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'The Man From Snowy River' - one of my favourite poems Mal. Best enjoyed in the bar of the Tuena Hotel in 1972, when Bob the Publican recited it every Saturday night, to a silent spellbound crowd. Beautiful. The hair stood up on your neck and you never tired of hearing it.

Tuesday 20th August 2013

Wade's down from the Central Coast for the rest of the week with a couple of things in mind. 1) To start sorting the parts on the "magic shelves" for transportation to their soon to be new home. And, 2) A bit of Packard work as well.

Concerning the sorting, not all the parts are relocating to the Central Coast some are going elsewhere. Elsewhere, in this case, means going South to Peter Packard where they'll go into PACA Club Stock. Others parts still will be sold, don't know how that's going to be accomplished, but I imagine will include a fair number of '34 parts.

As for the work, on the weekend PACA attended the Shannon's Sydney Classic, where I learned Wade was to be at the workshop and also he offered to help with the drivers side outside door handle on the Coupe, because he'd read about my troubles here. Imagine that! Also offered to install the new front handbrake cable I received from Max a month or two back. But the major item of work is not on my Coupe, but on Ed's '37 120 Touring Sedan which was a participant on Sunday, The '37 needs a new pinion seal and is booked in for that tomorrow.

Today though, Wade was kind enough to get the handle onto the door of the Coupe. Thought it would be relatively straight forward, a bigger screw into the re-tapped handle body. But it wasn't that easy. Re-tapping with a bigger bolt proved ineffective, because the pot metal body was badly worn, there wasn't enough metal left for a decent thread for the size bolt(screw) required. So a different approach was adopted, using a heli-coil. Meant drilling the pot metal out more then tapping for the heli-coil and, even though one side of the pot-metal body had little metal, there was enough thread cut for the heli-coil to do it's work. But, trying to drill and tap into the pot-metal had resulted in a new thread a "little" off from the original. Solved by grinding down the head of the bolt so now it's a cheese head screw with a hacksaw cut for screwdriver use, tapering the start of the thread on the new screw and filing out the hole in the door to accommodate the screw somewhat. All together now with strict instructions from Wade that at the slightest sign of the handle loosening to re-tighten it straight away! Thanks Wade, I'm paranoid enough already that parts might fall off the Coupe without that now being a conscious reminder!

Door handle affixed it was onto the handbrake cable. Coupe backed into the workshop and up on the hoist then the end of the cable was released from the equaliser. Next undid the clamp that retains the cable housing to the trans crossmember. Then removed the "device" that took up most of the stretch in the cable. Back to the clamp which was now hanging on the end of the cable housing and after a lot of persuasion managed to free it. Coupe back on the floor, removed the drivers side kick panel and peeled the new carpet back to check if there were any clamps inside the car. There weren't. Then the fun began, with Wade trying to remove the split-pin from the clevis that holds the handbrake cable to the handbrake handle. With very restricted access, plus a split-pin that was recalcitrant in the utmost to removal, finally had to admit temporary defeat. However once Ed's '37 has been attended to tomorrow the running on the handbrake cable replacement will be taken up again. But why admit defeat today? Because I was taking my wife Kath to the movies in the afternoon!

Link to Sundays pics

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Wednesday 21st August 2013

Arrived at the workshop in the Coupe to find Ed's '37 120 Touring Sedan being positioned to go up on the hoist. Once up the rear universal joint was disconnected from the diff(third member, Randy?) pinion flange and the tailshaft wired up to the rear sway bar so it was out of the way. The flange removed and then the leaking pinion seal removed. Inspection of the pinion flange revealed the sealing area was good so the new seal was then installed and the pinion flange re-installed. However the pinion nut wasn't in great shape so a trip was taken to Lee Bros for a replacement. This entailed going in the Coupe, which normally I would have done alone, but because the hand brake was disconnected I enlisted Ed to ride along. Ed was going to stay behind and clean up the spray that resulted from the leaking pinion seal but did that bit of housekeeping later in the circumstances. Picked up another nut, but the only locking nut they had was too long. So another trip in the Coupe, this time to Ed's house because he lives relatively close. There, a thinner washer was sourced as well as Ed cutting down the length of the nut in his lathe. Quite a lathe is it too, formerly from HMAS Perth. It is in extremely good condition, only being used while the ship was at sea for emergency repairs, while in port any work required used dockyard facilities and machine shops. Took a while to do the job, with most of the time spent in centering up the nut in the chuck. Back to the workshop, washer and nut on, tailshaft reconnected, diff refilled and then Ed finally was able to do his undercar cleanup.

After waving Ed goodbye in the '37, started work again on the Coupe and its handbrake cable saga carried over from yesterday. The problem yesterday being that the split-pin holding the handbrake handle end of the cable under the dash, besides being in a very difficult position, was very stubborn in defying removal. Even though the split-pin was loose and rattling in the clevis pin it couldn't be gripped for removal. Finally after a loooooong, loooooong time Wade finally managed to extricate the split-pin in a number of pieces. To do so the front seat squab had been removed, padding laid down, and Wade lay across the cabin. But by doing so his head hung out the open drivers door with no support and his neck was copping a beating. Who should come to the rescue? Why Max Merritt of course! Huh! Actually it was the box from Max that the hand brake cable came in and this, together with a couple of folded up towels, provided a head rest of sorts for Wade. No chance of falling asleep though, still not comfortable enough for that to happen. But if you've ever wondered what those oversize boxes Max's parts come in are good for, now you know at least one use. Old cable out the interior end clamp removed and reused on the new cable the new cable was then finally pushed through the holes in the body and remounting began. This too proved to be difficult as Wade was vowing the spit-pin would be more easily removable should it ever be necessary in future. It is but not as well as Wade expected, the physical restrictions inherent in remounting the hand brake cable providing impediments in being able to do so. Still, one end of the cable was now secured, time now to put the car up in the air and do the other end under the car. This proved a lot easier, being readily accessible for a start, but did shorten the threaded section on the end of the cable that holds the clevis. Did this almost freehand with a hacksaw under the car while Wade held the cable end with a pair of vice grips against the arm of the hoist. Adjusted the rear brakes up some adjustment of the clevis and we were in business. Once again I'm indebted to Wade for the time and effort he spent on the Coupe.

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Am interested in where you acquired the Packard lettering decal on the trunk of your '34. I have a '36 and would like to have one.

Your help is appreciated

Dave Lee Saratoga, NY
Classiccar47@aol.com

G'day Dave,

I bought the Packard decals for Wade's '34 off US eBay over 2 years ago. I'd also bought similar Packard script decals for my '41 also off US eBay about 5 years ago. However, at the moment, the only current eBay listing for Packard Script decals is this one. Though did find an old email from 2 years ago which indicates the seller was The Sign Depot 1 which had an email address of - thesigndepot1@aol.com. If you don't have any luck there, or on eBay, maybe one of the Packard clubs or Vendors sells them?

EDIT - Looking at the Site of the seller of the eBay listed decal they also have a larger Packard Script decal available.

Sunday 22nd September 2013

Been over a month and nothing much has happened at the Workshop, besides dropping in regularly to give Misty a bone, but that doesn't mean all things Packard are in hibernation here.

Back on 22nd August took the Coupe up to my daughters at Wahroonga for a photo opportunity. Rose Seidler House hosts a Fifties Fair each year and my daughter and her daughters were attending this years fair. My daughters Mother-In-Law had donated accessories, hat, fur and gloves from the period while my daughter made the poodle skirt outfits for her daughters and wanted to use the Packard as a backdrop for some photos prior to the actual event on the Sunday, see pic's.

On Tuesday 3rd September my brother was in town and together with his son visited with us. And my daughter, together with my grandson, also came along for a family morning tea. Because of the number of cars arriving and, because my brothers son is in a wheelchair, I'd moved the Coupe out of the garage so he could be wheeled through to the rear of the house thus avoiding the wheelchair unfriendly stairs at the front. Then on leaving, seeing the Coupe parked in the front yard, my daughter took a couple of pic's of my grandson at the wheel of it. Little did I know why she wanted to do that, but I never let a photo opportunity bypass the Coupe. See the pic's below.

On Sunday 8th September our Packard Club held a Concours Day at Cattai National Park on the far western outskirts of Sydney. Not a big turnout, only 8 Packards 4 of which were judged. The others, including my Coupe, declining the invitation to be placed under such close scrutiny. Good day had by all, see pic's in this Picasa Album link.

Wade too normally would have joined us at Cattai but instead had booked to attend the Shepparton Swap meet a two day event over the same weekend but about 750kms south. This event was part of the Victorian arm of the Packard Clubs Events Calendar and attracted a number of interstate Packard owners. Don't know how good the swap meet was but I'm sure the social side was well attended!

Then on Saturday 14th September my daughter-in law, wanting to surprise her husband, my oldest son, arranged for a Packard Taxi, the Coupe, to convey them to a French Restaurant for a 10th Wedding Anniversary meal. The restaurant was in the Rocks area, one of the first settled areas of Australia, and is literally in the shadow on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, see pics.

Finally today I took Noel over to TonyW's at Eastwood, the next suburb to where I live at Epping, and where I grew up. Noel, while the major body work is being completed by Karl at Fineline at Moorebank, has Tony working on other pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is his Coupe's restoration. Tony had already woodgrained the dash and is now in the process of reassembling it. Advice, guidance, opinions were sought and/or given with directions for it's completion now clear. Noel brought over the right side inner fender panel and the front lower panel from under the grill from his Coupe. Both had been viciously attacked by the dreaded tin worm and Noel was seeking to determine whether Tony could 1)repair or, 2)remake them. The short answer was No to both, but Noel has another avenue to pursue which he'll attend to in the near future. Noel had also brought over the glovebox door for Fleurette which has the annoying habit of, when opened, falling right down. That it does this is particularly exasperating to Noel and today armed with two other glovebox doors sought Tonys advice and hopefully help in fixing the problem In this case Tony will be able to help and soon Mr Perfectionist won't be exasperated any longer! Noel was also able to pick a few of the pieces Tony had been working on including his Coupes horns. Note, because it's a 160 it has a three-pack of horns whereas my lowly 120 only has a two-pack!

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Quote:
G'day RL,

My answer is: I don't know, not being a '37 115C expert!

So I'll ask BigKev to move your post from this thread to the Pre-War Forum where it can be addressed and you're much more likely to receive an answer.

Thanks for the info. Will look into this!

Dave

Wednesday 9th October 2013

Received advice a few days ago that Wade would be in the Workshop today and was going to look at a few things on Fleurette, being the gear linkages, putting the radio back in and the heater.

Good, I too needed to make use of Wades services, because On Saturday the 4th the Coupe developed a problem. But before getting to that, I was initially surprised my wife Kath suggested we take the Coupe that day. We were going to a family function, usually attending most of those in the daily driver. Turned out Kath wanted her brothers and their families to see the Coupe because most of them hadn't had that pleasure yet. And of course I wasn't going to say no, any chance to give the Coupe a good run I'll take any time. A 100 mile round trip should be right up it's alley. And it was, with things going very smoothly on the Freeway, until Kath remarked how well the car was running. That did it, because a little later when I eased off the throttle at 65mph, there was a growling noise from the drive train! Thought it may have been from the diff, the pinion coming loose? But after stopping, and taking the car out of overdrive, on carefully resuming our progress, the noise on the over-run had disappeared! But at least it wasn't the diff. With the problem narrowed to the overdrive and by locking out the overdrive there wasn't a problem! However I was concerned, I'd seen first hand the results of two overdrives that had failed and locked up, Fleurettes and Juniors, and I didn't want the Coupe to suffer a similar catastrophe. Then of course, when I tried to recreate the problem with Wade riding along today, the Coupe wouldn't go into overdrive! Green light on, back off throttle, green light stays on. Tried a number of times, but no dropping into overdrive. However the Coupe is still operable, although at a reduced speed, so will be able to go on our club run Sunday to Jamberoo, about 70 miles South. Thought now is to rebuild a trans/OD unit and swap it into the Coupe at a later date.

But, before looking at the Coupe, Wade first attended to Fleurettes gear linkages. An adjustment to re-align the holes in the column bellcranks seeming to take care of that(a test run hasn't been done yet so it remains to be seen as a proven repair). Then Wade looked at the heater. The last time Noel took Fleurette home from the workshop, after the heater had just been hooked up again, Noel gave the heater a test only to be met with a really bad smell which reminded him of the time the wiring harness shorted out and burned. As I said, Fleurette hasn't been taken for a run yet, but Wade discovered that the demister(defroster) motor wasn't working but there was a current draw, maybe it burned out? The radio wasn't attended to because Noel still has the speaker box which Tony refinished. However, before the speaker box or the head goes back in Fleurette Wade wants to reunite it all on the bench and test it. Instead, turned to an oil leak discovered while under Fleurette. The line from the back of the block to the oil pressure gauge was slowly dripping oil from the line fitting at the block. Tightening of the fitting slowed down the leak some, but it continued. Removed the line from the block and from another fitting on the firewall before it passes through into the passenger compartment. Besides a kink in the line near the block fitting the "shoulder" on the line doesn't look good. Wade is going to take the line to Pirtek to have it repaired or replaced.

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Hi Mal and all, Please note that a common cause of not going into overdrive is that the motor idling setting is too high. All of the R6, R9 and R11 overdrives need a positive reversal of the internals of the gearbox when you lift your foot off with the green light( governor of R9 and R11 only) on, to allow the overdrive pawl to engage in the window. You should also allow a good three-four seconds for the reversal and engagement to occur. It will be very obvious once you get used to it. It will also delay if you have 140 weight oil in the box. 85W GL4 oil should be used to avoid screwing around with the bronze bushes in the OD. Do NOT use GL5 as this will toast your gearbox synchro rings and OD bushes. Best regards PT