Re: Don’s 1937 (120) 138CD Deluxe Touring Limo

Posted by Don B On 2023/9/7 17:26:16

Questions below and opinions wanted!

Okay, I’m making some good progress and want to go through things logically. The goal is to get the car on the road as soon as reasonable and then to get it in for body work, paint and interior.

I’m trying to put together a clear plan to follow, knowing that things will pop up along the way. I’d would really appreciate any thoughts/comments on my plan of attack. I also have a few questions….

But first, some background…

In 2004, my dad had someone “go through” the car a bit and get it running. The problem is that my dad has no idea what was actually done. I’m not sure how he paid someone to work on the car without keeping tabs on what was done, but that’s where I’m at. Here is what I know/believe:

1. Brakes - the brakes had been gone through, but clearly needed that again after 20 years of sitting.
2. Clutch - I believe was replaced
3. Starter - I believe was replaced
4. Tires - had new tires in 2004, but will need replaced
5. Fuel pump - rebuilt, but failed again - electric fuel pump added. Don’t know any details yet.
6. Suspension - was clearly lubed, but I don’t know what if anything else may have been done.
7. Engine/transmission - I don’t believe much was done, but the car was running and driving well in 2004. I do plan to change the oil, transmission fluid, and differential oil….I have what I need on those items from previous posts. I also have new spark plugs and wires.

Here is where I’m at today…
1. Wiring -
    a. a new wiring harness has been installed (mostly). Dad had purchased this back in 2004. All connections are in place except for the sending unit at the gas tank. I’ll deal with that when I drop the tank to clean it.
    b. I have taken out and serviced the dash switches. I need to re-install them and get them wired.
    c. Test
2. Brakes -
    a. replaced master cylinder
    b. replaced wheel cylinders
    c. replaced springs/hardware
    d. cleaned out old fluid
    e. Still need to bleed the system and then make any needed adjustments….hopefully, that will get done this weekend. I did not replace the shoes since they were in very good condition, having been previously replaced and only driven 20 miles or so after that.
3. Restored and installed horns - the car was missing horns the entire time my dad had it….since 1960
4. Installed new spark plugs and wires.

Up next - general plan:
1. fuel tank
    a. clean, inspect, and service as needed
    b. check sending unit. service as needed and wire
    c. re-install tank
2. back flush cooling system and heater. If the heater has a problem, I’ll deal with that in Item 11.
3. Change engine oil
4. Change transmission fluid
5. Change differential fluid
6. Start the car….fingers crossed! It’s quite likely that I’ll need to insert a line that says “rebuild carburetor” before I’m successful with this step.
7. body work/paint
8. glass
9. Interior/upholstery
10. new tires
11. later on - future projects - in order of priority
    a. Install automatic choke coil - The car currently has a manual choke installed, but I have a NOS choke coil. I just need the linkage for it.
    b. suspension - front and rear - I think I’ll likely get someone that know much more about it than I do. But, I’m thinking that can be done later.
    c. Heater - if there are leaks etc..from Item 2.
    d. dash and interior trim wood graining….what I have is in pretty decent shape for something that was done 86 years ago. I’ll have to decide when I want to tackle all the disassembly and re-wiring when the wood graining is done.
    e. Sylphon thermostat for radiator louvres- rebuild/replace
    f. chrome - right now my plan is to just polish up what I have the best that I can. Not sure if I’ll do anything more than that later.

Now, this gets me to the questions….

I just discovered and watched all of the old Classic Car Restoration with Mark Lambert working on a 1938 Packard. It was amazing and will be very helpful as I go forward. Especially, considering I’m not a car guy and this is all very new to me.

So after watching the episodes, I realized that there are a number of things that I think should be looked at and it seems like now would be the right time to do it (before any body work).
1. Front engine mount - check/replace
2. timing chain - check/replace - to the best of my knowledge, the car has about 85,000 miles on it.
3. Timing cover seal - check/replace
4. cooling system - back flush radiator and block
5. cooling system - thermostat
6. center steering crank bearing

These are things that I think I can do. But, I think I would be well off to remove the front clip first. I’ve seen enough other posts that I think I know how to do that. I don’t have a cherry picker, so I’ll need to recruit a few friends to help with the lifting. It appears to me that the front clip has never been removed before. I say this because the car has a substantial undercoating that shows no signs of ever being disturbed (ie parts separated from one another).

That get’s me to my questions:
1. Do you agree that the items I listed make sense to do now or should I focus on getting the car at least running first and then remove the clip and do the items above? If were to focus on getting the car running first, I still need to back flush the radiator and clean the fuel tank first.
2. If/when I do remove the front clip, are there any other items I should take a look at while the clip is off? I know some will say the answer to this is “everything”. That’s not what I’m looking for. I will likely add a timing pointer and timing marks on the vibration dampener.
3. For the steering system, I do have a lot of play in the steering wheel. The videos had a great section on this, so I think I can tackle a couple of things like the steering gear box adjustment and center bearing replacement. But, what gear oil should be used in the steering gear box?

I would love any and all thoughts on all of this. If I do remove the clip, I’m going to need to get the list of items done pretty quickly as I just don’t have the storage space for the clip. I’ll need to be able to get the clip back on as quickly as possible. I would like to keep the time with the clip off to just a few weeks.