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Thursday 8th March 2012

Well Junior certainly had quite a work out in the traffic this morning. Besides the usual chaos on the roads there was chaos from the skies as well. Sydney was drenched overnight and this morning by wet and wild weather with Junior taking it all in his stride. No problems at all going home or coming in this morning apart from traffic so thick OD operation couldn't be tested. Wade will take Junior home again this evening with the plan being that John and Annet will pick him up tomorrow.

Once in the workshop first thing was to chamois Junior down to provide 1) a dry surface on which to work over, and 2) handsome him up for tomorrow's handover to the proud parents. Although how handsome he remains is very dependent on Sydney's weather! Then I started on the kick panel, again. Actually went in fairly easily second time round, just took my time, started from the bottom screw, used a little pick to locate the holes and, hey presto, the kick panel was back in. While I was doing that Wade was addressing the air cleaner locating strap. Decided upon a length of aluminium strapping which he was going to cut down to size when Rick said "What about this?". "This" was a length of steel strapping which held a Lexus auto trans to the pallet it was delivered on for a repair Rick was doing. It was a little longer than the Packard strap and needed to be shaped to suit because it had doglegs at each end. Then after Wade straightened and ground off the rough corners I was enlisted to help with a trial fit to measure and mark hole spacings. Easiest thing I've ever done, no measuring or marking required, it fitted perfectly. So don't ever let anyone tell you Lexus parts won't fit a Packard! Wade then proceeded to clean and paint the Lexus Packard strap with some quick drying spray paint and took the opportunity to take off and paint the grotty looking OD relay cover at the same time.

Meanwhile I turned to the short length of about 2" x 2" x 1/4" angle iron Wade had secured as a bracket on which to mount a pair of horns, no not Lexus and not Packard for that matter, to Juniors head. Knowing this was coming during the course of the engine re-build Wade had installed a pair of longer head studs as the second rear pair of studs on the engine to serve as a mounting point for the horn bracket. This way head nuts are used as head nuts and torqued down, then the angle bracket is mounted on top of the head nuts and held in place by nuts together with lock washers which are hand tightened only, not torqued. After a false start where I drew up and marked two holes on the angle, fortunately realising in time before any drilling or cutting had occurred, that the holes were at the wrong end of the metal for the orientation required I finally got my act together. Remarked and drilled holes and marked the angle for the cuts required. By this time Wade had finished spraying and so together we finished the marking and drilling of the holes required to mount the horns to the bracket. Next was cutting about 1" of excess metal off the length of the angle. Used Wade's 4" angle grinder together with a new cutting disc, then another new disc, then an old disc, two more old discs and an old disc of John's. We were ably assisted by Graham with the grinding but even using all those discs we weren't through the metal. But we were close enough that, using a mini sledge, the length of metal being parted off could be forcibly be removed by hammering one way then the other, etc, etc. Off to the bench grinder to return a semblance of respectability to the angle and I was also thinking I could grind a big corner off the angle but soon returned to sanity. Instead, addressed the long side parted off, then each end which had been oxy cut to size so were quite daggy, then a general pretty up to remove the sharp corners. Didn't look too bad in the end, even if I say so myself! While I had been doing grinding, grinding and then some more grinding Wade had been addressing the electrical supply and connection side of the horns. New wires and connectors and cleaned excess POR-15 off(I wonder who did that?). But, with the coming the bracket, Wade cleaned it up and sprayed it with quick drying paint and sprayed the horn relay cover too.

Here's where I have a little confession to make. I didn't take the Coupe to the workshop this morning! On my arrival in my daily driver Wade made a comment about my being a "fair weather driver" to which I must plead guilty. My explanation excuse, the weather! Although Wade had to brave peak hour traffic AND the weather in Junior, my trip paled in comparison to his but still I didn't want to do it. Instead I said to Wade I'd bring the Coupe in tomorrow morning instead if that was OK with him. It was, but at this point, while waiting for paint to dry and the weather having cleared Wade suggested I go home and return with the Coupe for diagnosis and treatment of the OD problem after Junior was finished. Didn't need to be asked twice. Returned to find Wade had mounted the bracket and the horns on Junior and was finishing up the wiring. That done, then mounted the Lexus Packard strap and the air cleaner. Job done. Time to turn to the Coupe and it's recalcitrant OD. Armed with his multimeter Wade checked the under bonnet(hood) connections and continuity as well as the kick down switch, all OK. Then lying on his back under the dash, second nature to Wade in his Packard work, Wade found one of the wires on the switch on the OD lockout cable had been dislodged. Instead of just refitting it, because it was a spade connector, it was replaced with a collar type connector, can't get dislodged now. Went for a test drive and, we have OD!

I won't be at the workshop tomorrow so won't be seeing Wade again until early April. Also won't be seeing Junior pass back into the loving arms of parents Annet and John. However I will catch up with them in a weeks time for a 3 day Packard run to Lake Macquarie organised by PACA member PeterL who lives there. Should have a great time. And speaking of having a great time, so will Gina and Wade who are off to New Zealand for about 3 weeks part of which will encompass the South Pacific Packard Clubs Northern Exposure Rally 2012. Wade and Gina are "borrowing" a Packard of a New Zealand mate of his which will reciprocate his mates use of Old Blue during PACA's 2009 National Packard Southern Highlands Rally. Wade also mentioned his mate is preparing a car for the next Peking to Paris run so I asked if he could get a pic of the car he's preparing. See in the list of entrants a few from New Zealand but didn't sight Wade's mates name. However I see there are 3 Packard entered! Including one from Australia! Have to keep an eye on this when the time comes.

John, concerning your comments.

"I also noticed the fan belt. It looks to be too narrow and riding in the bottom of the water pump pulley groove." - Wade had noticed that, would have replaced it if he'd had a replacement at hand, and instead is going to take the matter up with Junior's Dad.

"Thanks again for sharing with us all the adventures at Wade's." - No need to thank me, my ever growing ego is growing even bigger as I type this!

And Stephen, steve-52/200, although I said this "...will be taking up your questions with Wade tomorrow." back on the 27th Feb and even printed out your questions I haven't forgotten you. It's just going to take much longer to get the answers than I first thought.

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Monday 19th March 2012

No, nothing happening in the workshop. Just thought I'd give a mechanical update relating to the Packards which were on the Lake Macquarie Run in this thread.

Firstly the Packards with direct links to Wade.

Mal & Kath's '41 120 Club Coupe - Great, no problems at all.

Noel's '39 120 Touring Sedan aka Fleurette - A very happy man, well at least he was when I last saw him this morning at Pennant Hills about 20 miles from home. I think the only thing done was Peter Packard adjusting the timing slightly to overcome pinging.

John & Annet's '40 110 Touring Sedan aka Junior - Both still happy, well at least they had smiles on their faces as they passed us at Pennant Hills which for them meant about another 50 miles to get home. Other than some vapor lock issues on the Friday, it was hot, the only real "incident" I am aware of is the tail pipe being loose. Harvey fixed that, this morning in the motel carpark, with a "bush mechanics clip"! Their real problem had been last week when Junior returning home from hospital(the workshop) blew the gasket at #'s 3 & 4 exhaust ports. Believe John had had similar exhaust gasket problems before so, in Wade's absence, John removed the manifolds and had them surfaced to obtain a true fit. No problems with that on the run.

Wendy & Richard's '37 115c Sport Coupe aka Emily - Although Emily never made it to the starting line, the intention was there. But.....on running her a week ago in prepartion, filling up with fuel the resultant coughing and spluttering convinced them that it was better to be discrete. So their modern mode of transportation was used with Emily having to wait until Wade's return for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment to enable her to return to full health.

Jeff and Margaret's '52 200 Deluxe Sedan - Nothing to report, that I'm aware of, so appears all is well.

Now to the "others".

Big Bad Barry & Pam's '35 1200 5 Passenger Sedan - Only matter of note was, on the Friday trip north, the temperature started to rise on some of the long climbs so Barry backed off and the temperature settled down. Barry advised he achieved 13.2 mpg for the trip up and some of local runs.

Harvey & Carol's '37 Super Eight Club Sedan - Nothing to report. I know Harvey and Carol arrived home because Harvey rang me later.

Ann & Peter Packard's '56 Patrician - The most trouble plagued Packard on the run. Appeared to be suffering from vapour lock on the hot trip north so while the rest of us went off and enjoyed ourselves at William Dobell's house Peter stayed behind and added an electric fuel pump together with a filter to push fuel from the tank. Seemed to do the trick until the next day, on the run to the Wallis Creek Watergarden, the Pat played up again. This time, while most of us enjoyed a guided tour of the gardens, Peter and a few cohorts for moral support(Noel being one), tackled the Pat again. Shouldn't have been a hot enough day for vapour lock, but the car was hard to start and was cutting out intermittently. Peter eventually tracked the cause down to the rotor button, it's a wonder the car ran at all! The Pat now started easily but there was still an intermittent cutting out. Seems they made it to Pennant Hills and this time there was a short from a loose wire. That's where we left them, so Peter, feel free to update us or to correct my reporting if need be!

Veronique's '29 Standard Eight Runabout. I say Veronique's, because husband DavidM is off in the Maxwell retracing the first West to East crossing of Australia in 1912. David, I can report the '29 is in good hands as I'm sure you already knew. My view is there aren't too many women who would jump in their husbands "old car" to participate in a Packard run while he's off lolly gagging across the continent! At the rendevous on Friday Veronique reported "vapour lock" and suggested a cure of adding kerosine to the fuel tank. Don't know if this "cure" was put into effect but I do know Veronique made it to Lake Macquarie because, although leaving earlier because of the lower touring speed of the '29 she was already there when the rest of us arrived! The only other incident was suffering from fuel starvation when heading to Hunter Gardens on the Sunday morning after filling up with fuel. The convoy pulled over and Veronique gave her diagnosis of the problem as well as a couple of suggested solutions to our "old Packard" expert Peter Packard because he has a few of that vintage himself. Turned out to be the easiest fix Peter had all weekend. The fuel cock wasn't fully open. And although the solutions suggested by Veronique weren't required, the symptoms she offered in her diagnosis, matched the problem when found. David, over those many many years, she obviously has been listening and taken a lot on board. A real gem!

Peter & Annette's '38 120 Touring Sedan - The "locals" who organised the event had no dramas with their Packard. At this point I'd like to thank them both for the work they put into organising a great weekend away. A job more than well done!

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

After typing all the above Noel sends me an email, reproduced in part below.

"Unfortunately the trip home was not good for a couple of folks. Just after I left you, at the entrance to the M2 Motorway, John and Junior were having an argument - Junior had stopped for no reason. I offered to help but being of "no knowledge" was dismissed. Thinking about it, perhaps it could have been a battery problem because I noticed that John was driving with the headlights on - no idea why.

Then, after I parted company with Peter and Ann, they continued on the M7 to the M5 and at Pheasants Nest the transmission on the '56 gave up the ghost! Peter called the NRMA who sent a tow truck to take the beast back to Canberra. No news yet as to whether the tow truck got the car back OK.

My trip was pretty good, except that Fleurette has a quite bad wheel wobble at about 65 mph. Yes, don't tell me, I should drive at under 60 mph!! I think that a balance may have been thrown off on the bad roads around Cessnock. Just a small problem. Fleurette is now home in the garage."

EDIT - See I inadvertently used a thumbnail pic of the Patrician. Would normally replace it but, seeing what eventually happened, decided to leave it as is.

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The picture,where Pete repairs his Packard reminds me of myself on many occasions where the vehicle refuses to cooperate with me.

Although I know it must be an optical illusion, the bolt for the exhaust pipe hanger looks like it goes thru the gas tank. I know Aussies are inventive, but that stretches even my imagination.
It is hard to believe that Patrician ran at all with a rotor that far gone!
Thanks for all the pictures - I enjoy them.

Quote:
Received an update from Veronique saying in part "....The Packard drove home like a breeze. No vaporisation it was a cool journey home...."

Alas, no, I didn't make it home. Pulled off in Ingleburn to top up fuel....died again right at the fuel pump.

Sitting at 30 degree angle and no start then notice fuel dripping from tank onto ground. After several attempts to start pulled a plug and no spark....so I had had enough by then so on a tow truck to home. Points seem ok so looking to coil next today when I can look at Junior again. Oh, and fuel dripping out the tail pipe....

So I have a gas tank leak, no spark, a bolt to put in the tail pipe (Randy it is close but not into the gas tank), and a carb to look at.

On the positive side, the rebuilt engine is strong, and the rest of the mechanicals seem good.

And I lost a hubcap :)

John,

Thanks for the updates, although they were all tales of woe. But hope the fix/es are simple.

Also received a couple of email updates:

1) From Big Bad Barry "....Thanks to all you ancillary crew who gave me heaps, and thanks to Mal for deducting points for the non Packard parts of my car. But, you missed a few of the other non packard parts I have fitted. By the way who needs to take a camera when you travel with Mal...."

2) From Jeff "....We made it back OK in the '52 200 with no problems. I had my front tyres (tires?) balanced the day before we left with additional steel valve stems inserted to replace the rubber ones - finally fixed the spinning hub caps and cruised back on the expressway at 65 mph with no problems. By the way, Wade had also helped improve the '200's performance before your time at Wade's Shed...." Wade's Shed connection duly noted and original post edited to reflect same.

A further update on the '41 Coupe. Filled up with fuel this morning and came up with these statistics:

Total trip mileage of 287.9 miles or 463.33 kms giving 20.45 mpg(Imp) or 17.08 mpg(US) or 13.82 Litres per 100 kms. The engine now has about 7,000 miles on it since the rebuild in June 2010. From an initial 11 mpg(Imp) straight after the rebuild when it was running in, it progressed to the vicinity of about 18 mpg(Imp) on the return trip to Kangaroo Island about 18 months ago. Still improving, so I wonder what it'll be like next year for the 600 miles/1,000 kms each way trip to the 2013 Phillip Island Packard National Rally?

Hmmm, wonder where that name "Ozstatman" came from?

Peter's final report is in and reads "....Well, after all of the problems with the 56 Patrician on the weekend, I thought that I had found the last one when at Wahroonga, I discovered a wire from the ignition ballast resistor which was gravity shorting on the bonnet hinge. The car ran sweetly after that and after Noel exited we continued what appeared to be a crisp 110-115 kph run to Canberra. After Liverpool we noticed that the temperature gauge was starting to rise and the engine started to sound loaded, similar to towing a tandem trailer (c/w Packard). We pulled into Pheasant's Nest service area for a tire check and the transmission got very grumpy. We pulled to the side of the Servo and checked the engine and it was definitely hot, from exertion, not ambient temperature. The trans fluid was boiling hot and some had been escaping via the breather, so that means around 200C. The engine started and was fine in Neutral but there was no Low and when Drive or High was selected there was an obvious excessive load on the engine. We decided to press on but only went 100m as when Direct Drive engaged it started to slip. We stopped immediately and had a think about the problem. I determined that the Low Range band strut had fallen out due to the hard time that I had given it over the weekend and the band is cocking in the housing and binding up the transmission. I blame myself as I had not adjusted the Low range band since gearbox overhaul around 3,000 miles ago. The pan needs to be dropped to assess the actual physical position and condition of the Low Range band. I am hoping that the band is not damaged. I am also concerned that the Direct Drive clutch has exhibited slippage. This may be related to the low range piston over-extension but only an inspection will tell. An interesting item (for Jeff mainly) is that with no front band actuation the reverse gear is the same ratio as Drive and makes for almost 100 mph performance rearwards (if you really wanted to impress the locals!) I have scheduled the remedial inspection for the April long weekend. I shall keep Noel, Mal and Jeff posted on the results.

We arrived at Pheasant's nest at around 11.15 am and arrived at Canberra at 8.30 pm. We had a very interesting detour to Mittagong en-route and saw some very unusual Packards. But that's another story, including a 526 fixed head coupe and a 1938 Packard Six RHD Cabriolet...."

Thankyou Peter and the long suffering Ann. Ann, I hope the plants you bought at the Water Lily Nursery weren't too traumatised by their Packard experience? And Peter, if you ever do the 100 mph in reverse thing I'd like to be there to see that! I'd be impressed, local or not!

Phone call from Wade today, the land of the long white cloud is living up to it's name with plenty of rain over both days of the Northern Exposure 2012 Rally. Wade is driving his mate Brian's '46 Clipper and says it's like driving most other Packards "it leaks". Nevertheless he and Gina are having a good time. Also told Wade about the Lake Macquarie Run and the various trials, tribulations and to a lesser extent triumphs there. Wade did mention he had noticed the tail pipe on Junior and had used a bigger washer on it because it was pulling the old washer through the hanger. Looks like that fix has to be revisited.