaned them up and dug out the new fender to housing gaskets I'd bought. Not MBM's, because these are visible and probably beyond my abilities anyway. Wade finished off the lights while I cleaned up the hardware for the diff bump stop rubbers and gave them a quick coat of POR-15.

While Wade went about replacing all the connectors between the O/D wiring harness and the main harness I was instructed to finish the inner fender panels. This will then enable the front fenders to be re-fitted and the front end wiring completed. As I hadn't put any lock washers on the screws and nuts holding the new MBM rubber skirts to the inner fender panels, that was my first task. Except I then had to take off the right side one again because the rear part of the skirt has two metal bars inside the panels which clamps the rubber to it and I'd missed doing that initially. The left side, after the lock washers were added and tightened up, had a further trial fitting and trimming of the rubber skirt to clear the Optima battery parked on top of the chassis. Then came fitting of the right side front fender, While Wade held it in place I inserted and did up two bolts only, enough to hold the fender steady together with it resting on the front fender bracket, and then Wade could relax, phew! But just as well there's no wind in the workshop or it'd start flapping around like a bird gone berserk.

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Monday 15th December 2008

Arrived at the workshop to find Wade in his "civvies" as he'd left his work clothes at home after washing them on the weekend. But soon after, his personal valet, AKA wife Gina turned up with his work gear. Phew, there would be Packard work today! Then, just as Gina left, Peter L arrived to pick up the Solenoid for his '38 O/D which Wade had repaired. So by the time Peter left a good hour plus had elapsed, it's never just a drop-in because Packard related matters have to be discussed, and we could then get to work. Oh, and Wade had the radio for the '41 sitting on the bench. He'd replaced the vibrator with the one out of his '37 Super 8 rather than continue waiting for the replacement on order from the US.

First up, with Wades assistance I mounted the rubber bump stops for the diff, and I was told by Peter a little earlier "If only he'd known, as he has a new pair! The left front fender was then re-mounted on the '41, initially with just a couple of bolts and resting on the front fender bracket. Then as Wade went about re-installing the radio I put in the other fender bolts, and where required nuts because some of the retained nuts were missing. Had help on a few occasions because of the difficulty in securing bolts and nuts in those positions which didn't have them originally. And in my absence on Friday Wade had re-positioned the inner fender panels from the outside to the inside of the body, this way all fitted properly.

During the course of this I was very pleased to hear the radio break into song with a beatles record playing on the AM station I'll probably have tuned in most of the time. The station is 2CH, 2 being the State code adopted by radio here in it's infancy(New South Wales = 2) and CH being an abbreviation for Churches the first owners of the station, see wikipedia linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2CH , and link to the 2CH websitehttp://www.2ch.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 They play plenty of 50's and 60's stuff, which suits me fine.

I had to leave the workshop for a couple of hours and during that time Wade worked on John's '39 110 replacing the starter solenoid with a good used one which Peter provided today. He also replaced the clutch return spring because the original had been replaced somewhere in it's life and wasn't effective. Should be back with John in a few days after another couple of trips home with Wade overnight to ensure all's working well.

Wade also hooked up the heater wiring, he'd left this till after the radio was fitted so the wiring was sited properly. He then fitted the heater controls panel under the dash and remade a screw for the heater control valve knob as the screw in it was plainly not acceptable. Wade Manufacturing Industries (WFI) swung into gear, sourcing a screw of the right thread, cut off the head, cut a slot in the head end then ground it down to the right length. And now "it looks like a bought one", much much better than the abomination it replaced.

Last task for the day was to fit the white plastic fender beading to the right front fender. A bit 'hit and miss' as cutouts were made to accommodate the fender bolts and "Vee's" cut to permit the beading to bend without kinking. Final tightening, and the left side, will be done tomorrow as there are still two nuts and bolts to be installed on the right side.

And yesterday I had a call from Harvey to thank me as he'd got a job doing a dash for Peter T(Peter Packard on this Site) for his '37 Super Eight Coupe. I also found out that Harvey had been a previous owner of the coupe, small world. Although Harvey thanked me, because Peter saw the pic's of the dash for the '41, he shouldn't. Because without Harvey I wouldn't have a re-woodgrained dash in the '41 so it's really my thanks to Harvey rather than vice versa.

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damn you for teasing me with the 37 coupe again!!!! DAMN YOU I SAY!!

j/k! ;0) have a good one!

Tuesday 16th December 2008

Just a brief hour and a half at the workshop this morning. First up, with help from Wade, installed the left front fender beading. Then, while Wade returned John's '39 110, I tightened up the bolts and bolts & nuts securing both front fenders. There are still a few to do because of the difficulty of trying to be under the '41 and up inside the engine compartment at the same time. So these will be finished on Thursday when I get back to the workshop. And Hank, although no pic's taken today, just for you I've thrown in some of the three Aussie '37 Coupes I've seen!

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thanks for those photos! i love them!!! so, i am just kidding about getting mad, i love the 37s!! so, keep them comming!

So do I, so do I.

My dad had a '37 sedan when I was a little kid...either a 115 or 120. It never ran...