Re: Larry's 1951 Club Sedan Project
Posted by Larry51 On 2016/2/26 5:48:10
Here we go with another one of life's adventures - overhauling an Ultramatic for the Club Sedan. I'm looking forward to it. Have had a lengthy break from doing anything major on the '51 so now I'm all 'energized' and ready to have a crack at it. Noticed that BigKev has also had a burst of enthusiasm about the same time and is working on his Ultramatic as well.
He has a much bigger challenge though - swapping in a '56. That could be a bit tricky, so best of luck BigKev!
First a bit of background which will provide an update on what's been happening since restoration of the car was "completed". (Well - everyone knows a restoration is never fully completed.)
The '51 has been going really well, and done almost 2,000 miles since its first outing. We have done a few quite long trips in her, to the Packard Rally last year being obne of them.
There have been a few minor hiccups and despite the unlikelihood of having the same thing happen three times, all three issues have related to faulty distributor condensers. New condensers fixed the problem, but the NOS from Kanter, then the cheap ebay ones I bought failed (twice). Now I have settled on a decent Bosch condenser.
The Bosch one went in after I totally destroyed my new muffler with an after-fire that was heard all the way from Burrumbuttock through Bumbaldry and on to Birdsville. Scared the life out of the missus. . . . .
The Ultramatic I used was the only part of the coupe that I didn't recondition.
I had a complete spare Ultramatic available, so it seemed reasonable to just use one of them without going through the lengthy and expensive process of overhauling it. 'If it ain't broke then don't fix it'.
So, I picked it up off the garage floor and after a clean-up and a good paint job in it went.
It was totally satisfying when the Ultra worked very well. No noises, no slippage, quick crisp changes, direct drive lockup worked - all very good.
There was the minor issue of it not coming out of DD and into converter mode soon enough. It would do so at around 5mph, instead of maybe 15 to 10mph. And kick-down doesn't work. But I was OK with these issues. I knew I'd need to take it out eventually due to the minor oil leaks it has. It leaks a few drops of ATF a day onto the drip tray.
So now is the time to prepare the 'spare' Ultra I have and swap it into the car.
I started a week ago by getting all the Service Counsellors / STB's etc together that relate and having a good read of them plus the 51-54 Service Manual and also the Technicians Training Manual. Had read these before (briefly) but after a second reading it became very clear that anyone doing up an Ultra really needs to have a good knowledge of these service-type documents before even commencing the rebuild. There were quite a lot of changes made over the years.
Prior to this (- actually it was before Christmas -) I had received the rebuild kit from Max Merritt and also a new direct drive friction plate, plus had the brake bands re-lined locally.
Finding a shop that does relining wasn't easy but I saved a fortune because I didn't have to send my old ones over to the US and have the re-lined ones sent back. Shipping to/from the US is a very big expense even for small items, and especially for things like exchange bands, clutch plates etc.
Quite a few quid's worth of parts from Max Merritt
Merritt has become my chosen supplier - excellent service and quick shipping!!
New Direct Drive clutch plate from the US
Found a local place that re-lines bands
So before I had started work I had spent a lot of dollars on the kit plus other parts . . . . And I wasn't even sure if I will need some of them.
The reason I say that is because the spare Ultramatic I am about to overhaul is labelled: "O/HAULED 11/4/75". So what I am about to work on has already been "overhauled" 40 years ago.
"Overhauled" . . . 41 years ago!!
I don't know who would have done the work back then, or whether they were good and qualified, or might have been 'backyard mechanics'. Time will tell.
He has a much bigger challenge though - swapping in a '56. That could be a bit tricky, so best of luck BigKev!
First a bit of background which will provide an update on what's been happening since restoration of the car was "completed". (Well - everyone knows a restoration is never fully completed.)
The '51 has been going really well, and done almost 2,000 miles since its first outing. We have done a few quite long trips in her, to the Packard Rally last year being obne of them.
There have been a few minor hiccups and despite the unlikelihood of having the same thing happen three times, all three issues have related to faulty distributor condensers. New condensers fixed the problem, but the NOS from Kanter, then the cheap ebay ones I bought failed (twice). Now I have settled on a decent Bosch condenser.
The Bosch one went in after I totally destroyed my new muffler with an after-fire that was heard all the way from Burrumbuttock through Bumbaldry and on to Birdsville. Scared the life out of the missus. . . . .
The Ultramatic I used was the only part of the coupe that I didn't recondition.
I had a complete spare Ultramatic available, so it seemed reasonable to just use one of them without going through the lengthy and expensive process of overhauling it. 'If it ain't broke then don't fix it'.
So, I picked it up off the garage floor and after a clean-up and a good paint job in it went.
It was totally satisfying when the Ultra worked very well. No noises, no slippage, quick crisp changes, direct drive lockup worked - all very good.
There was the minor issue of it not coming out of DD and into converter mode soon enough. It would do so at around 5mph, instead of maybe 15 to 10mph. And kick-down doesn't work. But I was OK with these issues. I knew I'd need to take it out eventually due to the minor oil leaks it has. It leaks a few drops of ATF a day onto the drip tray.
So now is the time to prepare the 'spare' Ultra I have and swap it into the car.
I started a week ago by getting all the Service Counsellors / STB's etc together that relate and having a good read of them plus the 51-54 Service Manual and also the Technicians Training Manual. Had read these before (briefly) but after a second reading it became very clear that anyone doing up an Ultra really needs to have a good knowledge of these service-type documents before even commencing the rebuild. There were quite a lot of changes made over the years.
Prior to this (- actually it was before Christmas -) I had received the rebuild kit from Max Merritt and also a new direct drive friction plate, plus had the brake bands re-lined locally.
Finding a shop that does relining wasn't easy but I saved a fortune because I didn't have to send my old ones over to the US and have the re-lined ones sent back. Shipping to/from the US is a very big expense even for small items, and especially for things like exchange bands, clutch plates etc.
Quite a few quid's worth of parts from Max Merritt
Merritt has become my chosen supplier - excellent service and quick shipping!!
New Direct Drive clutch plate from the US
Found a local place that re-lines bands
So before I had started work I had spent a lot of dollars on the kit plus other parts . . . . And I wasn't even sure if I will need some of them.
The reason I say that is because the spare Ultramatic I am about to overhaul is labelled: "O/HAULED 11/4/75". So what I am about to work on has already been "overhauled" 40 years ago.
"Overhauled" . . . 41 years ago!!
I don't know who would have done the work back then, or whether they were good and qualified, or might have been 'backyard mechanics'. Time will tell.
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