Re: The Duchess Project: 1940 Super 8 Convertible Sedan
Posted by Joe Santana On 2011/1/20 11:15:51
An hour's writing, just bit the dust. Restored. It's what we do, no?
BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE and A GAY MOMENT ...MY EXPERIENCE WITH A PACKARD DELUXE HEATER/DEFROSTER AND DELUXE RADIO ... The heater and the radio were rebuilt 25 years ago, one sent off to a radiator shop downtown and the other to the Midwest for re-tubing. Both have been sitting on one shelf or another waiting for me to get it together, it being The Duchess.
So at last I ordered the firewall insulator from Quiet Ride and decided I should make sure we didn't seal up the wrong holes in the firewall when we welded up all the superfluous ones. I could install and test out both accessories.
The paint on the heater housing needed to be refreshed from being buffeted from residence to residence. The switch needed cleaning, so took it apart and did that. The heater, speaker and radio all mounted easily with the help of a couple of pillows to prop them in place. I wired them up, the heater to the ignition switch and the radio to the ammeter. The heater motor works like a dream, smooth and quiet. The heater return tube I ordered from John Ulrich is on its way, so I can test the radiator component, too. It looks brand new. I don't think we put water in it after it came back from the shop.
I connected the flex hoses to the outlets and the window defroster attachments. It blew me away. Wow, a mighty wind on the window (when there's a window there). It took me back. On semester break from USF in the winter of '62, I drove to Southern California with Mike K, now of Seattle, and we hit a long stretch of highway near Bakersfield about 2 in the morning. It was freezing cold. The Duchess had a little Brand X heater and no defroster. The fog was dense. You couldn't see truck tail lights until you were practically on top of them. We took turns driving and holding a match to the driver's window. We met up with a friend of Mike's in LA with an '48 MG TC and had short bursts of racing on the freeway to meet some girls in Bellflower. It was the first time I'd seen REAL CHP's in action. Radar at the overpass. Three patrolmen with shoulder harnesses in one juiced up Chrysler chasing down speeders, dropping off a CHP for each violator, the last one ticketing our friend in the TC. Efficiency. The Duchess wasn't targeted. Gee, they were serious down here. Bottom line, the fan is powerful. I was surprised. So now looking forward to freezing fog conditions.
THE VIBRATOR STILL WORKS, THANK GOODNESS. I turned on the radio. There was a faint buzz, but not from the speaker, from the receiver. Volume up all the way. Nothing from the speaker. I'd replaced the waterlogged 8" dynamic speaker with a modern one designed for patio use, also 8", but with like a plastic frame. The exterior looks the same. I dismounted the speaker and opened it up. Everything inside looked new and solid, so I brought it in the house and touched the speaker wires from the stereo to 2 of the 4 posts. Nada. When I touched the 2 posts closest together, it played music to my ears. So remounted it. I'd purchased a Packard Custom Deluxe installation manual from Yesterday's Radio, but up to this point, only looked at the drawings, like I do sometimes with an issue of the New Yorker.
Now I read about how to correctly attached the controls. And the antenna. Aha. Antenna, Santana! I stuck a wire in the hole. (I bought a muddy, crusty under-the-runningboard antenna for $20 at a swap meet, but don't have the proper antenna plug-in.) Nothing. I decided to start working on the old antenna, but forgot to switch off the radio, which works without the ignition on. About 10 minutes later I heard something burning. I didn't smell anything, just heard this crackling sound. It was coming from the speaker! I turned the dial knob to tune in the frequency of a station. I thought I heard a change, but still mostly that static scratching noise. I decided to pull open the face of the receiver. It worked off slowly. I got an alligator test lead and clipped it to the antenna jack on the inside. I was shocked! The thing just blasted Mexican music as loud and joyous as you can imagine. I turned it down, then hell, turned it back up again. I was thrilled. I started dancing around the garage to the music. Hacha! Hoi-Hoi! It was too much. It was a gay moment, but as in the song South of the Border..."It was fiesta, and we were so gay. South of the border, down Mexico way!"
Well, when I calmed down, I tried tuning the dial to another station, but even as I turned the knob and could feel it turning the tuner, nothing changed. Will I be forced to listen to Mexican music forever? I read more of the manual. You have to push the center button through the set frequencies until you come to the Dial. Then the dial works. Which it does. Holy cow, this was the most fun I'd had in a very long time. Especially after coming off that god-forsaken oil line. The restoration of the antenna is well underway. I picked up an antenna extension cord with the proper plug. Feeling pretty good now.
The engine is another matter. I've been following the starting and running diagnostics Herehttps://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6350&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=30
More later. The fuel pump comes off tonight.
Attach file:
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BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE and A GAY MOMENT ...MY EXPERIENCE WITH A PACKARD DELUXE HEATER/DEFROSTER AND DELUXE RADIO ... The heater and the radio were rebuilt 25 years ago, one sent off to a radiator shop downtown and the other to the Midwest for re-tubing. Both have been sitting on one shelf or another waiting for me to get it together, it being The Duchess.
So at last I ordered the firewall insulator from Quiet Ride and decided I should make sure we didn't seal up the wrong holes in the firewall when we welded up all the superfluous ones. I could install and test out both accessories.
The paint on the heater housing needed to be refreshed from being buffeted from residence to residence. The switch needed cleaning, so took it apart and did that. The heater, speaker and radio all mounted easily with the help of a couple of pillows to prop them in place. I wired them up, the heater to the ignition switch and the radio to the ammeter. The heater motor works like a dream, smooth and quiet. The heater return tube I ordered from John Ulrich is on its way, so I can test the radiator component, too. It looks brand new. I don't think we put water in it after it came back from the shop.
I connected the flex hoses to the outlets and the window defroster attachments. It blew me away. Wow, a mighty wind on the window (when there's a window there). It took me back. On semester break from USF in the winter of '62, I drove to Southern California with Mike K, now of Seattle, and we hit a long stretch of highway near Bakersfield about 2 in the morning. It was freezing cold. The Duchess had a little Brand X heater and no defroster. The fog was dense. You couldn't see truck tail lights until you were practically on top of them. We took turns driving and holding a match to the driver's window. We met up with a friend of Mike's in LA with an '48 MG TC and had short bursts of racing on the freeway to meet some girls in Bellflower. It was the first time I'd seen REAL CHP's in action. Radar at the overpass. Three patrolmen with shoulder harnesses in one juiced up Chrysler chasing down speeders, dropping off a CHP for each violator, the last one ticketing our friend in the TC. Efficiency. The Duchess wasn't targeted. Gee, they were serious down here. Bottom line, the fan is powerful. I was surprised. So now looking forward to freezing fog conditions.
THE VIBRATOR STILL WORKS, THANK GOODNESS. I turned on the radio. There was a faint buzz, but not from the speaker, from the receiver. Volume up all the way. Nothing from the speaker. I'd replaced the waterlogged 8" dynamic speaker with a modern one designed for patio use, also 8", but with like a plastic frame. The exterior looks the same. I dismounted the speaker and opened it up. Everything inside looked new and solid, so I brought it in the house and touched the speaker wires from the stereo to 2 of the 4 posts. Nada. When I touched the 2 posts closest together, it played music to my ears. So remounted it. I'd purchased a Packard Custom Deluxe installation manual from Yesterday's Radio, but up to this point, only looked at the drawings, like I do sometimes with an issue of the New Yorker.
Now I read about how to correctly attached the controls. And the antenna. Aha. Antenna, Santana! I stuck a wire in the hole. (I bought a muddy, crusty under-the-runningboard antenna for $20 at a swap meet, but don't have the proper antenna plug-in.) Nothing. I decided to start working on the old antenna, but forgot to switch off the radio, which works without the ignition on. About 10 minutes later I heard something burning. I didn't smell anything, just heard this crackling sound. It was coming from the speaker! I turned the dial knob to tune in the frequency of a station. I thought I heard a change, but still mostly that static scratching noise. I decided to pull open the face of the receiver. It worked off slowly. I got an alligator test lead and clipped it to the antenna jack on the inside. I was shocked! The thing just blasted Mexican music as loud and joyous as you can imagine. I turned it down, then hell, turned it back up again. I was thrilled. I started dancing around the garage to the music. Hacha! Hoi-Hoi! It was too much. It was a gay moment, but as in the song South of the Border..."It was fiesta, and we were so gay. South of the border, down Mexico way!"
Well, when I calmed down, I tried tuning the dial to another station, but even as I turned the knob and could feel it turning the tuner, nothing changed. Will I be forced to listen to Mexican music forever? I read more of the manual. You have to push the center button through the set frequencies until you come to the Dial. Then the dial works. Which it does. Holy cow, this was the most fun I'd had in a very long time. Especially after coming off that god-forsaken oil line. The restoration of the antenna is well underway. I picked up an antenna extension cord with the proper plug. Feeling pretty good now.
The engine is another matter. I've been following the starting and running diagnostics Herehttps://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6350&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=30
More later. The fuel pump comes off tonight.
Attach file:
(58.53 KB)
(71.31 KB)
(61.03 KB)
(46.79 KB)
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