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Actually, I always wondered how hard it would be to remove that inner panel through the engine bay.......now that I know...I am not going to try it. Wade has so much more patience than myself....I would probably have cut the @!!!$5#ing inner panel in half with a disc grinder and tech screwed or Mig welded it back together during re-assembly. PT

Hi all especially Mal, With regard to the marks in # 5 bore, they are not really scores, they are merely the equivalent of wrinkles on a pensioner. Those marks caused by hard carbon particles displaced from the head/piston would not be very significant in loss of compression etc and would have less effect than a piston ring gap. Valve sealing would be the main culprit and anything over 80 PSI on an all plugs out compression test for an ageing Packard 39 Six would be quite adequate for normal driving and 70 mph performance. It is after all a 70 year old 4 litre motor and does not need the perfect lungs of a 5 year old 2 litre motor to perform adequately. Packard was generous in motor capacity and I am always amazed at how well my 1927/28 533 runs at 50 mph pulling bike trailers, with 4.85 to 1 compression ratio. Most pensioners after a decent curry and onion mix could fart with more compression than that old girl. PT

Friday 8th February 2013

Yesterday Wade had pulled the remainder of the valves. This entailed further dismantling in order to be able to use his clamp type valve spring compressor. The inlet/exhaust manifolds needed to be removed but in order to do that the steering box needs to be swung out of the way, it is after all a RHD Packard. Valves out and cleaned up Wade tells me all the seats needed refinishing. Plus all the valves were marked with a cylinder number on both the inlet and exhaust. Only trouble was they were all over the place, not resident to the cylinders specified! Valves went round to Brookers Brake Service for machining of the faces while Wade borrowed some valve seat cutting equipment to recut the seats.

So, after Wade finished cleaning the block top and intake/exhaust manifold surfaces, that's what Wade did for most of the morning, re-cutting valve seats. However there are still marks/pits in the exhaust valve seats and Wade is of the opinion they are suffering from valve seat recession. He's planning on getting one of the guys from Brookers to come round to give an expert opinion. Meanwhile I was doing, what else, cleaning. Cleaned the head including the combustion chambers of carbon and also the head gasket surface. Another matter wasn't cleaning but chasing or running a tap through the head nuts, including 3 to replace the 11/16" b@$t@rds, so they can be torqued down cleanly when the time comes. Took some time to do this, after all there's only 23 of 'em. Also cleaned the intake/exhaust manifold surfaces, the tappet cover gasket surfaces and sundry various fasteners and small parts. Want to have everything ready when it's time to put it back together again. In that regard waiting on gaskets, wheel bearing seals and other parts to be able to do so. Also waiting on word about what ails the diff.

Also yesterday, after the granddaughters returned home I visited with Peaches at the beauty salon, or in Packardspeak, saw my Coupe at Col's the body and paint man who is doing the touch up work on it. Progressing with panel work on most of the body, fender and door completed. Col tells me he hopes to have primer on all those areas today. Col is still to tackle the boot lid, he's going to realign it because it's slightly skewiff which is causing the chipping around the edges.

Quote:Peter,

Good to know about the "scores".

And, from what I understand, this engine was rebuilt some years ago so should be relatively healthy and not a coughing, wheezing, worn out unit.

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Careful, I resemble that remark!

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Wade said he tried the under guard removal but without success. However we will try that route again during reassembly.

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Hi all, The manifolds are removeable without touching the steering box. I have just replaced the manifold gaskets on my RHD 38 Six and it is tight but doable. There is no need to remove the carby and the hand throttle linkage is held out of the way with a piece of wire. PT

Wednesday 13th February 2013

On arrival at the workshop we were met by the sight of a comfort package from Max. Package contained gaskets(head, manifold and tappet covers), master cylinder kit, thermostat and retainer and front axle seals. Wade set to work repacking front wheel bearings, installing them and the new seals in the front brake drums and re-installing them on Roy. Then attention was turned to Roy's dual action fuel pump, a rebuild kit for which had previously been sourced. The pump had a bad fuel leak and when pulled down was found to be very dirty inside, as well as outside. Also found the lip around the dome cap for the fuel pump section had a chunk missing! This might be an explanation for the leak. Fortunately, in the fuel pump "junk box", there was a replacement piece available which was pressed into service. Funny thing too, earlier in the midst of greasing bearings and installing new seals, Noel arrived bearing gifts. And what were the gifts he was bearing? Why axle seals! Noel had said a little while ago he had a number of these but didn't lay his hands on them until recently. Most were for rear axles but there were one pair for front axles. Late in the day Brendan from Brookers Brakes came round. Besides brakes they do other work and were refacing Roys valves. But......had found 2 exhaust and 1 inlet were bent! Only becoming evident when in the refacing machine and Wade was able to supply some 'good' used valves from the shelf as replacements.

After leaving the workshop I called in upon my girl, Peaches, to check on her progress. I can say she's coming along nicely with bodywork done on all areas except the boot(trunk) lid which will be tackled in the next day or so. Has paint on most of the panels being worked but not all, weather here hasn't been conducive to spray painting being damp and expected to remain that way for a while. Col has done more than requested finding a number of additional areas needing work, and fixing most of them as he's gone round the car. But there have been other areas, too big for an easy fix, which Peaches will require further beauty treatment for, but that'll be be another time. I'm sure Peaches will be looking forward to her next appointment at the Beauticians!

Apologies for the picture quality. Fooling around with the camera and settings and the results weren't as good as hoped.

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Friday 15th February 2013

Yesterday Wade had recut #5 & #6 exhaust valve seats following inspection by Brendan the previous day. He'd also lapped in all the valves he had in hand and did so by the cylinder numbers on their heads. That left #1 & #2 exhaust and #5 inlet valves which I found Wade in the midst of lapping in this morning. Now that ALL valves have excellent seats there shouldn't be any reason that ALL cylinders wont have good compression.

Also yesterday I'd paid Peaches a further visit. The girl has some colour(color) back in her cheeks now with paint covering areas which previously were in primer. Still needs work on the boot(trunk) lid as well as a few other areas requiring paint. Brought home the filler/splash/stoneguard panels that fit between the front bumper and the body. Will fit these up to the bumper irons so the complete bumper unit can be slipped into place once Peaches returns home.

There will be a short interlude before I return to the workshop on the 25th. I'll be spending time with my Dad up on the Gold Coast next week.

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Yesterday Barry Smith was also at the workshop and had an interesting story to tell. It concerned his '38 Twelve Club Sedan and the tendency for it to push water/coolant out of the radiator cap. With the National Rally a month away, and with a 1,400 km trip each way, Barry didn't want cooling problems to dampen that experience. Especially when recently, on a short trip into Tamworth and back, it happened after only about 3 kms at about 80 kmh. Barry checked around for an expert and found one at FTRS. A point in FTRS's favour is that the owner is also a Packard owner! FTRS also came recommended by another PACA member DonC, who had worked with Greg at FTRS. Barry, with the Twelves radiator tucked under an arm, then drove the 600 kms to Northgate where examination and tests were performed. Barry had been thinking that maybe the top tank had been getting pressurised and forcing coolant/water past what was a new 4lb cap because the overflow couldn't handle the volume concerned. However a check of the radiator found it was free of blockages so another reason for the problem was sought. Attention turned to the the new cap, $95 courtesy of Max, and replacing it with another cap improved the situation but didn't fix it. Looking to be getting closer to the cause, the next item replaced was the filler neck. With a new filler neck and a new cap the problem was overcome, no more coolant/water escaping from the cap and filler neck. But this wasn't a hit and miss affair because, during the course of the inspection and testing, a simple device was made to test filler necks and radiator caps independent of the radiator top tank. Greg of FTRS made a simple hemispherical domed plate with a pressure fitting soldered to the dome of the hemisphere. This plate in turn was soldered to the filler necks. From there it was established 1) the original filler neck and $95 Max cap just didn't seal, 2) the original filler neck with a replacement cap worked better but still didn't seal, 3) the replacement filler neck and $95 Max cap also worked better but didn't seal, while 4) the replacement filler neck and replacement cap sealed properly. The original filler neck has a flat sealing surface for the cap and Barry tells me the replacement neck has a raised rounded surface for sealing. Barry also tells me the replacement cap has a much wider seal than the Max cap. Looks like the problem is fixed but we'll only know that when Barry puts the radiator back in the Twelve and takes it for a drive. That is due to be tomorrow, Sunday, and Barry says he'll email me to let me know. So when I know, you'll know!

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I forwarded a link of my post about Barry's radiator cap and filler neck to Greg @ FTRS and he was kind enough to respond with this additional information:

"The most important addition, (apart from the obvious filler neck and cap problems) to this radiator is a tube baffle below the filler neck to divert coolant coming directly up from the top hose fitting and lifting the cap. This was a very popular component way back then and now a increasingly important modification I carry out on radiators, veteran, vintage and classic. Baffles were built into the top tanks by manufacturers from new and over the years a lot have been disposed of by lazy repairers thinking they were not needed. Can you imagine Henry Ford fitting a baffle if it was not needed!"

Barry updated Greg at FTRS in an email today, which said:

"Finally, this afternoon, I was able to take the 12 for a run. Amazing just how much time it took, so many little cleaning up jobs etc etc, eating up the time. But the results are GOOD. I drove some 40 km, at 100+ km/hr, and NO sign of the old problem!! Car ran at 175 degrees (ambient 30 C), this is as good as it gets. I will do some more runs before heading out, but I am very positive. Thanks for all your good work."

To which Greg responded:

"I am glad the changes worked out in the end...I am glad we never pulled the radiator apart...On the pondering side of things..........................I think I have worked out why the top header plate has that very pronounced dimple facing up pointing toward the filler neck. I think it originally had a baffle of some type under the filler neck and this dimple was the locating device to be sure the closed side of the baffle faced towards the top hose fitting to divert the water. The side facing away from the top hose fitting would have been open, sounds like a lot of effort to go to but that was the kind of thing they would have done so it could not be assembled back to front on the assembly line. Perhaps?..It would interesting to see inside another radiator for the sake of it."

Monday 25th February 2012

Just a pitstop at the workshop where I found Wade working on Big Red. He was re-installing the trim around the top of the front seat back. Reason being he's come to a standstill with Roy. Roy's engine is running again after the valves were re-seated and reset and ALL cylinders are showing a healthy 130 psi. However it's running very roughly because Wade discovered the points are shot and 2 cracks in the distributor cap! But the major reason work has come to a halt is the diff, or rather, the lack of it! Still waiting on Award Diffs for the pumpkin, while they are waiting on bearings for it. As Wade said, if he'd sourced the bearings either locally(ABC) or overseas(Max) they'd be here by now. Because the diff isn't in, the rear brakes and axles can't be installed. And without the rear brakes connected bleeding of the system can't be completed.

That was early afternoon. But earlier in the morning I'd contacted Col about my Coupe and made arrangements to pick it up in the early afternoon. Those plans were soon changed when Col rang a little later and arranged to pick me up because he was now going out in the afternoon, not often a repairer will do that, but it helps that he's local! Coupe looks good. It's far from being a show car but was looking increasingly tatty. The various chips, scrapes, flakes, dings, etc needed fixing. With that part now completed I have to get the various trim pieces back in place. Following that, in preparation for next months National Rally, a full servicing will be undertaken. Then the next course of treatment for the Coupe will be re-upholstering the front seat, but that won't be until after the Rally.

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