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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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Monday 4th February 2013

Last Friday Wade had continued working on Roy, finishing off the king pin re-installation with new end caps and a good greasing. Had also re-installed the front backing plates and installed new front wheel cylinders. That brings up another point in relation to the brakes, Roy had front wheel cylinders on the rear and rear wheel cylinders on the front! Wade had also taken Roy's diff centre to Award Diffs at Seven Hills for it to be attended to.

But today, first thing was to get Noel's Chassis onto the trailer ready for it's trip over to Fineline at Moorebank. Fired up the chassis via another great Optima battery assisted by a can of Start-U-B@$t@rd and Wade then drove it out into the carpark at the front of the workshop. Then up to the rooftop parking area where the car trailer was hooked up to Wade's Ute after taking off the removable tyre rack from the trailers front. Down to the parking area outside the workshop where Wade drove the Chassis up onto the trailer. A bit of fiddling to get it to fit, deflating front tyres helped, then it was strapped down. I was also given a quick course in Wade's keyless starting system. This comprises 2 wires, one with an alligator type clip, the other a wire with a bare end applied to a head nut. And it works!

At Fineline it was then the reverse of getting the Chassis on the trailer, only this time I was driving! Sorry Noel, I drove your Coupe before you did although I did it when it was fully air conditioned, ie no body. But because of that it probably doesn't really count, does it? The keyless start worked a treat but getting behind the wheel discovered a problem, it was locked between gears. Bit of fiddling with the levers on the bottom of the column found neutral then was able to select reverse and back off the trailer. Been over 40 years since I've operated a car only using a hand throttle, my '29 Ford A Model Tudor Sedan, and the lapse since then was apparent. Kept going for the non existent foot pedal but eventually got the hang of it. Parked the chassis outside and then it was my turn for real driving action, backing the car trailer so I could exit Fineline. Only took about 4, or was that 5, shuffles backwards and forwards turning the steering every which way, except apparently the right way, before I was in a suitable position to exit.

That done, back to the workshop and returned the trailer to the rooftop. There, with some help from Graham, unhooked it and maneuvered it into position. Also returned the tyre rack to its place at the front of the trailer. Downstairs, found Wade had reassembled the front brakes and was about to remove the master cylinder. I'd been talking to Richard, Roy's owner, yesterday at PACA's AGM and he advised the engine had been rebuilt about 4 years ago. Mentioned this to Wade today but he thinks it was longer ago than that. Reason I mention this is because of lack of compression in a number of cylinders. Thought is, it's probably sticking valves because Roy sees little active service and sits for long periods between runs, hope so. Left Wade to it as I needed to catch up with my secretarial duties following yesterdays AGM. Wasn't successful in finding someone silly enough to be Secretary so I'm stuck with it for another year. Now have to type up the minutes, not easy for a one fingered typist but I get plenty of practice here.

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Wednesday 6th February 2013

While Wade set to work removing the inner mudguard(fender) panel on Roy, in preparation for checking the tappets, I engaged in cleaning up the diff housing in preparation for when the diff centre returns and that, rear axles and brakes can go back together. Thought Wade would be finished long before I was, but it was not to be. By the time I'd cleaned the accumulation of dirt, grease, oil, exhaust and whatever else had accumulated from the housing, and cleaned up the housing ends Wade was still, literally, wrestling with the panel. At this point, to finish the rear end clean up, Wade used a slide hammer to remove the axle seals from both sides so we could then concentrate on the front of the car.

Back to the front where, besides undoing and moving the panel, Wade had also removed the carburettor to help with the panel removal process. But that still didn't give enough clearance to squeeze the panel out. Next step was to drain the radiator so the thermostat housing and radiator inlet hose could be removed. Still not enough room so next impediment removed was the fan, which also had a little surprise in store for us. There was a spacer in the fan blade and impeller hub setup. From the looks of things the impeller hub had been pressed too far on in a previous rebuild and to correct this a spacer was added! But with this final piece out of the way there was now enough room to twist, turn and manoeuvre the panel across the top of the engine and out.

Panel out, next thing was to remove the fuel/vacuum pump. Easier said than done. With the inner panel out access is still limited and necessitated bolt loosening in very small increments together with removal of all lines. Even then took a number of tries and different positionings before it was dropped out, but out it was. Next were the tappet covers and these were relatively straight forward. That done the remote starter switch was rigged up and the engine turned over. All valves appeared to be opening and closing without any sticking evident. With sticking valves as a possible cause of the hard starting and rough running symptoms just about eliminated Wade checked the clearances on the tappets for #1 & #2 cylinders in case they were too tight. And they were, with very little or no clearance. The 4 valves in question were then set to 0.009" inlet & 0.012" exhaust, about 0.002" more than the hot clearances recommended. That done, and before checking and resetting the valve clearances on the rest of the tappets, a compression test was done on #1 = 35 & #2 = 100. #2 appears reasonable but does not. Also checked the compression on #3 -> #6 with varying results, some good, some horrible. Not wanting to waste more time resetting the rest of the tappets the head was pulled and like many a thing on Roy even this had a complication. 3 of the head nuts were 11/16" while the remainder were 3/4" which they all should be. Head off it was apparent that greater things were afoot with, I call them light, scores in a number of the bores. That's where things were left for the day, Wade will take up the running again tomorrow while I play with the granddaughters!

But during the course of all this, between the removal of the inner mudguard(fender) panel and the fuel/vacuum pump removal we had a visit from Mat, packard34. Mat was there because the radio in his '34 was playing up and Wade is going to don his other hat of radio repairer to see if he can repair it. I think I'll put my money on Wade to fix it. Mat brought a big box with Dynamotor, Speaker, Radio Box and Radio Head, there's quite a lot of equipment when compared to modern units, so Wade has the lot and can find and fix any problems. And taking with Mat over lunch I was reminded of MrBumble's Seeking My Clipper's History thread. Mat has 2 Packards, a '34 Eight Sedan and a '55 Caribbean Convertible Coupe. Mat has been able to trace the ownership of the '34 from the day it was sold and was able to recite a chronological list of former owners. In fact he'd been able to meet a female relative of the 2nd owner, who co-incidentally lives in reasonable proximity to Mat. This lady has an uncommon surname and Mat, when he met her, asked the question of whether she was related to the second owner, a doctor. She was and turned out to be his niece! Mat though has given up any hope of tracing the original owner of the '34, only knows it was a Mr Brown which opens up quite a wide field for investigation especially with the passing of 79 years since it first sold. On the other side Mat doesn't know anything about the '55 Caribbean's history. Even though when Mat was in the US a few years ago he attempted to meet the guy he purchased it from only to be completely cold shouldered in the attempt. I'm sure Mat identifies with MrBumbles experiences in that regard.

Note - Over 2 years ago I promised Jerry, Yesterdays Radio that, when Roy came back to the workshop, I would take more pic's of the under running board radio aeriels. If there are specific shots or features required Jerry please let me know?

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Hi all, The side panels are more easily removed from under the guard. They were made to be removed easily to enable the tappets to be set. You may have to undo the fuel line at the carby but I always remove the panel from under the guard. Try it during the assembly phase. Best regards PT

Peter, now you tell us!