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Wednesday 27th June 2012

Found Wade with Big Red's disassembled starter motor on the bench. This came about because, while away on the Border Run a couple of weeks back, GraemeM's '53 Convertible suffered from a bendix spring failure. So Wade, seeing that the starter was out, took the opportunity to take it apart and check and inspect it. Checked out OK after a light skim and went back together. Hardest part of that was trying to draw back the 4 brushes at once to slip them over the commutator, managed to do that by using 2 pairs of hands and 4 pieces of wire!

But back to the Border Run and the convertible. When the spring failed the Convertible was started by towing it, it's an Ultramatic! Not a recommended procedure but Wade tells the process was quite exciting with Pepe doing the towing and Wade as a passenger in the Convertible. No one on the run had a correct spare spring and being a weekend there didn't look to be any hope of finding one locally. But...asking around Wade and Pepe were told there was an old auto electrical shop "just down the road". "Just down the road" turned into a mile walk, country peoples concept of distance is different, and there was the shop but closed up. However discovered some activity in a shed out the back and there was informed the owners father, who was the former owner, would be in later that morning. Back later, sure enough the father is there, but couln't find that particular Bendix spring. Tried one of the old sheds down the back, found a box full of springs but not the right one. Then pay dirt, found a disassembled starter together with two springs one of which was the right one! And the price, free! Don't have use for them anymore! With the requisite part now to hand Wade "rebuilt" the starter and Graeme was able to enjoy the remainder of the Border Run without having to worry about white-knuckle tow starts!.

Now back to the workshop. Yesterday while I had been on a 'Caribbean cruise' Wade had finished the fuel pump rebuild and installed it on the block. Had also dug out nuts, bolts and washers for the front engine mounts but these needed cleaning and painting. So that was my task, cleaned the fasteners then cleaned the "pot" from Noel's air cleaner that contains the copper wire filter medium. The air cleaner body and mount were already painted but not this piece. It too requires some painting around the outside of the "pot", part of it being visible when installed. So cleaned up the "pot" then POR15'd the lot.

And yesterday Noel had given me the rebuilt carburettor for the 356. Must say it looks lovely. Also yesterday the plan had been that the chassis would come over today but it didn't. With the possibility of rain Les, naturally, was reluctant to move the 3 or 4 Packards out into the open so it could be put on the trailer. But Friday's forecast looks promising so it should arrive then. Then before I took an early mark today Wade had a call from Junior's Dad that he would be dropping in later. Sorry I missed you John, but it's just as well that yesterday Wade painted Pepe's generator pulley and mounted it for you, otherwise your trip could have been in vain. Although picking up your two distributors and the side grills from Pepe would have made it worthwhile anyway.

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Friday 29th June 2012

Wednesday, after I left, Wade had pressed the pulley and hub off the 356's waterpump. So with it apart my job was to paint it with Noel's Bill Hirsch Packard engine green. Before that though I went over to Lee Bros and picked up some fresh bolts to mount the waterpump to the block, the old ones being very rust scarred. On the return run from Lee Bros also picked up some narrow, 9mm, adhesive backed sponge rubber strip to mount in the 356's air filter lip to provide a good seal. So on return mounted the tape and the air filter was assembled and put away for fitment once the engine is in the chassis. Then turned to the painting, first cleaning the parts and fasteners, then assembled a new set of wind chimes and painted.

Then the wait. It was a fine day and a phone call by Wade to Noel ascertained the chassis was coming over but it was taking time. Required three Packards at LesF's to be moved out of the way, chassis loaded on the trailer and the Packards moved back under cover. The time factor was exacerbated by one of the Packards being reluctant to start, but it finally did. With lunch time approaching I departed on an errand then returned to the workshop from where most of the guys, except Graham, had departed to the Pub for lunch. Then, there it was, the '41 160 Coupe chassis backing down the driveway on Les's trailer. Called Wade who hot footed it back to the workshop because he wanted to view the chassis out in light before it went inside. While waiting for Wade, rolled the chassis off the trailer, the hardest part of that being co-ordinating the direction of the front wheels because none of the steering was connected! Noel had the tie rods with him in the cabin of Les's Ute but that didn't help. When Wade arrived, and after the sunshine inspection, the chassis was wheeled rear end first into the workshop. For the final part of the manoeuvering, a floor jack was centered under the diff housing allowing the rear end to be steered as well as the front. Now the chassis sits between the shrouded shapes of The Fossil and Big Red and, come Monday and all going well, the 356 will go into the chassis. Speaking of shrouds, it was obvious the chassis hadn't been covered while at Les's. Reason I mention this is, because when I started to take pic's of the chassis, Noel requested only 10' shots because of the dust on it. And that Noel, I can assure you, is not all my fault!
You will notice, horror of horror's, there are no pic's! Reason being something has happened to my Picasa setup and I can't find, let alone open, the album with today's pic's! Tech support, aka #1 son, will be called upon this weekend to help this technological Luddite unravel this mystery!

EDIT - All is now well in the world, see pic's added below!

Pic's added for above post. Didn't need "Tech Support", Picasa came good on it's own accord.

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Mal,

I believe that the water pump pulley for the 356 should be black rather than engine color.
Others may be able to confirm this.

Brian

Quote:
Brian,
While it's for that, I really didn't need to hear it! Reason being Noel, is a Concours judge, and seeing here comes the judge I'll be getting the paintbrush out again real soon!
As I said !

Monday 2nd July 2012

A day spent cleaning parts and painting some of same, well it was for me. Started by cleaning the springs, cups, end nuts and covers for the steering connecting rod. While I was doing that Wade swapped the trans mounts on the 356 side for side, positioned the engine crane(with a little help) hoisted the 356 and positioned it in the chassis. Wade also mounted the starter, oil filter, oil filler and road draft tube. By this time I was preparing another set of wind chimes and as I was advised by BDeB "...the water pump pulley for the 356 should be black..." too. Just as I was doing that who should arrive but Noel. Noel was delivering more parts, then conferring with Wade as to what else was required, going over to Les's and returning with still more parts. During this we were graced by a visit from Noel's friend Tony, who also has some of the '41's parts. Among the parts Tony delivered were the bracket to bolt the triple horns to the head and the fan. The bracket was painted but the fan wasn't. Tony said he'd "chemically" cleaned the fan but hadn't yet blasted it and for which Noel had kindly volunteered my services. So that's what I started doing while Wade, Noel and Tony talked amongst themselves. That was fine except the bl**dy blaster wasn't bl**dy blasting! Well it was, but in a very limited way. So I was making very slow progress with a five bladed fan that only just fitted in the cabinet, which is a bench top model. With Noel's departure enlisted Wade's assistance and, while I turned to the wire wheel in frustration, Wade unplugged the blockage in the blasting cabinet pistol's barrel. Not the ceramic tip which is easy enough to clear, even I can do that, but the barrel itself. There was quite a collection of debris blocking efficient operation which on removal returned the blasting cabinet to its position as an ally rather than an opponent. Upon the return to normal service finished the fan and commenced painting.

Had almost finished that when Noel returned together with the "still more parts", included in which was a fuel tank. Little story in that in itself. The '41's tank had been beyond repair and Peter Packard had donated a '39 tank to the cause with Tony then reworking the '39 tank to fit the '41! At this stage I was doing touch ups on the '41 chassis and also a myriad of bolts and nuts on the chassis which hadn't been painted. I was held up a little because Wade was in the way of accessing some of them. Someone (Noel?) had painted the chassis and the front engine stabiliser mount holes needed cleaning out. So for this it can't be all my fault, can it? Also included in the parts were the front sway bar, tailshaft, rear sway bar and shock, and the pedal assembly. By this time Wade had finished his re-tapping exercise, so I was able to complete the touch ups. Then when Noel left I started on the tailshaft by removing the tape protecting the uni-joint trunnions from being painted. Then moved on to the uni-joint caps, they hadn't been painted, were dirty and required a good clean. While I was doing that Wade was working on the pedal assembly, also taking pictures while dissembling it. While generally similar to other Packard pedal units Wade is familiar with it is different and wants to make sure it goes back together the way it came apart. Plus Wade didn't have the benefit of removing it from the chassis himself. Finishing the uni-joint caps moved onto the pedal unit hardware being the bracket and the pedals themselves. One item of note, the clutch pedal has two rows of roller bearings while the brake just runs steel to steel. Included in the pic's are a sample of pic's of things Noel asked me to take and is then forwarding to the Flackmaster.

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Would you prefer Used or New/NOS?
(Coil Bracket is Hollingsworth repro which allows for coil replacement)

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Quote:
Over to you Noel. But probably a good move to run things past Wade first.

Wednesday 4th July 2012

Although it's Independence day wasn't able to observe it, instead had the grand-daughters in the morning then it was off to the workshop in the afternoon. There I found Wade had affixed repro tags to the 356's starter and generator and was working on doing the same for the distributor. Leaving Wade to that, which included dissembling the distributor in order to remove the old tag, I cleaned more parts. During the midst of my cleaning however, I became a riveter! Seems Wade didn't have enough hands to hold the distributor body, position a punch on a rivet and swing a hammer all at the same time. So that's where I came in, swinging the hammer. Luckily it only took one blow for each rivet because, with a nickname of "Lightning", my hammer swinging never hits the same place twice!

With parts cleaned, tags attached, Wade and I then turned to the intake/exhaust manifold mounting surface on the 356's block. Noel had done such a good job of painting the engine he painted over this surface so, using the new gaskets as a template, the surface was marked and scraping began. But, at this point, we were interrupted by the arrival of Snapey. Matt arrived with Wade's spare engine in a box trailer. When Matt had purchased and picked up the spare '34 rolling chassis from Wade, as the basis of his Racing Biposto, part of the deal was that the engine wasn't part of it and it would be returned in due course. Also part of the deal was that when returned it would be mounted on a wheeled frame so it could be stored upright and be mobile. Thus with Big Red's block now cactus, and uncertainty about the two other blocks sent to Tamworth for inspection, Wade contacted Matt recently resulting in the spare engines arrival today. And a fine stand it's on too, looks like Matt knows what's what when it comes to engineering. Hope so, because today he was talking about the swiss cheese treatment he has lined up for the Biposto's chassis in due course. It is to be noted that when Matt's Dad saw the chassis he commented about it being trucklike!

Following Matt's departure finished the scraping but couldn't mount the manifolds because nuts for the manifold studs were in short supply, so short we didn't have. Instead, tomorrow morning, I will travel via Lee Bros and pick those up as well as a few other fasteners for the 356 and for Big Red. Also had word from Noel yesterday that The Flackmaster is sourcing the missing parts from the pictures earlier this week. And speaking of Noel, he's booked me and my Coupe to transport him and friend Tony to Vintage Motor Garage on the Central Coast, about 65 kms north, on Wednesday next week. Couple of reasons for doing so, the main one being that Noel has a piece of trim he needs to be made for his '41 160 Coupe. Oh, and Tony wants a ride in the Coupe and I'm more than happy to oblige such a request. The others? Taking up a new Optima battery for PhilfromTassie's '26 333 6 Cyl Sedan Limousine which is undergoing restoration there as well as check on it's progress. See pic's of Phil's Packard undergoing restoration by clicking on "projects" on the VMG Home Page. Plus to generally have a look around and see what they are doing at the moment, always worthwhile.

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The 1934 Eight engine must have been in the hands of the "unknowing" at some point in time, the air scupper on the top of the generator is mounted backwards. The forced air inlet for generator cooling is the scupper in the brush cover at the lower rear, the upper one is the outlet and the opening must face rearwards.

There isn't much correct in this picture except the positioning of the cooling scuppers. (original source of this photo unknown.)

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