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If time is not an issue most of these balancers can be rebuilt.

Jim Chrisner, Western Pennsylvania

Jim,

That's my "fall back" position. There's a rebuilder in Sydney, or rather a fabricator because he makes them from scratch, and Wade had one made for Big Red a few years back. But first we'll see what Pepe comes up with.

Wednesday 18th February 2015

Unfortunately Pepe was unable to come up with a balancer/pulley for the Coupe and referred me to JohnK but he too came up empty. Then, after a phone call or two with Peter Packard last Wednesday a balancer/pulley arrived by courier on Friday causing my wife Kath to almost fall through the floor under it's unexpected weight! At our daughters house today, where the Coupe is garaged while waiting for one to be built here, removed part of the damaged balancer/pulley, the balancer part. That was after loosening the generator, removing the fan belt and also removing the left side stay betwen the firewall and the fixed bonnet(hood) side panel. Why do that? Because this short, fat, old Aussie had great difficulty reaching over the edge to the balancer/pulley and had to lie along the top of the mudguard(fender in US, wing in UK).The pulley removal wasn't so easy, in fact it's stalled because I dropped the 1" AF socket and couldn't find it. But I did later at home, there it was in a photo, hiding in not so plain sight under the pulley! Will return in the next few days to retrieve the socket and finish the task. Anyway, frustrated by the lost socket saga, instead removed the badge bar from the front bumper. Will update it with a couple of different badges in time for our 16th National Packard Rally next month.

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Wednesday 25th February 2015

Incremental progress yesterday and today.

Yesterday, cleaned and painted the replacement balancer/pulley from Peter Packard, and paintline marked TDC and 6 degrees before TDC on it. Had a wildlife encounter in preparing to clean up the balancer. Seeing I don't have a garage most of my "stuff" is stored at my daughters with the Coupe. But needed something to rest the balancer on while I cleaned and painted it. So assembled an outdoor plastic table as a workbench, the kind of table with removable plastic legs. Put the first in, no worries, Second leg felt heavy but, having had a previous experience many years ago when a blue tongue lizard fell out of pipe and onto my foot scaring the @#%&! out of me I was very careful in handling the table leg. And sure enough, out slid a blue tongue! Fortunately the other legs contained no wildlife, last seen, the blue tongue was heading across the lawn, no doubt looking for his next meal of snails, we've got plenty! Of course none of that would have happened if my wife had let me use the kitchen bench for the clean up and painting.

Today removed the fan and fan pulley for a little easier access. Also found the 1" socket, hiding under the pulley, and removed the bolt holding the pulley to the crankshaft. Following some advice, did this by attaching the socket and handle to the bolt head with the handle resting on the left side of the front crossmember. Then, gently used the starter button, that is, by pressing it for a only a few turns of the engine. That loosened the bolt enough so that it turned by hand, or more correctly fingers. One step forward. But, how to get the pulley and hub off the crankshaft? Didn't have a pry bar that would fit behind the pulley to enable it to be levered off the crankshaft using the front motor mount as a fulcrum. Realise this will probably damage the pulley but, in the confined space available, I doubt I have any other options. Some local shopping at hardware and auto parts stores didn't turn up a pry bar. But seeing I'm heading to the big smoke, Sydney, on Friday I'm sure I'll get one there.

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Saturday 28th February 2015

Yesterday picked up a 60cm(24") tyre(tire) lever from SuperCheap Auto, thought it would do the trick in allowing me to lever the pulley and hub off the Coupe's crankshaft. Wrong! Today found that there's so much flex or spring in the tyre lever most of the force seemed to be spent elsewhere. But what to do to get the recalcitrant pulley off? Being at my daughters looked around for a "suitable" rigid lever and found one in the form of a fencing bar or crow bar I'd lent my son-in-law. Should get plenty of leverage with that! Sure did! By levering then bumping the starter motor with the button on the solenoid turning the crank a little at a time the pulley and hub soon started to move forward.

But when it came off I found out the true results of my brute force and ignorance approach, a broken hub! Too late now, so carried on to get the replacement pulley and balancer on the crankshaft snout. Before doing that though, compared the old and new pulleys to ensure they were the same. And they were, with the markings on both having the same offset for TDC and 6 degrees before TDC in relation to the keyway location as well as the shape and pulley size being right.

Then came the hard part, getting the pulley and balancer on. It's one thing getting it off but gravity, a heavy part held at arms length at full stretch into the depths of a '41 120 engine compartment, lying along a mudguard(fender), trying to lift it about 1/2" with one hand and slide it onto the crankshaft snout is another thing altogether! But I wasn't going to let it beat me, after all I'd watched Wade tackle these same awkward situations and come out on top many times. And what did he use to do that? Why perseverance, so that's what I applied! Many, many, many attempts later finally got it to start on the snout, what a relief. Then it was a matter of wriggling it until I felt the keyway engage with the key in the snout, good. A little more wriggling and some pushing and it started to slide on, but only went so far. Then couldn't get the retaining bolt and washers past the pulley to try and start the nut to push on the pulley and balancer. Couldn't use the fencing bar, just wasn't right for that job. But the tyre lever was. Again bumping the starter, and using the lever against the bottom of the radiator cradle got the pulley and balancer on far enough after many attempts to finally get the bolt to start. Pulled the pulley and balancer on the rest of the way using a socket and ratchet finished off with a length of pipe over a socket bar for reasonable leverage.
Then started the Coupe up, no troubles there with the pulley and balancer appearing to be rotating nicely. But....and it's a big BUT....I now had another problem. There was coolant leaking from the bottom of the radiator. Not much, but enough! Looks like the Coupe wont be going to the National Rally, I just don't have the facilities(my own garage yet) to be able to pull the front clip off to remove the radiator.
Anyone have a loan Packard I could use at the Rally?

As an aside, on my way home yesterday, dropped into see Andrew with the '40 160 parts I'd picked up last month. Also called into Camden County Customs to see TJ and catch up with what he was up to. One of the cars in his shop was a '53 Caddy which had been converted into a pickup or ute back in '53 from a brand new Caddy. The story is the new Caddy was in a warehouse in California when something fell on it crushing part of the roof. The guy who bought the wreck was a shipwright who welded up the rear doors, used the rear window and roof section for the back of the cabin and fabricated a wooden bed. TJ has made a complete new sheetmetal bed as well as fixing all the other body areas needing attention. Looks good, but no photos, although TJ may have some on the Facebook page.

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Mal, quite a job. Success! Do you think the hub cracks were a result of the damper going bad over time? I would like to think so. Is the radiator removable without taking off the front clip? Recent posts talk about doing it this way on earlier cars. Thanks for the updates.

(o{}o)

John,

The photo doesn't tell the whole story, the cracks are the result of my heavy handed levering.

I know the radiator can be removed and reinserted without removing the front clip, although it's a very tight squeeze! Wade and I did it back in 2008 when the radiator was pulled for inspection, testing and repair. However, the bonnet(hood) still needs to be removed along with the water pump and generator. Also, at that time, the mudguards(fenders) were off allowing us to stand on the frame rails, and even then it was still a difficult job. Some time this week I'll be taking the Coupe for a run to "test" the leak, maybe there's still a chance it'll get to the Rally?

Tuesday 3rd March 2015

My fears of doom about the radiator leak may be just that, fears. Hooked up the pulley, fan, generator and fan belt, and in getting the fan back on, didn't drop a bolt or washer. A first for me in that situation! After hooking things up drove the Coupe out of the garage then topped up the radiator, only took about a litre/quart. Let it idle for some minutes until up to operating temperature then off on what was a scenic 60km drive from Fitzroy Falls to Robertson and Moss Vale then back to Fitzroy Falls. Mildly hilly country with the air temp about 22C. The temp gauge stayed just below or just on the halfway mark all through the trip and only started to rise after idling for about 10 minutes at journeys end. I'm thinking I could be taking the Coupe to the Rally now, but with one eye firmly on the temp gauge. Will give it a sterner test in the next week or so.

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Mal, the garage gods are smiling upon you for a change. Nice feeling isn't it?

(o{}o)

John,

Yes, a very nice feeling. I've been very lucky with the Coupe so far, since getting it on the road at the start of 2009. Although there have been things "happen", nothing that has been a major drama has occurred. I hope it continues that way!