I had some time yesterday so I hooked up the generator to the battery and let it run for a while. Thanks Ross for the tip. From what I can tell it seemed to run fine, and I assume the brushes are settled into place. Once I get the car started again I will test to make sure that it is all functioning properly.

I installed the generator back on the car, leaving the condenser off for now. The radio currently does not work in the car, so the condenser is not needed. I reinstalled the fan as well. Next up is the radiator.

Lastly, I stripped the radiator panel from whatever was on it previously. I think it was POR 15 or something similar. It was thick, was peeling in a few places, had ugly running drips, and generally was a poor look. So I cleaned it down to bare metal and will repaint.

I was hoping to get the car started and test it out, but we woke up to 3-4" of snow on the ground. There's supposed to be a cruise-in with the local car club this weekend...I wonder if that will still happen.

-Kevin

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  Late spring snow.jpg (73.01 KB)

I did check the mica as part of the service. The Motors manual I worked out of mentioned it, and I think it said something like 1/32" was an appropriate undercut.

I checked mine and the mica still looks plenty undercut relative to the commutator, so I didn't do anything additional. I just used very fine sandpaper to polish the commutator until I removed all the scratches.

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Thanks Ross, very helpful. I'll do that when I get back in town. Do I need to put the condenser thing back on the generator before I do this? It was attached to the ground screw with the wire going to the armature terminal.

-Kevin

Quote:

I guess you're right. It probably wouldn't make much, if any difference whether or not you did any sort of a seal under the base of the mirror.

From the factory, did the trim have any sort of seal where the clips meet the holes? I can't tell on mine since the trim was removed in the past for painting. Without a seal those holes let water right into the unprotected inner metal. The inside of my doors are covered in surface rust, and all the sound deadener in there is destroyed.

-Kevin

I couldn't find a replacement for the bushing, and it doesn't appear to be too bad. It doesn't really rock on the shaft at all. Worst case scenario if it totally fails then I'll rebuild another, or just get a 6 volt alternator. Or go 12 volt alternator.

I finished up the rebuild on the generator. I cleaned everything up the best I could and polished the commutator. The open front bearing was replaced with a sealed bearing that was a perfect fit (NAPA P62032RSJ), and the brushes were replaced with NAPA R423.

I went with the natural aluminum on the front and rear covers, and painted the pulley and fan aluminum. I found some evidence that maybe some of these generators were black and silver, or at least restored that way. One came from the a Caribbean chassis at the National Packard Museum (http://www.delcoremyhistory.com/Museums/natioanalpackardmuseum.htm) and another was from Ross's video on setting the timing. That generator looked like it had clean aluminum on the front and rear. But I've seen some that were all black too. So I decided to dress it up a bit and go with black and aluminum. Correct or not, it does look nice I think...though it certainly won't win any awards.

My generator belt was about to break, and the PS belt wasn't doing much better. I replaced both with NAPA parts (7410 for generator and 7460 for PS).

I also have been pulling some parts off for cleaning and painting while I have access. The fresh air ducts were all removed, everything wire wheeled off, rust converted, then painted. All bolts were sandblasted and painted. I cleaned, sanded and painted the side skirts as well. Really to do it right I need to disassemble the whole front of the car, but that's not on my list to do right now. I just want to get the engine bay looking nice enough to keep me from wanting to cringe when I open the hood. Eventually the engine will get pulled, or the whole front end will come off to give me complete access to everything. At that point I will make sure everything is cleaned and painted correctly. But for now, this at least gets things looking more presentable.

I need to test the generator, then it goes back in the car. I believe I need to polarize it too. That'll have to wait until next week, as I'm going out of town.

-Kevin

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  Polished communtator.jpg (116.16 KB)


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  Generator complete 1.jpg (101.60 KB)


  Generator complete 2.jpg (93.54 KB)


  Cracked generator belt.jpg (74.78 KB)


  Stripping parts.jpg (102.41 KB)


  Freshly painted.jpg (109.04 KB)


  Cleaning and repainting parts.jpg (160.35 KB)

Nice! If I didn't already have mounting holes in my doors I would've loved to mount my mirrors on the trim. What did you do for a weather seal?

-Kevin

I'm pretty sure those are the same mirrors I have on mine. They work well enough. I mounted mine to the doors because there were already holes in the doors from a previous owner that I needed to cover up. Technically the mirrors are supposed to be mounted on the stainless, and you might be able to get that to work, but will probably need to either notch the base of the mirror to fit the contours of the stainless, or make a custom gasket.

I had holes on both doors, so I have a passenger side mirror also. It's mostly useless.

The mirrors blend well enough with the lines and style of the car. They aren't terribly noticeable when looking at the car. So should look good enough on the Caribbean.

-Kevin

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So did Ross replace the windshield? If so, I'm glad he was able to do that. I didn't have to take off the wiper towers completely when I did mine, but I did have to loosen them up some. Enough to get the trim out and move the glass and gasket around them.

Did Ross put the upper and side trim in the gasket before installing the windshield? I installed mine after and it was rough.

Car looks great!

-Kevin

Out of curiosity, why was it taken apart? Looks pretty nice from the before pictures.

-Kevin

I got adventurous.

Should hopefully wrap up the rebuild tomorrow. Couldn't find a good way to get the bushing out, so I may leave it there.
Anyone know if the pulley on these things was black or silver?

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