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Quote:
I bow down before you gentleman, for both the fine work done on the cars, and the reporting, keep up the good work.
Wes

Wednesday 23rd January 2013

Tuesday of last week I wrote "..The seat bottom was then screwed to the body timber frame rails, hopefully for the last time.." Just as well I included the rider because the hope and expectation when confronted with the reality and circumstances were a long way apart. Task this morning was to mount the Dynamotor under the drivers seat. But before going further what, you might ask, is a Dynamotor? My answer, a device to power the radio in the '34. It's composed of a 6V powered electric motor which turns a dynamo which produces 280V to power the radio! I believe many early car radios had this or a similar arrangement to power them. Because the cover/enclosure for the Dynamotor had been lost in the body destroying fire an alternate mounting system is being used. This necessitated drilling mounting holes in the front seat floor but most of these couldn't be accessed from undercar because of crossmember bracing and parts in the way. So the seat bottom came out and I'll say it again.....hopefully for the last time! With seat bottom back in, complete with Dynamotor, and that part of the wiring harness hooked up Wade asked something like "I suppose you want to hear the radio now?" Of course I responded "Yes!" To which, after the battery was hooked up, the radio came on immediately. Well, came on immediately, isn't exactly correct, more like the dial lit up. Then with Wade issuing instruction for me to hold the bare radio aerial wire, it worked! A lovely mellow tone well befitting a fine Packard. And I've gained another skill, human radio aerial! Probably limited scope for use but nevertheless I've got it!

Then it was off to meet up with Noel at Bankstown. From there we journeyed by Packard, with Fleurette being able to stretch her legs for the purposes of this exercise, to the panel and paint shop at Moorebank. There the requirements for completing the bodywork and the painting of Noel's Coupe were discussed with Frank, the owner, and Carl, the bodyman, but unfortunately I missed the painters name. Part of the discussion was whether to mount the body on the chassis, not for painting, but for fitting of doors, etc. In the interests of getting that right the chassis, together with mounts and fastenings, will now go to the panel shop, probably late next week. Additionally Noel will be supplying door seal rubbers and handles and locks for this phase. And Noel still needs to supply the front and rear mudguards(fenders) and bonnet(hood). Yesterday I mentioned wiring harnesses and I believe the new harness for Noel's Coupe should arrive in the near future, likewise the replacement rear mudguards(fenders).

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The Dynamotor is an interesting contraption. Was just looking at a couple of schematics showing radios with it. Looks the same as yours but was not the model EH -- maybe earlier.

There was mention of many dealers "running a profitable business" in selling and adding the Dynamotor to replace the earlier "B" Battery setup. Getting rid of batteries I can see but sure adds complexity and more to break in an already bulky radio. Since they also had vibrator setups in radios of the same 1934 era, makes me wonder what the advantage was over those simpler power supplies. Since Wade does radios, maybe he could enlighten me.

The Dynamotors had a padded enclosure to reduce the motor noise. Since you had to fabricate a mount, did that burn up as well.

I've seen the occasional early 30s Cadillac with a dynamotor mounted in the glove box.

G'day Mal and Wade,
Carrying on from what Dave said The dynometer for my 34 1104 is in the left hand glove box bearing in mind that it is a left hand drive car.
My radio kind of works but is very quiet and crackly. Unfortunately I don't have Wades skills with radio's.
I hope this does not upset Wade's location but I know he likes to be authentic.

Terry

Could the possibility of wet weather have dictated putting the dynomotor in the glove box of open cars? My coupe roadster also has the power supply in the LH glove box.

Tuesday 29th January 2013

Just a pitstop at the workshop this morning. There I fed Misty, caught up with Wade and took a few pic's before heading off to take our eldest granddaughter to the movies, it being the last day of the long Summer vacation before she resumes school tomorrow.

Wade has continued his work on The Fossil with the focus still on the front seat area. Had further cleaned then painted the wooden seat bottoms as well as affixing the metal edging to the front of the bottoms. Had also cleaned and affixed the wooden pieces to the front corners of the installed metal seat base.

Speaking of front seats, and I hadn't mentioned this earlier, inside the LHD seat back being used there is a metal panel that covers the bottom section of the seat panel back. Affixed to it behind the LHD drivers seat is a 'slat' of timber with three slots in it. Was puzzling as to it's use but seemed to relate to the 'flap' of upholstery which covers the gap between the LHD drivers seat and the full seat back when the drivers seat slides forward on its runners. Wade thought he had a similar 'slat' from the RHD body but couldn't find it then. Anyway, to help complete the conversion from LHD to RHD the 'slat' was moved from the left to the right side so it now sat behind the RHD drivers seat. A considerable amount of work went into achieving this, for a part nobody sees, but it was done albeit without any pic's being taken. Then late last week Wade found the original 'slat' carefully tagged and marked as being from the LEFT side! All that work for nought, the 'slat' will now be returned to it's rightful place on the left side!

On another note I attended the Australia Day CARnivale in Sydney as a spectator this past Saturday. Caught up with a couple of PACA members but no Packards were in attendance among the 600+ vehicles on display. One member, Bruce, had entered his great '58 Facel Vega in the Concourse but was outgunned by a Dino Ferrari, a V12 E Type Jag and the '24 Rothschild Rolls which won the day. Otherwise there was some interesting stuff in attendance.

Link to album of pic's from CARnivale 2013

Additionally, thumbing through US eBay on the weekend, I found a pair of familiar looking pieces of metal to suit a 41/42 Super 8. Only trouble was, Noel had brought over one of these with the heatshield for his car and it was thought to be part of the heatshield setup for the 356! Re-installation of the heatshield had been put aside until the mystery of how it went together was solved. With the mystery now solved, the heatshield is now a step closer to being installed. From this I also realised my Coupe doesn't have these pieces either and there's also a pair for sale on eBay! That provides a nice segue with Noels chassis coming up to my garage on Thursday and Roy, the '39 Convertible Coupe, taking its place in the workshop. New wheel cylinders having arrived for Roy from Kanter so work can now start on getting him rehabilitated.

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Mal,

I ran across this vehicle while coming to work one morning. I thought it would be appropriate to post here

Cheers,

Tom

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Tom,

Thursday 31st January 2013

Plan for today was to trailer up Noel's 41 160 chassis to my garage where the chassis would take the place of Roy, Richard's '39 Convertible Coupe. However Noel phoned on Thursday evening to say that on Monday he wanted to take the chassis over to Fineline, the body and paint shop doing the finish work then the paint on the '41's body. Noel had also located the body mounts and bolts so the body can be bolted back onto the chassis for fitment and gap alignment purposes. So, by the time I'd reached the workshop, Noel had already spoken with Wade and a change of plans was put into effect. Instead, of the chassis going to my garage for a couple of days R & R, it would be accommodated at the workshop until Monday when courtesy of the workshop trailer and Wades Ute it'll make the trip to Fineline. Noel will be over late morning on Monday for the trip to Fineline. Noel is also concerned about the steering column and steering wheel not fitting through the hole in the firewall/front floor and, after looking at a pic of this area, I can see why. It also means there's some work to do before the chassis goes on the trailer.

But the '39 was going to the workshop irrespective! Finally the new wheel cylinders for the '39 and had arrived from Kanters and Wade wanted to get on with replacing them. Drove back home in the Ute with Wade, also accompanied by a battery booster pack and a can of Start-U-B@$t@rd, having not started the '39 since it arrived on 1st November. But Wade jumps in, says we might as well see if it'll start, and it turned over very freely. Optima batteries are wonderful. So up with the bonnet(hood) a few squirts of the aforementioned Start-U-B@$t@rd and Roy awakens from his slumber. Then with me leading the way in the Ute, Wade not being familiar with the locale, we returned to the Workshop. The return trip was a lot slower than the one up because of Roy's various ailments amongst which are the brakes and a very noisy diff. Being in a slow procession raised the hackles of one driver in a Honda who after the long slow run down Chatham Road, when Roy stopped at a stop sign, was immediately on the horn then tore through the stop sign himself without stopping!

Once in the workshop Roy went up on the hoist and work commenced on removing all the brakes. Then the rear axles were removed and the diff centre removed. Inspection of the the teeth on the ring and pinion as well as the planetary gears(?) didn't indicate anything amiss visually but even turning it over by hand it doesn't feel good. Looks like Award Diffs will be asked to do what they do best, fix it! Turned then to the front suspension because Wade was saying it was very noisy and clunky whenever he'd driven Roy. First thing found was that one of the left front backing plate bolts wasn't tight, even though it had a split-pin through the nut! Next discovered the left stub axle had about 1/16" play. By that I mean the stub axle could ride up and down on the king-pin. Checking the right side, all backing plate nuts were OK, but same deal with the full floating stub axle. Oh, and neither end of either stub axle had a cap covering the king-in! Hmmmmmmm, greasing the king pins must have been messy and largely ineffectual especially for the lower bush. These items weren't expected to need attention but, before doing any brake work, had to be fixed. Driving out the left side cotter pin/key holding the king-pin proved too much for the old guys, Wade and me, so Rick was recruited to provide the brute force required. Once out it was found that because the supporting thrust bearing had been installed upside down it had ingested water, rusted, seized and eventually flattened because it wasn't pivoting anymore! It was the same scenario with the right side, upside down thrust bearing, no end caps, and needing the aid of a younger stronger man to drive out the cotter pin/key, and again Rick was enlisted for that task. With the plethora of king-pin replacements Wade has performed he has a stock of parts, some "left over" from kits when not required and others which are "good" used parts. From these Wade was able to cobble together the necessary thrust bearings, cotter keys/pins and end caps required. King-pins and bushings are now good and Roy will have a stable front end without the full floating stub axle effect.

After a day spent around and under Roy, on my way home, I dropped in to see how work on my Coupe was progressing. Not much so far but Col is hopeful that with a good run it may be done in 2 weeks, I hope so. Also learned, although I'd suspected as much, that there's lots of "bog" in the Coupe. I'll just have to live with that because a full body restoration just isn't in the Coupes near future. Or even further along if it comes to that! I've arranged to go up again the next 2 Thursdays to take pic's so I can document what's happening to a certain extent. I also made the trip to check on something Noel needed to know before his body went to Fineline.

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