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Wade's reply.

OK, so what's wrong with that?

Hasn't Wade learned to do that sort of thing when the wife ISN'T home???

Monday 25th May 2009

Yesterday only a few hours at the workshop, but first thing I saw was that the cracked fuel pump boss on Big Red's crankcase had been welded up and a new stud was also in place, looks good. Shortly after arriving Wade and I walked around to see Col the old brake guy. As we were walking, because it's only about 300 metres away, noticed some deep tyre tracks in the dirt next to the footpath where the laneway to the back of the brake shop starts. Turns out these were made by the workshop forklift on Saturday which was used to transport the engine attached to the wooden dolly for it's welding repair for the cracked fuel pump boss on the crankcase. I commented that this was a photo opportunity missed as it would have made a great shot. And Wade replied yes, but one of the '26 Essex chassis he restored and then towed around to Mowad's, the panelbeaters, in the same laneway about 18 months ago would have been even better. Turns out a tow rope was hooked up from Wade's Ute to the rolling chassis and with Wade driving the Ute John drove the chassis. That is if you can call standing up on the Essex's frame and steering - driving? Now that would have made for a real great pic! But back to the chase, reason we went to see Col was to scrounge some old king pin shims. The one that came out of Big Red was too thick, 0.060", when used with the new thrust bearing while the spares he had were too thin, 0.030". Ended up walking back with a baking tray full of old shims and stuff to sort through to find some to fit. And we did, used a 0.030" & 0.027" for a perfect fit! And now Wade has plenty of extra shims in many different thicknesses. Wade also installed an angled grease nipple in the king pin's lower cap to ensure it has a good direct grease supply. In the end the right front lower arm, upright and stub axles were all reunited and are ready to go back in Big Red.

Tuesday 26th May 2009

Today, also only a few hours at the workshop. Yesterday, after I left, Wade had been tackling the dis-assembly of the left front lower support arm, upright and stub axle and had managed to push out the pin connecting the lower support arm and the upright. But had come up against very, very stubborn resistance in both the king pin and the inner support arm pin. He'd soaked the inner support arm pin overnight but when we tried to push it out with the 20 ton press it still didn't look like moving. Left it in the press under tension for a while, still nothing. Next step was to apply heat, so with John heating the arm, Wade operating the press and me taking pictures finally there was movement. What also came oozing out was a mixture of molten rubber and old grease, an obnoxious and evil smelling concoction as well as being the dirtiest stuff I've had to clean to date. That accomplished, turned to the king pin which this time was pressed from the other end after removing a very hard to shift grease cap. Success! With that I went away to clean up the parts in preparation for POR-15'ing them. Also took the opportunity to clean up some other parts because if I'm going to get POR-15 on me, and I will, I might as well make it worthwhile. During the cleaning and drying processes, outside in the sunlight, I noticed the old rusted inner panel for the side water jacket cover in the dumpster so took some pic's of that. Wade during the cleaning processes was looking at and dis-assembling the roller cam followers/rockers with a view to have either new ones made or using the spare '34 ones or parts thereof. this is a work in process!

Quote:
John and others,

Talked with Wade about burnishing, he advises he didn't know this process was being used in king pin rebuilds and consequently has never done it and in his experience with just reaming bushings hasn't encountered any problems or failures.

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Thursday 28th May 2009

Wade had spent yesterday mainly chasing parts. Got Big Red's radiator back from JJ Smith's after flush, clean and pressure test. Also some more pipe plugs for the Super 8 engine. He'd also received a delivery from MaxM and installed the new tie rod ends on the tie rods. And had started an overhaul of Old Blue's distributor as MaxM's parcel also contained some new bushes for the 120 distributor, which was part way disassembled on the bench.

My task for the day, as I only had a few hours there, was to make up a new set of "Windchimes" and POR-15 it. Took about an hour to wire everything up or fit the bolts and some other smaller pieces into the cardboard used for that purpose. Then POR-15'd everything. And of course got some on my leg again, but a vigorous wipe with POR-15 thinners cleaned it up.

Meanwhile, Wade finished off his distributor rebuild for Old Blue, fired her up and she's running smoother than ever. He'd also taken the baking tray of shims back to Col, the brake guy, and picked up a 3/4" B.S.P.T. Tap. Some may consider this Packard heresy but Wade is looking at the practicality of this conversion from welch plugs to pipe plugs. He's done it to Old Blue, with favourable results, the '34 and it's now Big Red's turn.

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Friday 29th May 2009

After donating blood dropped into the workshop where Wade was in the process of pushing in the new left king pin bushings. He'd partly dis-assembled the "windchimes" for the upright and the stub axle so I continued dis-assembling all the painted parts from yesterday. And the shame, the shame - Yesterday I thought I'd done a good job with the painting and was patting myself on the back for a job well done. But today reality took hold with some obvious misses which I'll catch up with the next POR-15'ing. And besides I missed doing the insides of the "baked" hub caps altogether, just because they were in a box and not visible. But there's still plenty of parts to paint so it'll all be caught up with.

Then helped Wade with the actual reaming process of the king pin, but no burnishing. Next was finding some shims to fit. This took a little doing of measure and fit before two were found to suit. Then everything was greased and the pin inserted and cotter pin driven and pressed in, but still required the end caps to be fitted.

As I was leaving Harvey arrived, Harvey had retired last year but has just gone back to work and the guy he's working for has 2 Packards, a coupe and a "roadster" both about 38/39. And here's where it becomes interesting. A couple of weeks ago one weekend while out in the '38 a wrecker pulls up alongside and the driver tells me he knows a guy who has 2 Packard Coupes just sitting in his garage. I followed up the lead the following Monday and found out where the Packard owners business was and tried to contact him but wasn't able to do so. I'd intended trying to arrange to see the cars and talk to the owner and of course take some pic's. Well turns out these are the same cars and now that Harvey, prior to starting his new job, is actually working on the cars doing the brakes on one at the moment I hope to establish contact through him. If I do so, expect to see some pic's here soon.

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Monday 1st June 2009

First "official" day of winter down-under, but irrespective of the season it was another day at the workshop. Arrived to find that after I left on Friday that Wade had pushed the inner pin and the outer bushes into the left lower support arm. So today started by reaming out the new bushes, then finding a pair of shims to fit and assembling the lower arm with the upright and stub axle, pushing in the cotter pin and the pin end covers.

During the course of all this Noel had arrived with a shipment of Steele Rubber parts he'd procured for Wade courtesy of hid friend Gary in California. Included were a new windscreen rubber, various suspension rubbers for the front and rear ends and front engine mount amongst others. Wade also had a call from the guy painting his '34 body and he needs to provide him with some info on that. I too had a phone call from an auction house as I'm considering selling my '38. Will find out tomorrow when the guy comes by whether I will or not, because the money has to be reasonable.

Then it was onto re-assembling the front end. Started on the right side and it was quite a prolonged struggle to get it all together. Wasn't helped by the fact that the engine isn't back in Big Red yet so didn't have it's weight helping in compressing the springs. Did use spring compressors though without any dramas, in combination with two jacks and Wade's unrivalled determination to get the job done. And it was getting on into the afternoon by the time the right side was finished. Because neither Wade nor I will be at the workshop tomorrow, and I won't be there till Midday Wednesday, it was decided to start on the left side re-assembly. It too was a struggle but in different ways to that of the right side. At one stage under Wade's direction I was manipulating two floor jack together, up or down as required, in attempting to align the lower support arm inner pin mount, with some success. Bottom line, now both sides of the front suspension are back together and back in Big Red.

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Wednesday 3rd June 2009

Late yesterday afternoon Ian from Shannon's Auctionshttp://www.shannons.com.au/pages/auctions/index.jsp?id=EF7HI8FDH29QBM7F came by, took some pic's, got some details and was to confer with his colleagues. Ian called today and advised Shannon's "estimate". Of course there has to be somebody out there who wants to buy a '38 Packard, older restoration, etc but I'm going to take the plunge in the hope there is.

After a morning with the granddaughters both full of life and a joy to be with, it was off to the workshop. Wade had been busy getting his '37 120 "Old Blue" ready for the run to Yarrawonga,http://www.travelvictoria.com.au/yarrawonga/ about 650kms south west from Sydney. This run is being hosted by the Victoria region of PACA and here's an excerpt about it "Linger Longer in Yarrawonga (No Border Patrol this year due to it being a National Rally year) It is traditional in this area to celebrate the Queen's Birthday long weekend with civilised wine drinking - more specifically the Rutherglen Winery Walkabout." And besides Wade and Gina a number of New South Wales PACA members will be in attendance - Noel(tabletennisport here), Mat(Packard34 here) as well as Peter(Peter Packard here) and Ann from Canberra. Among other things Wade had been busy replacing the electric fuel pump and when I arrived he was cleaning up some plugs to take as spares.

Today's work on "Big Red" was still all about the front end. First up cleaned out and blew out all the metal brake lines. Then tightened up ALL the suspension nuts and bolts on the left front side and inserted a split pin in the upper outer pin. Next affixed, after removal of excess POR-15, the brake backing plate, knuckle lever and oil guard to the stub axle topped off by split pins. The wheel cylinder was then bolted to the backing plate, again after more POR-15 removal and the flexible brake line attached. Included in all this was the left side tie rod complete with new tie rod ends. Moved onto the right side and undertook the same exercise including the need for POR-15 removal. And after similar experiences with the '41 I had tried to be less "slap happy" with the POR-15 but obviously I'm still too heavy handed.

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Friday 5th June 2009

Yesterday morning on the way to the workshop received a call from Shannons Auctions to say if I could get the '38 to them that day they'd be able to take pic's for inclusion in an advertisement going into Unique Cars Magazinehttp://uniquecars.carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/ publicising next month's auction. So turned round, went home, cleaned all the "stuff" out of the '38 and took it to Shannon's. Driving over, started to have second thoughts as it was running beautifully but the course of action has been set so I pushed on and signed up for the auction. Also took pic's of some of the other cars that will be auctioned, except I forget to get one of the '38! However there is now a pic of it on the Shannon's Auction website.http://www.shannons.com.au/pages/auctions/lot.jsp?id=YD7409P4FBV1Q1AA

So this morning I set out to do what I was going to do yesterday. Clean and ready parts from Big Red for POR-15 painting. Started by cleaning up the front sway bar, brackets and retaining bolts and nuts. Then Marine Cleaned and Metal Readied the sway bar, etc, left rear brake backing plate and dust shield, the diff housing and the left rear brake drum. Strung some of the parts up ready for painting and will finish set up on Tuesday when back at the workshop and then it's POR-15 time. And this time I'll remember to do the insides of the hub caps!

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Tuesday 9th June 2009

Quick couple of hours down at the workshop. First finished setting up the parts to be POR'15'd then POR-15'd them. And I almost made it through the experience without getting POR-15 on me for once. Fortunately it was only two slight touches, and this after I'd left my "painting" top at home, so I was quite pleased in the circumstances. Now for an afternoon's R&R with the granddaughters. Funny thing is they just don't care that "Poppy" has a Packard!

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Wednesday 10th June 2009

Couple of hours only at the workshop. First took down and tidied up yesterday's POR-15'ing. Then Wade arrived back from a successful Yarrawonga run, and I forgot to ask if they'd taken any pic's. Only drama was getting a tow start a couple of times in "Old Blue" by PeterPackard in the cold winter mornings, brrrrr! Todays activity was cleaning up the front slip joint on the tailshaft and some other parts. Still needs more cleaning of internal and external splines and this will be finished tomorrow then Marine Clean, Metal Ready and POR-15! Left Wade tackling disassembly of the rear spring bushes.

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