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Wednesday 30th 29th May 2013

With Wade moving today, Noel and I had Packard corner to ourselves for the painting required. On my arrival moved some of the stuff that has accumulated in the last couple of weeks so I could set up the windchimes again. Then cleaned and blasted a few parts, also re-blasted a few of the parts from last week where they were lightly rusting. Then Noel arrived, a final clean down of Fleurette's block and Noel stirred up a 1/2 can of Bill Hirsch Packard green engine paint. However Noel passed on the 1/2 can, it was too old with a skin and lumps on it. Fortunately Noel had a second unused newer can of Bill Hirsch Packard green engine paint and that was quickly brought into play. While Noel painted the block I strung up the parts for a Fleurette windchime. As Noel finished the block I gave the head a final clean and painted it, then cleaned up the top and lower parts of the bellhousing and set Noel to work on those. While Noel was engaged with the bellhousing I started on the stuff strung up on the windchimes and moved through those until Noel advised he'd finished. Dug out the water pump and harmonic balancer which Noel painted while I continued on the windchimes. Finishing again, set Noel up with the sump(pan) to which he gave a final clean and then painted. Finished the windchimes and checked around for parts missed, finding the oil pump and the thermostat housing, another final clean and they too received the royal order of the paintbrush.

That done then journeyed around to see Sarkis and the Coupes re-covered front seat bottom and backs. A good job except.......what was supposed to be a colour(color) match for my present upholstery, wasn't! Still, being the grateful recipient of the donation of the broadcloth in question I couldn't complain, could I? And I learned something today from Noel, he was telling Sarkis that the wool used in Packard's broadcloth was all sourced from New Zealand. Noel also suggested I recover the rear seat to match the front one, but financial considerations stand in the way of that at present. Not to say it won't happen at some future time. Noel also took the opportunity to enquire whether Sarkis could repair the hole worn on the right side of Fleurette's front seat caused by the handle of the seat adjuster wearing against and through the fabric. The answer was in the affirmative, as you'd expect, so Noel and I retraced our steps and returned with the seat bottom 5 minutes later. Of course the broadcloth is a better match to Fleurette's fabric than mine, but that's life. Noel also asked Sarkis to sew a leather patch over the outside of the new fabric to minimise seat adjuster handle wear from here on. Fleurette's seat will be ready on Monday. Never know, Sarkis could find himself sewing up a complete new interior of a certain '41 160 Club Coupe down the way a bit! He's already earned brownie points, in Noel's judges eyes, by the way the seams in my Coupes front seat bottom line up with the seams in the seat backs.

Dropped back at the workshop by Noel, picked up Fleurette's intake/exhaust manifold assembly, and headed to Reconditioning Services at Auburn via almost the full length of Silverwater Road. The intake/exhaust manifold assembly will be ready to be picked up mid Friday afternoon. Then it was back down Silverwater Road, again almost it's full length and turned of to Pirtek for the oil gallery plug. Except, Pirtek doesn't carry plugs of the type required, but referred me to Cedrays at Silverwater. Silverwater? Yes, Silverwater, had to travel almost the entire length of Silverwater Road again. And good thing I'd been to Cedrays before with Wade, although they have a frontage to Silverwater Road, entry is from the street at back. There, in trying to explain in my fractured way what was required was invited around the other side of the counter to help peruse the shelf items without success. However, armed with a description of what was required my, as I came to know him, good Samaritan counter man sought advice from others and determined what I wanted was a grub screw! Of course, that's it, a grub screw! Was even able to find one in the required size, being 3/8" BSPT. Even better my good Samaritan counter man gave it to me - gratis, free and no charge! Probably cost more in time and effort to write it up than it was worth charging for. Then, for the last time today, again traveled Silverwater Road, this time it's full length, because that took me almost all the way home.

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Never heard of or saw a GRUB screw.
My education continues!
Thanks Mal.

Friday 31st May 2013

Yesterday Tony from Reconditioning Services rang to say they were having difficulty setting up Fleurette's intake/exhaust manifolds assembly for the surfacing. Wanted to know whether it would be OK, if necessary, to weld some nuts to the end of the manifolds so it could be set up and also whether pickup on Monday or Tuesday would be OK instead of today! Although I was very reluctant I agreed that he could do what was necessary for the setting up, but........damaging the manifold wasn't acceptable and to err on the side of caution. Also, Monday was the latest that it could be ready. So this morning, because I was concerned following Tony's call yesterday, again travelled the entire length of Silverwater Road(Noel, you're lucky I'm not charging by the mile!) to see Tony. Tony was down the back of the very long workshop and when he came up, before I could say a word, said "it's finished"! And there I was ready for battle, had even brought a copy of a pic I'd taken of Tony with my manifold assembly back in 2008 to show that it was possible. Plus, if memory serves me right Jeff, PAC052, had his even longer 288 intake/exhaust manifolds assembly surfaced there a year or two back and they did it while he waited. Tony took me down to see the manifold assembly, still set up in the surfacer, and I showed him the pic taken 5 years ago. Tony's hair has greyed somewhat since then and because of that took another pic of Tony, pointing out this physical change, together with Fleurette's manifolds. Left very happy with the manifold assembly in the boot(trunk) but only travelled about a 1/4 mile when I received a call from Tony. They still had the studs and fittings taken out of the manifolds so they could be set up in the surfacing machine! A quick u-turn, back to Reconditioning Services where Tony met me at the front of the driveway, collected the studs and fittings and off again down almost the entire length of Silverwater Road and from there off to the workshop.

At the workshop, after unloading the manifold assembly, first things done were disassembling Fleurette's engine parts windchimes and putting away those and the larger parts painted on Wednesday. Noel, there will have to be some touch up, but overall turned out not too bad at all. Then, because I'd said in an earlier post that we'd found a can of POR 15 Black Velvet exhaust manifold paint, Noel had expressed a preference for the exhaust manifold to be painted with that instead of the POR 15 Manifold Grey I'd used a while back. Noel, as they say in the classics, your wish is my command. But, on trying to open the can of POR 15 Black Velvet, found the lid was rusted to the lip of the can. Not a good sign to start with, and on opening the can found very solidified paint. But it did mix in reasonably well, although there were still large lumps left! Tested some on the old cracked manifold off Fleurette and it looked OK, so pressed ahead. By the time I left, the parts of the manifold painted first had started to dry and looked greyish. So there must have been still plenty of black pigment left in the lumps. Don't worry Noel, a fresh can of POR 15 Black Velvet should be available from Brookvale on Monday if needed. And speaking of Monday, Noel is coming over to the workshop then to pick up Fleurette two front wheels. He'll then take them so TonyW can mount the long hubcap clips Noel had made up by Helms Springs, and which he picked up today.

Then, on the way home, because my drive takes me past Sarkis's upholstery shop, I saw the Coupe parked with the front poking half out of the shop. As is my want, I stopped to take a pic, but was spotted by Sarkis who called me in. He was in the midst of installing the new carpet and had called on George, the mechanic in the shop next door, to give him a hand to lift the front seat back and bottom assembly back in. Although I offered to help, George and Sarkis did the lift while I snapped a few pic's. Plus, Fleurette's worn through front seat squab side had been replaced and reinforced with a strategically placed leather patch. And, if all goes well, the Coupe should be ready to come home late this afternoon. I'll also pick up Fleurette's front seat squab and return it to the workshop where it can go, no, not in the front seat, but in the backseat and out of the way until the engine is back in.

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Friday 31st May 2013(Part 2)

All went well and, with no phone call from Sarkis to say he hadn't finished, arrived to find the new carpet in, front seat frame bolted in, seat squabs and backs in place, new kick panels in, the new door sills I'd bought at Hershey last year installed and the fire extinguisher now mounted upright on the right side kick panel, before it had been mounted behind my feet on the floor. And an unexpected bonus, a strip of leftover carpet edge bound and almost the width of the new carpet and the depth of the flat front floor area on top of the new carpet in the front floor area. But not enough time to take pic's of all this, with sunset approaching. I'll catch up later if that's OK? Also took Fleurette's front seat squab round to the workshop. At the workshop, surprise and it was a surprise, found Wade busy at work reassembling Fleurette's engine, hadn't expected that! But Wade wasn't happy, because some of the valves won't fit the now K-Linered valve guides! He'd put a call into Graeme and was now waiting for a reply. Wade's intention is to work all weekend, if possible and if necessary, to get the engine back together and into Fleurette. But, before I left home, found I still had a piece of Fleurette in my daily driver! One of the studs off the intake manifold for the carburettor was lying on the passengers front seat, must have slipped out of the envelope containing them when Tony gave them to me earlier today, it's now back at the workshop.

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Saturday 1st June 2013

Although officially the first day of Winter here, found Wade had progressed markedly since I left him late yesterday afternoon. Fleurette's engine was up on blocks on the assembly bench with Wade wanting to turn it on it's side. Graeme Wilkins had come over about 7:30pm last night and reamed out the K-Liners to fit the valve stems. All valves are now in, the new timing gears and chain installed, the timing case bolted up including the timing pointer and harmonic balancer installed. Other things Wade attended to were installing the new head studs and re-installing the carb studs and brass fittings to the inlet manifold. Reason Wade wanted to lay the engine over was to torque the rod bolts. Ended up we had to call upon John to give us a hand with the engine. With a whole lot of iron, steel and aluminium(aluminum) now bolted together all that weight needed extra hands to get it to behave in the manner required. While the engine was on it's side the cover was taken off the oil pickup, given a final clean, the cover put back on and the pickup bolted in. Wade also attended to the seals down each side of the rear main bearing cap. Then I gasket cemented up the four piece sump(pan) gasket, both sides, and Wade gasket cemented the sump and block surfaces. Sump back on, and all bolts tight, the engine was then returned to the vertical and supported by blocks of wood fore and aft. Wade's next task is setting the tappets cold, using 0.002/0.003" over hot settings. Lot easier to set the tappets this way then when the engine is back in Fleurette. Must say the technique works, well it did for me. I set the tappets in the Coupe this way when the engine was rebuilt 4 years and 10,000 miles ago. No noises or any adjustments required to date. Then because Wade is working through the weekend(Noel, you won't believe Wade's overtime bill when you get it!) a car shuffle was required. Fleurette was moved from the bay next to the hoist into the hoist bay. Needed to do it today otherwise Wade would have found it hard to move her himself without extra muscle to help. That's where I left it for today with Big Red moved over to John's section of the shop, one of Ricks's vans moved out of the way and Fleurette ready to go up on the hoist. When the time comes for the engine to go back in, with Fleurette on the hoist, the front wheels can come off to permit the engine crane's "legs" to slide under without access impediments. Will return to the workshop tomorrow, a very rare Sunday occurrence, to help as and where required(Noel, you won't believe the apprentice's overtime bill either!).

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Sunday 2nd June 2013

Before heading to the workshop rang Wade and asked "Are you hungry"? He was. So, on my way, supermarket shopped for the makings of bacon and egg rolls, have to keep Wade's Packard energy levels high, don't we? But shhhhh......the less said about cholesterol levels the better. On arrival fired up the BBQ and, Besides Wade, also fed John and his friend Peter who were at the workshop too.

Breakfast over turned then to Fleurette which, when I arrived, had the engine sitting in front of her hanging off the engine crane. But, by the time breakfast came and went, Wade had the engine positioned in the engine bay ready for the final tweaks of up, down, right, left, push, pull, etc, etc for final placement. Wade was on the creeper under Fleurette while I operated the crane for the ups and downs and manhandled the engine for the rights and lefts and pulls and pushes, etc. It's always the final piece that takes the longest, usually because splines aren't quite aligned, but finally it all came together. Bolted up the trans to the bellhousing top then installed the bellhousing bottom, having to leave two bolts out for the engine pipe bracket which gets bolted on as the last piece of the undercar puzzle. I mentioned earlier that Wade was on his creeper for the engine re-install. This continued to the end of the bellhousing bolt installation when, on sliding out from under Fleurette, Wade expressed the view it needn't have been that way, instead he should have just raised Fleurette on the hoist to a comfortable working height!

The oil pressure line fitting was reconnected and the road draft tube refitted and next the fuel pump installed and then the intake/exhaust manifold assembly. The manifold assembly took some doing after a trial fit revealed it wouldn't. Being RHD the gear change linkages and the steering box preventing a fit from happening. The gear linkages were disconnected, the easy part, while the steering box was unbolted from the frame, the harder part. Still not enough space, so disconnected the steering column from it's underdash bracket. But still not enough clearance so disconnected the cross arm from the pitman arm and moved the steering box up to the top of the frame and tied it back to hold it away from the manifold. Finally, it fitted. Then the fun part Wade loves, applying the sealant to the manifold gaskets. Besides the gaskets, Wade managed to get a pretty good cover of it on his hands as well. Then it was still another struggle to get the manifold assembly on to the studs even after all that had gone before, trial fit included! But wait, there's more! The brass manifold nuts were of two sizes 9/16" AF and 5/16" Whitworth. Plus not just two nut sizes there were also two different threads, fine and coarse, on the studs. But.....there was no correlation of threads to nuts either, what a mixture! And unless you have extremely tiny hands you have almost no chance of getting some of this mismatch of nuts/threads to be affixed to their respective studs. I'm pretty sure by now that "Perseverance" must be Wade's middle name because he never lets these things beat him, he just perseveres! All nuts finally on, the next drama is tightening them. With space at a premium small ring spanners, to fit most nuts, were sorely lacking. 9/16" AF wasn't a problem, but 5/16" Whitworth was. Wade has a 5/16" offset ring spanner, OK for the nuts at each end of the manifold they, unlike all the others, are out in the open. But no 5/16" Whitworth flat ring spanner required for the confined spaces under the manifold. The solution was a 15mm flat ended ring spanner of John's, fitted a little loosely but, did the job........pheeeew! After reconnecting the gear linkages then turned to reinstalling the steering box. Another mismatch of bolts and nuts had been used here. And because, I wasn't paying close enough attention when putting nuts to bolts, resulted in the partial stripping of the thread on one bolt, luckily only at the end of the bolt concerned. A closer examination of these bolts and nuts, rematching nuts to bolts, re-tapping two nuts and re-cutting two bolts finally enabled all the steering box bolts to be successfully re-installed. The right inner fender panel was also placed "in situ", and will be bolted up later, remembering Wade's struggle the last time in getting it back in.

During all this, exactly when I can't remember because it was a looong day, Noel arrived. He'd brought with him the new Helms Springs hubcap clips, made of stainless steel, they look great! Noel's mate Tony is coming to the workshop tomorrow and will remove the old clips and install the new ones in their place. Noel also shouted us lunch, which ended up being from Macca's because of the lack of offerings from the local shopping centre. And while Noel and I were out chasing lunch Wade had re-installed the starter motor and also the generator and oil filler tube.

The head was also re-installed after cleaning block and head surfaces of any over-paint from Bill Hirsch's fine product as well as of any grease, oil, dirt, etc. Then while Wade torqued the head down, in increments to 63 ft/lbs, I first re-gapped Noel's spark plugs then tidied up the workshop and benches and put the tools away. Then at 6:45pm, Wade was taking the opportunity to accept John's hospitality and going to partake of a roast lamb and vegetables dinner. At least he'll have one good meal today! However after dinner Wade will return to the workshop, where he'll finish the inner fender panel, plumb in the lines from fuel pump to carburettor and vacuum lines, maybe re-install the carburettor and linkages, and more.

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Monday 3rd June 2013

This morning, again 'Breakfast-by-Mal' provided the catering for Wade at the workshop, but this time a much healthier offering, Muesli. Not being Muesli eaters in our household I was confused when confronted by the vast array of different Muesli products available in the supermarket, so glad the one finally selected was to Wade's taste. Also found that overnight, and early morning, Wade had installed the carburettor, distributor, fuel and vacuum lines, fan and belt, the horns, coil, etc, etc. But during the horns install, they'd slipped and broken the rotor in the open distributor. Although it was "suggested" I needn't report on this mishap, I felt it better to do so than not, after all accidents do happen. Besides, Wade was able to supply a replacement off the magic parts shelf.

Next was re-installing the radiator/grill assembly into Fleurette. Because Fleurette has sidemounted spares Wade hadn't taken the front clip off because of the extra work required in demounting and remounting the sidemounts. Apparently it had been a struggle getting the radiator/grill assembly out doing it this way and it proved an even greater struggle to get it back in. Lots of the up, down, in, out, right, left, push, pull, curse, swear, etc, etc before being accomplished. Then it was bolting the grill assembly to the mudguards(fenders), including the chrome trim strips and remounting the headlights. During all this Tony, Noel's mate, had come and removed the old hubcap clips from Fleurette's front wheels and riveted in the new Helms Springs hubcap clips. Tony even lent a hand with the radiator/grill assembly re-install, keeping an eye and detailing instructions on the bolt under the centre of the radiator collar, to ensure it mated with the hole in the chassis. This because, on our previous attempt, the bolt missed the hole and was forced out of it's retaining clip in the bottom of the collar. Meant we had to pull the assembly out, retrieve the bolt, bend the retaining clip sufficiently to permit the bolt to be reinserted and rebend the clip so it held the bolt properly. Fortunately it all worked that time, no doubt due to Tony's deft instructions enabling the bolt to find it's hole without mishap.

With the radiator/grill assembly now installed, radiator hoses were attended to together with the heater shut off valve and the heater pipe from the water pump to the heater. But the heater pipe proved to be a problem the gland nut, I think it's called, on the pipe couldn't be turned on the pipe by hand and even use of a spanner(wrench) and penetrants/lubricants provided no joy. With time running out, rather than try to fix this, it was gone around with a plug installed in the waterpump while the heater shut off valve on the head was indeed shutoff. By this time Noel had returned, he'd called in earlier, and we'd also had a visit from Ross. So Noel was there to be told the heater was temporarily inoperative. This rankled a bit with Noel who'd pursued the installation of a correct heater, including the heater pipe, relentlessly only to now be told that with Winter upon us, it wasn't working! Another water problem was a leak at the temp gauge sender unit fitting, the nut having been 'rounded off' proved extremely resistant to be properly tightened.

And then the coup de grace. What? No, not a Packard Coupe, but a 'coup de grace'. On attempting to start Fleurette, for the first time since rebuild, there was a terrible noise coming from, it was thought, the starter motor. Earlier today the engine had been cranked over and oil pressure brought up, as evidenced on the oil pressure gauge, and at that time there were no noises. So pulled the starter motor, which Wade disassembled, and found an oil and dirt buildup which could have been inhibiting the bendix mechanism and reinstalled the starter. Still no joy, the noise was still there. Pulled starter again and this time the bendix was jammed at the end of the starter snout. There was a small amount of joy though, Fleurette does run! During the last of the very noisy starting episodes Fleurette did run, albeit very briefly, being shut down almost as soon as she started. But with the day drawing to a close this last episode finally killed off any chance that both Fleurette and Noel could journey to Eden together next weekend for our Packard Club run. Wade is returning to his new home of less than a week, after a four day absence, he'll appreciate sleeping in his own bed and not on the old sofa in the workshops office. So next we'll see of Wade is at Eden in Big Red. He's put in a huge effort trying to get Fleurette ready for Eden but time and events have conspired to prevent that happening.

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Wednesday 5th June 2013

Late last Friday picked up the Coupe after the front seat was reupholstered and new carpet fitted. Today, took some pic's of the new seat, carpet, door sill and......the new Packard crested floor mats courtesy of one tabletennissport. Had to drop into the workshop this morning to pick up the floor mats, which were in Fleurette's boot(trunk). As well picked up the door handles which were on Fleurette's rear floor for PAC052, courtesy of one DAF(I think). It was only on returning home did I see an email, received after I'd left, asking me to also pick up a PACA Name Badge in the glovebox. Lucky I'm going back down tomorrow anyway, have to clear PACA's PO Box, so all is not lost. Also, in preparation for the PACA run to Eden on the weekend, filled the Coupe with 91 Unleaded. Took 67.17 Litres(Liters) = 14.76 Imperial Gallons or 17.17 US Gallons, certainly needed it. Will clean and pack the car tomorrow in preparation for an early morning start on Friday, picking up Noel on the way seeing Fleurette is still inconvenienced.

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Mal, your '41 One-twenty just keeps getting better and better. Very nice job on the interior. I like the floor mats. Can you still get full throttle with the new and thicker carpeting?

(o{}o)

John,

Don't know yet, driving the Coupe home last Friday and then again yesterday didn't present any full throttle challenges! But I don't expect any problems in that respect. Before the new carpet there was a larger than necessary hole through the old carpet for the accelerator pedal rod which I'd "bushed" with a rubber pad to keep out the draft. Although I have a lead foot, this is a Packard and expects to be driven in a reasonably sedate manner. But with well over 1,000kms of driving coming up on the weekend I'm sure there'll be moments when full throttle is called for.