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Tuesday 27th November 2012

Late morning start at the workshop, and when I arrived, found Wade and Michael working on Michael's '54 Convertible. Michael had purchased a front end rebuild kit from Kanters earlier this year and the time was now ripe for it to be fitted. The Convertible was up on the hoist with both front wheels and brake drums off. Wade and Michael were working on the left side suspension with a screw support under the lower A arm, I think that's what it's called, while bolts were undone. As parts were removed I assumed the role of parts cleaner, something I'm intimately familiar with. Wade's experience with Packards has been mainly with pre-WW2 and earlier cars so the suspension on the '54 was somewhat unfamiliar. However Michael had come equipped with a manual which had lots of exploded parts views as well as other documentation. Only removed the left side and started re-assembling components with the parts from the kit today. Also made use of one of the spacers fabricated by Chris to use to set the width of the upper and lower arms when they are torqued to 90-95 ft/lbs, nifty special Packard parts. Assembled the upper arm, using Chris's spacer while the lower A arm was partially re-assembled. It'll be completed tomorrow but I wont be there, instead I'll be painting a ceiling and visiting grandkids, it's a hard life. But will make a workshop pit stop at some stage between finishing the painting and going off to see the grandkids.

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Wednesday 28th November 2012

Pitstop at the workshop revealed the left front suspension rebuild of the '54 to be almost finished. Wade and Michael have installed the upper arm, the spring and the lower A arm, which has the longer of Chris's 2 spacers in place. A new kingpin has been installed and they were in the process of reattaching the 'upright', my term, when I left them to it. Also still to be reinstalled is the shock absorber.

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Mal, the last photo reminds me of a comment from a woman customer (many, many years ago). We had doing some work in the top and bottom of another customer's engine. To do this we had the front of the car jacked up to work underneath and a stool next to one of the front tires on which to stand to work on the top of the engine. After watching us work on the top, she said: "Why do you guys jack up a car then use a stool to work on the engine?" So, retorically (sp.?) speaking: Why did Wade raise the car on the lift so high that he had to stand on crates to work on the car?

(o[]o)

Quote:John,

It's conjecture on my part, because I wasn't there when they did most of the work yesterday, but I think it's because of installing the lower A arm and spring. The height required to do that would have to be at an acceptable level. It entails using a long screw support to support the end of the A arm when the spring goes back in and before the upper pin is buttoned down. The reverse procedure was used when the spring was removed on Tuesday, when I was there, so I'm trying to imagine what was required yesterday. So yesterday, once the support was in place, it stayed there until the upper pin was installed and then the support was taken out. I saw that part! In the meantime plastic milk crates, a great workshop resource, were pressed into service for access to the upper pin at an acceptable height. In some of both days pics you can see the screw support.

Mal, this is what I believed to be the case. My question was a bit tongue in cheek. It still makes a great photo. Maybe we could start a caption contest for it? Inject a bit o' humor into the situation. We can all use a laugh from time to time. We could have the respondents agree to donate $5 to Big Kev for each caption. The winner gets something from Wade's Workshop. You be the judge.

Here is my caption contribution: "Wade, won't this lift go any higher?"

Go for it guys, it is a worthy cause.

(o[]o)

Friday 30th November 2012

Quick pitstop only at the workshop where I found the left front suspension had been completed and Wade in the midst of disassembling the right front suspension. Wade was fighting with the upper shock absorber nut which was turning freely. However it succumbed, following a tip from John, using vise grips applied to the piston shaft and a rattle gun on the nut!

And an aside, and there are plenty in this Blog! Yesterday when passing RichardW's house at Eastwood I saw a '23 23/60 Vauxhall on a car trailer in his driveway and thought I'd get a pic of it on my return trip. Lucky I was back about 15 minutes later because any longer and I'd have missed the photo op completely. As I arrived Max Stephenson, the Vauxhalls owner, was preparing to leave and I learnt it was to deliver the car for shipment to South America to participate in the The Great South American Challenge 2013 - February 14 to March 24. Max and son James have competed in and completed many long distance rallies around the world, including the Peking to Paris and the London to Capetown World Cup Rally, in the Vauxhall which is called "Penny". To learn more about the South American Rally go to the H&H Classic Rallies Website and follow the links.

Quote:John,

Sounds good, however I'm not sure what we could offer from the workshop as a prize! Old, dirty, rusty and, might I say, highly valuable Packard parts are probably not going to be easily prised out of Wades grasp. Hmmmm, wonder what else might be suitable? In the meantime, while I contemplate what might be a suitable prize, lets get those entries rolling in! Remember the judges decision is final, no correspondence will be entered into and entries close at midnight on Christmas Eve.

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What, no one wants to play? Let's help Big Kev and have some fun at the same time.

(o{}o)

Monday 3rd December 2012

Only a couple of hours at the workshop this morning with the afternoon to be taken up visiting grandkids. At the workshop Wade and Michael, accompanied by his son Ben who was an interested observer, removed the right front suspension components. Once removed my role was to then clean the 3 main components ready for further disassembly and rebuild. Once cleaned up the upright was separated from the stub axle after the pin securing the king pin was driven out. Then followed more cleaning of the further broken down components before the stub axle went to the press and the roller bearings pushed out. Some final cleaning and new roller bearings were pressed in, the king pin installed and a new securing pin pressed in. At this point Michael departed with Ben as Ben had an engagement to fill as an MC mid afternoon. Not long after I too bade my farewell just after the grease caps, covering the top and bottom of the stub axle had been fitted.

A little later my wife Kath and I visited our newest granddaughter and travelled by means of the Coupe. Reason being being we needed a photo of us to submit for inclusion in the Rally Book for next years Packard National Rally. Mission accomplished, with a good time with our young granddaughter and a number of pic's of us with the Coupe. The plan then was to go home, effecting a pitstop before heading off to see our other grandchildren. Again we were going to go in the Coupe. But........close to home, I again managed to effectively jam the Coupe in low and second at the same time! Some people just never learn, do they? I did say close to home didn't I? Well it was real close, about 80 feet to be more precise. So close and yet so far. Now the road we live on is a busy road, especially at peak periods the afternoon one of which was fast approaching. Asked Kath to take those final few steps home by herself while I tackled the recalcitrant linkages. But a small sledge hammer, which had usually proved effective to free up previous hang ups, was ineffective. So rang Wade, the workshop is only 10/15 minutes away to seek advice. Wade suggested a large screwdriver but that too failed to gain the desired result. Shedding any inhibitions then asked Wade if he could come and rescue me before the peak set in in earnest. He agreed and, while on his way, I persevered in trying to free up the linkages. Used the small trolley jack and a jackstand under the left side, the car is still LHD, and raised the Coupe sufficiently so that with my girth I could slide under. The beauty of the Coupe still being LHD in that situation was that the left side is in the gutter in a RHD country so I didn't have to worry about being run over just if someone was inattentive and rear ended the Coupe. But even trying to manipulate the linkages from undercar didn't help. So went back to the hammer and, lo and behold, was able to get the linkages back in alignment. Don't know if it was jacking the car up, the undercar linkage manipulation or a combination but whatever it was it worked. Then couldn't get on the phone fast enough to let Wade know his services were no longer required! As I was phoning Wade a guy pulled up and stopped in front of the Coupe and came over. Looked familiar but I couldn't quite place him. Turned out to be RossM who I'd met back on the 29th October when he came into the workshop and I'd posted this that day "...Ross is an Aussie who has spent the last 25 years in the US but is home now. Ross is organising for his '35 Super Eight 3 Window Coupe to be shipped to Australia. The Coupe has been undergoing restoration for the last 7 years, after all it was in 5,000 pieces when obtained, but is close to completion now which will be done in Australia. There are also some engine issues which still need to be addressed and Wade is going to attend to those..." And the amazing thing was that Ross said he'd just been visiting Wade at the workshop, it is small world at times. Anyway, even though the linkages were now working, I decided to park the Coupe and finished the remainder of the grandkids tour in the daily driver.

Quote: Doesn't look that way John, but............I've included an untitled pic taken at PACA's Christmas lunch yesterday. Some say there's a close resemblance between this correspondent and the person in the photo but I can't see it. All I'm going to say it was a FUN day and my wife was quite comfortable with it all. Say no more, nudge nudge, wink, wink! So here's your opportunity to exercise your minds and at the same time benefit PackardInfo with imaginative captions for the photo!

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Alright Mal, maybe we can gin up some interest with your photo. Here is my caption contribution:

Known only by a very few at the North Pole, Santa has a sister. Here she is making a surprise appearance at a Packard club luncheon. There are rumors the elves put her up to this trick.

(o{}o)

Tuesday 4th December 2012

Spent the day working on the front suspension of the '54 in company with Michael and Ben and, of course, Wade. Yesterday Wade had completed the refitments of the various sub assemblies, upper and lower arms and the upright and stub axle. But before starting on those the '54 was drained of oil, after all it was just sitting up there waiting for it to happen. Then the re-assembly process started in earnest with the upper arm fitted first. The lower arm was bolted to the frame then the screw tower was used as a jack to raise it after the upper part of the coil spring was inserted in the frame socket and the lower end of the coil located in the lower arm. Surprisingly "easy" to do, although the thought that if it let loose, mayhem would eventuate, was always close at hand. Taken slowly, with repositioning of the screw tower as the axis of the lift shifted, it did seem easy. The lower pin for the upright was next followed by the upper pin. The upper pin with its cam effect and left hand threadedness presented some challenges but by slowing things down these too were overcome. All in place then all nuts/bolts were torqued or tightened as required with Chris's spreaders playing their part at this juncture. Brakes backing plate back on followed by the brake drum then came the sway bar. Here a minor problem was overcome, although purists may cringe at the solution used. Wade had found the outer nut on the removable sides of each lower A arm was "chewed up". In putting the sway bar back on it was seen this was caused by the end of the sway bar rubbing on these nuts. Solution, trim about 1/4" inch off each end of the sway bar. And purists, you wouldn't know this had been done! So if I see anybody looking under the front of the '54, without good reason, I'll poke 'em in the eye! You have been warned. It will also probably remove a couple of sources of undercar squeaks that can usually never be found or fixed. Wheels and wheel covers back on and the '54 was lowered to the floor. There the old oil filter was removed, the canister cleaned and a new filter installed together with fresh oil to the sump. Started up, but not driven, all appeared well and did us for the day. Tomorrow the '54 has been booked in for a front end alignment around the corner at Tyre and Wheel Co followed by the mechanical and safety check required annually for re-registration. Then she'll probably go home on Thursday, although Michael and I still have to work out the details for that to happen. Also on Thursday Wade and Gina, in Big Red of course, head to Melbourne, about 530 miles south, for the Vic Region of PACA's Christmas lunch.

John,

Unless someone else kicks the tin you may well be the winner! Looks much like a repeat of Gerd's last puzzle attempt. Aren't there any PackardInfo members out there willing to, in the Australian vernacular, "have a go"? Remember, your $5 goes directly to the Website helping in its operation and maintenance.

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