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Friday 3rd July 2015

Temporary title change from Wade's Workshop to Mal's Garage, in honour of my Coupe finally having a home of it's own! In my last post, over a month ago said "...my garage and carport is getting close to completion....In a couple of weeks time I hope to have the Coupe "in residence"...", but it obviously took longer than that. Even now painting is still going on but that should be finished on Monday. With the local council approving the structure about a week and a half ago my youngest son, Greg, helped me move the bulk of my "stuff" from my daughters garage to mine. Prior to that I'd put up a high line of 600mm(2') wide shelving down one side, across the back and halfway along the other side of the garage. Also bought 5 DIY assembly shelving units and erected those during the week. Other furniture items in the garage are a desk, workbench, two cabinets and a bookcase. All the ground mounted shelving units are temporarily filled with the "stuff" brought from my daughters. Next stage is to really organise the contents of the mainly boxed "stuff". Then will come some work on the Coupe as mentioned previously. To help in that regard Noel dropped in on Thursday with a 282 timing case courtesy of Peter Packard. Next week I'll collect another harmonic balancer Wade picked up from pepepackard and my original water pump which Wade has rebuilt. Wade dropped them off at the "old" workshop today. And speaking of Wade, he's still working on Packards with the one occupying his attention at the moment being GeoffC's '39 TJ Richards bodied 110 Touring Sedan. Gina was kind enough to send me a photo of Wade working on under it. Wade and Gina had also spent some time away, taking Big Red to Mt Gambier. About 3 weeks of leisurely Packard touring getting there, enjoying the Packard event over a long weekend, going on to Adelaide before returning from whence they came! Well over 3,500kms(2,000+miles) of Packard touring. Speaking of Packard touring, I'll be taking the Coupe on a Packard run on Sunday, a mere 100kms each way then possibly another the following Sunday to Sydney's American Independents Day.

Finally, to all in the US, Happy Independence Day

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Looks great Mal, a man has to have a shed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcCXUQhexag

Mal, it is so satisfying to have all your car(s) and stuff at home in the garage (shed). To me it felt so good to be out of the storage unit renting, but I miss the '47 and '55. It's quality not quantity. Now, we expect great things to be happening in your new 'cave'. Looking forward to Mal's Garage.

(o{}o)

Sunday 5th July 2015

Not quite "oh woe is me" but a little despondent nevertheless. Started up the Coupe for the run today to the Hawkesbury Model and Hobby Show only to immediately hear the unmistakable sound of a blown exhaust manifold gasket! After the teeth-grinding and swearing, determined I'd push on to the show regardless, as I'd promised Wendy, our Clubs Events Director and Tourmaster, I'd be there! Fine, but a short way into the trip a "whirring" type sound started coming from the instrument panel. At first thought it was the speedo as it varied with speed, but the needle wasn't flicking or appearing to be doing anything strange. Then thought it might be the ammeter as I presume it too could be affected by how fast the engine is turning. So stopped, and with the bonnet(hood) up, revved and held the revs on the engine. But, despite the excessive noise from the blown exhaust manifold gasket, there weren't any noises coming from the generator or the regulator. Again proceeded and the noise didn't kick in until the car was going about 15/20mph then noticed that 'at times' the fuel gauge would "flicker", not constantly but intermittently accompanied by the "whirring" which was now worse. Decided then that discretion was better than breakdown, especially as things going on behind the instrument panel being electrically based weren't to be trusted, and returned home. With the front clip soon to come off, more than to just fix the oil leak and radiator, I'll now have plenty of access to the remove the manifolds to replace the blown gaskets. However getting the fuel gauge out is another matter altogether for this increasingly arthritic body!

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Hi Mal, I believe that the whirring noise could be your circuit breaker on your light switch complaining about a short circuit. Your ammeter ( sorry....CH - DIS meter is on full DISCHARGE in the instrument panel shot). Good luck with the fault finding. PT

While repairing the gauge you could unobtrusively add a new front cover, normally used for Sputnik's. Neither your ammeter nor your CH - DIS meter would be on full discharge anymore (but your амперме́тр).

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Peter, although that is said somewhat tongue in cheek! When it comes to things electrical my eyes glaze over as I've never had any understanding of this type of magic.
And Gerd, too. With the help of Google Translate, I now know what a амперме́тр is, but I still don't understand it!

EDIT - Peter, you said it could be the circuit breaker on the light switch because it's showing full discharge. At the time the photo was taken, the car was just idling and the lights weren't turned on. So how does the light switch, and it's circuit breaker, come into play? Remember, I'm the dunce of the class here when it comes to electricity.

Mal, Not sure if your car uses the same type gauges but when you investigate the whirring noise and jerky fuel gauge check the wiring between gauge and tank as well as the sender.

I tested the new loom and under dash wiring in the 47 today and had a similar noise and symptom when it got power for the first time.. My tank is out so wiring to sender was disconnected making the gauge sender lead open. When the gauge first got power and nothing was connected to the other side I immediately heard the noise and the needle was swinging side to side. Put my resistance wheel in the circuit to simulate a sender and as soon as that open wire was connected to ground thru a resistor the swinging needle and noise stopped. Not sure why this happened but maybe your problem is wiring somewhere else than under the dash.

I don't hink it would explain the ammeter reading high discharge (mine was barely off center) but still it might be worth a look.

Wednesday 8th July 2015

Visited Sydney today and called into the workshop where Wade had left 1) the Harmonic Balancer from pepepackard, 2) the Coupes original water pump, which Wade rebuilt, 3) a set of timing case gaskets, 4) a pair of timing case oil seals(..3 & 4 being "off the shelf" items!) and 5) a nice and tasty surprise courtesy of Gina, see photo below.
Howard, for your advice on matters electrical. No doubt will be helpful once I start on that side of things.

Speaking of which, haven't done anything with the Coupe yet. Besides, while still sorting my "stuff" into some sort of permanency in the garage, it's also school holiday time here and two of our granddaughters and one grandson have been occupying our time. In addition I need to put up the missing link in the shelving which I'm aiming to do tomorrow. So all going well, with kids back at school next week, the Coupe will finally be attended to!

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Sunday 19th July 2015

After much shuffling, some sorting, putting up another section of high shelving and re-organisation, although the latter will be a continuous process, the garage was finally in an acceptable state to start working on the Coupe. This work will reveal if I really learnt anything in my 5 plus years apprenticeship with Wade. So it was with some trepidation, not having Wade to guide me through, that I started the process of removing the front clip. I know it can be done as the Coupe underwent front clip removal back in 2009 for an engine rebuild. This time though there's just me with the biggest problems I imagine I'll face being removal of the bonnet(hood) and the front clip itself after that.

Started by jacking the front up and putting a pair of jackstands under the frame rails. Naturally it wasn't high enough and through the course of the day rejacked and rejackstanded it twice more. First thing off was the front bumper complete with stone shield, that whole apparatus being placed to one side well out of the way.
Next was the bonnet(hood). First disconnected the bonnet(hood) props, should have left that to last for this part of the process. The front mount of the bonnet(hood) was easy, only requiring three bolts to be removed. Then came the rear clamp, my hat goes off to the untold countless mechanics and owners who have had to get under Packard dashes. Easy enough to see the nuts holding the bolts but another matter altogether to access them. Wires, cables, demister(defroster) duct and the cowl vent drain all conspire, together with being bent into unnatural plus uncomfortable positions, to make access almost impossible. But never fear, one thing I've learnt from Wade is perseverance. The right side nut came out surprisingly easy but that was obviously to lull me into a false sense of accomplishment because the left side presented it's own set of restrictions. But, as I said, perseverance paid off and eventually off came the nut, which I still have to find, but I know it's in there! Also noticed the right side bonnet(hood) side panel is secured to the cowl by a clip(Which I think is "correct"). However the left side panel is secured to the cowl by a bolt which I imagine was welded to the panel previously, so I undid the nut. To access under the dash I'd removed the front seat squab and laid a folded blanket on the floor and over the seat frame. The seat squab went onto a pair of aluminium(aluminum) trestles and was covered by an old towel. That made a great repository for the bonnet(hood) once I got it off the Coupe. This was accomplished with some degree of difficulty, not having anyone to help, but did manage. Also unbolted the right side radiator stay from the cowl, the left side stay having been removed, and not reinstalled, when the harmonic balancer was replaced.

Then under the car to remove the bolts, 4 each side, securing the rear of the mudguards(fenders) to the cowl, fairly easily done. Back up top to disconnect the wiring, being the headlight/parklight/turn signal part of the wiring harness(loom). Was going well, with the 3 wires on the body of the terminal block(correct me please if that's not the right terminology), taken care of. But there are also wires from the main part of the harness(loom) affixed to the rearmost bolt securing the terminal to the inner mudguard(fender) and the bolt turned with the nut! Not being an orangutan, I couldn't reach under the mudguard(fender) to hold a spanner(wrench) on the head of the bolt while undoing the nut inside the engine compartment. After repeated attempts with socket extensions, trying to jury rig a spanner(wrench) in place on the head of the bolt I finally bit the bullet and asked my wife if she could "help". To my surprise she said yes! But I think this will be the first and last time that she has her head under the front mudguard(fender) of a Packard. Even then there were problems until I realised the head of the bolt was a smaller size, 5/16", than the nut, 3/8". Didn't have that size spanner(wrench) or socket but fortunately a 7mm socket did the trick. Profusely thanked my wife, for this act above and beyond the call of duty. Apparently the marriage vows don't cover this sort of situation, who knew? Part of my profuse thanks was downing tools, cleaning up and making dinner.

But I'll be back to the Coupe tomorrow. Will be under, over and in to drain the cooling system, unbolt the radiator, disconnect the radiator hoses, disconnect the headlight harness(loom) I think it's clipped to the front crossmember and any other parts needing undoing or disconnection to permit the clip to be lifted off.

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