Re: Richter's '53 Caribbean
Posted by Richter12x2 On 2015/5/12 23:12:55
Just an update - I started cleaning up the differential. I'm having a beast of a time getting the u-joint out. One side I managed to get free, the other side was stuck, so I had to break out the 12 ton press, thinking if I can free it up, then I can lube it and push it back out the other way. Nope, popped all the way in. I'll have to come back to that issue later.
Beyond that, I had a great idea for how to get the floor pan from the Clipper into the bottom of the Caribbean, but it didn't work out the way I planned exactly. My hope was that the inner bolts would be through the center section of the floor, and the outer bolts would go through on the other side of the seam weld for the inner rockers, so my hope was that I could cut the inner floor free on the Caribbean part, and the outer rockers off of the Clipper floor, and then use the frame to hold it all in place while I welded the floor back in. Was so excited about it I had a hard time sleeping that night (thought came to me about 11pm).
Next day I looked at it, and it's not quite so easy, but it may not be much harder. Since the convertible frames have the extra boxed section under the body, I can still keep that attached while I cut the floor out above it (hopefully). So it will be similar to the thought I had, but not quite so amazingly clever. I just have to be careful not to cut all the way through the convertible support when I cut the floor out from above it.
I also ground off the rivets from the rear section of frame that I need to replace, and from the Caribbean donor piece (Clipper had a welded on tow bar, and after 30 minutes of grinding, I just chopped that section off on the junk Caribbean frame.) Now I just need to clean it up, paint it, and bolt it back in. (Packard service manual recommends replacing the rivets with appropriately sized bolts if sections need replacing, particularly for the body braces.)
I also ground out the body braces and popped them loose, sourced the bolts, washers, lock washers and nuts to fit the Caribbean braces. They too just need to be cleaned up and painted, and now I can clean up the area underneath them on the frame better than I was able to before.
Getting the Triumph finished and to the car show kinda helped motivate me. After getting the paint polished up and everything back together and seeing how amazing it looked in the light, and how well it drove the 100 miles to the show and back kinda re-validated that I have it in me to take a car from junk back to something special, so I'm excited to be working on the Packard again.
Likewise, my wife will be excited when we can get that space in the garage back again, and don't have a rusty floor tied to the garage door rail. :P
Attach file:
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Beyond that, I had a great idea for how to get the floor pan from the Clipper into the bottom of the Caribbean, but it didn't work out the way I planned exactly. My hope was that the inner bolts would be through the center section of the floor, and the outer bolts would go through on the other side of the seam weld for the inner rockers, so my hope was that I could cut the inner floor free on the Caribbean part, and the outer rockers off of the Clipper floor, and then use the frame to hold it all in place while I welded the floor back in. Was so excited about it I had a hard time sleeping that night (thought came to me about 11pm).
Next day I looked at it, and it's not quite so easy, but it may not be much harder. Since the convertible frames have the extra boxed section under the body, I can still keep that attached while I cut the floor out above it (hopefully). So it will be similar to the thought I had, but not quite so amazingly clever. I just have to be careful not to cut all the way through the convertible support when I cut the floor out from above it.
I also ground off the rivets from the rear section of frame that I need to replace, and from the Caribbean donor piece (Clipper had a welded on tow bar, and after 30 minutes of grinding, I just chopped that section off on the junk Caribbean frame.) Now I just need to clean it up, paint it, and bolt it back in. (Packard service manual recommends replacing the rivets with appropriately sized bolts if sections need replacing, particularly for the body braces.)
I also ground out the body braces and popped them loose, sourced the bolts, washers, lock washers and nuts to fit the Caribbean braces. They too just need to be cleaned up and painted, and now I can clean up the area underneath them on the frame better than I was able to before.
Getting the Triumph finished and to the car show kinda helped motivate me. After getting the paint polished up and everything back together and seeing how amazing it looked in the light, and how well it drove the 100 miles to the show and back kinda re-validated that I have it in me to take a car from junk back to something special, so I'm excited to be working on the Packard again.
Likewise, my wife will be excited when we can get that space in the garage back again, and don't have a rusty floor tied to the garage door rail. :P
Attach file:
(67.16 KB)
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