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Sunday 26th July 2015

In preparation for tomorrows road trip to Wades needed to get the parts together today. Taking up the radiator, timing case cover, harmonic balancer and the generator. Because of oil all over the generator would like Wade to check it over. Now that the timing case cover is exposed, it's readily apparent that it's the source of the leak. To get the TCC off, needed to jack up the engine, wooden block between the jack and the sump(oil pan) and remove the front engine mount yoke as well as the 4 bolts at the front of the sump(oil pan).

I also included a front mudguard(fender) to frame brace because Noel needs one. Rang me on Friday wanting to know the length of the Coupes fender braces. Because I bought 2 pairs of fender braces recently, needing just one because of a kerfuffle with a kerb(curb) a few months back which bent the drivers side brace well out of shape, I could tell him straight up it was 19 & 7/8"!. Noel then called back to say he had several braces but only one was 19 & 7/8" and did I happen to have one? Of course, I did. So on the way to Wade's will pick up Noel, present him with the Royal Order of the mudguard(fender) brace, and then continue onto Wades.

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Monday 27th July 2015

With the boot(trunk) stocked with Packard parts and empty jars, and after picking up Noel, headed north to the Central Coast and Wade. On arrival transferred the Coupes radiator into Wade's Ute but, before we left PeterL called in, Peter lives just over the road from Wade. Peter came over to give Wade a hand to put the radiator back into GeoffC's '39 TJ Richards bodied 110 Sedan. Only trouble was the radiator wasn't there! It was at the shop waiting to be picked up when the Coupes radiator is dropped off. I imagine Peter will come over tomorrow or later in the week to give Wade a hand to put the re-cored radiator into the TJR.

Bidding Peter farewell we were then off on what turned out to be more a parts run then just dropping off and picking up radiators.
First stop was a REPCO, store. What Wade bought there I don't know but I took the opportunity to pick up brake cleaner(for the Coupe) and hand cleaner(for me).
Second stop, just around the corner, was another Peter. This Peter being the excellent machinist Wade now uses. A fascinating guy who, besides the lathes and other equipment, has a magnificent and large 1895 steam yacht in his shed. Peter built the steam engine and boiler from scratch, in its restoration, I'm sorry, but didn't get any pic's. There Wade picked up a pair of screws for Big Red's headlights as well as commissioning some fuel pump bolt spacer sleeves for the TJR.
Third stop was Warners Bay Radiators where we met proprietor Warren and offsider John. Entering the shop first thing seen was the re-cored TJR's radiator, looks real good. After effecting a transfer of radiators out off and into the ute Noel and I got to talking with John who has restored a number of rather rare Matchless motorcycles. It's expected that it'll be a couple of weeks before the Coupes radiator is ready to return home. As Wade is due to come to Sydney in about two weeks, he might be able to drop the radiator off at the Workshop if it's ready then.
Fourth stop was JAYCAR Electronics where Wade picked up some switches and a new pair of wire strippers, his old pair finally becoming unrepairable after many, many years of great service.
Fifth stop was PIRTEK for some fuel line fittings.
All that brought back old times as even I had been entrusted, on occasions, to shop at Jaycar and Pirtek for parts when at the workshop.

On returning to Wades, after unloading the TJR's radiator, Gina provided us with a lovely lunch of toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches. Noel and I were also the lucky recipients of jars of Gina's home made Marmalade.

After lunch Wade, Noel and I retired to, where else, but "Wade's Workshop"! There, on the Peter Packard supplied Timing Case Cover, I cleaned up the gasket surfaces by wire wheeling them. Also asked Wade to have a look at the Coupes generator because of the excessive exterior oiling it had experienced. Lo and behold that's what it turned out to be, excessive exterior oiling! It was just as well I asked Wade about this as all that was needed was removal of the cover band from the back end of the generator. I'd imagined that you'd need to disassemble the generator to ascertain it's condition. Removing the cover band, together with a good torch(flashlight) enabled inspection showing no discernible oil ingress, phew!

Mentioned earlier that Wade collected a pair of headlight adjustment screws(left hand thread) from Peter. This is because Wade is rebuilding the headlights on Big Red. Returning from their trip to South Australia Wade found that the little night time driving experienced was done more or less in the dark despite the headlights being operative. Now "operative" apparently doesn't mean good lighting so Wade is having the headlight reflectors resilvered, ditto the trippe light relectors, and with appropriate Halogen bulbs expects the road lighting system to be effective as well as "operative".

And what's happening to GeoffC's TJR you might ask? Well, the carb has been expertly rebuilt by Carburettor Service Company and is waiting to go back on. As mentioned, the radiator has been re-cored and rebuilt and will be returned to the car shortly. The electrical system has been returned to 6V positive ground from the negative it had been changed to(of course the ammeter was reading backwards!). Also in the electrical system the Ford Falcon(12V) part(ignition module? can't remember what Wade said it was) found wired in and has been removed. It was running on an electric fuel pump although the mechanical pump was there but not connected. Wade found out why the electric was used, there was a big chip out of part of the body of the mechanical pump which would had leaked like a sieve! In Wade's supply of used parts was a good pump body and this will be used together with a rebuild kit to return the mechanical pump to proper service. An electric pump will be retained but only used for priming, as a back up or, heaven forbid, should vapour(vapor) lock ever rear it's ugly head! Other matters to be attended to are the rear spring rubbers and the torque arm rubber bushes.

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A little aside from "Workshop" matters or more truthfully I forgot to report this in the above post!

During their return from the South Australia trip Wade and Gina stopped overnight at a motel at Robe. The motel's proprietors were quite new and also very taken by Big Red. So much so that they asked Wade and Gina if a photo of Big Red could be used in the brochure they were planning for the motel.

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Hi Mal,

GeoffC's 39 TJR is the same one I looked at a couple of years ago in Adelaide. The then owner has a wedding car business "Buicks of Adelaide". He also had a blue 39 110, which I think has been subsequently sold (Obviously going down market!).

G'day Lyndon,

Yeah, remember that. At the time you sent me a pic of the TJR, see this post.

Sunday 2nd August 2015

More work on the Coupe prepping then painting the timing case cover in black. I know it's not "correct" but have to use whats available in lieu of Packard engine green. Also cleaned up the front of the engine somewhat, more still needs to be done once the timing case goes back on and the front engine mount is reinstalled. Then turned to removing the intake/exhaust manifold. To do so needed to disconnect the carb linkage, the vacuum advance, the fuel line, removed the fuel pump heat shield and disconnected the exhaust pipe. I'm afraid my chubby fingers aren't adept at removing manifold nuts, plus the nuts aren't very accessible even with the front clip off. But got there, although once again I suffered a false dawn trying to lift off the manifold with the two middle nuts still secured. Came off relatively easily once they were removed! It's been over 17,000 miles and about 5 years since new manifold gaskets were installed to them failing now. One factor that might have contributed to their failure was using brass nuts on the manifold studs. I'm going to go with steel nuts when it goes back together as I felt that some of the brass nuts required very little pressure to release.

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Believe it or not, the brass nuts are what the factory used, because they have a coefficient of thermal expansion more similar to that of cast iron. Also, make sure you don't get them too tight! I overtightened the nuts on my 115, and I believe that contributed to the manifold re-cracking along a previously repaired crack.

Monday 3rd August 2015

Spent most of the afternoon just cleaning and prepping for putting the timing case cover back on. Someone(moi?) was somewhat liberal with the black paint on the timing cover necessitating overpaint removal from various gasket services, seems I remember Wade complaining about the same thing from time to time. Soaking the crankshaft seal in oil overnight then the seal, it's retainer and the timing case cover will go back on. Cleaned the front motor mount up as well and it will go back on once the timing cover is in place. Jack currently supporting engine, together with wooden block, can then be removed. Also cleaned up the intake/exhaust manifold gasket surfaces and the exhaust pipe clamp surfaces, relatively easy to do. Next was the intake/exhaust manifold on the block, a little more involved because of various studs getting in the way not to forget the rearmost exhaust post surface up near the firewall being more difficult to access.

Had a phone call early in the day from Warren of Warners Bay Radiator Service to say the re-cored radiator is ready. Wade is going to pick it up and drop it off at the workshop next week when he comes to Sydney for the day. Also spoke with Wade for advice, twice. Firstly about what sealant to use on the intake/exhaust manifold and then about soaking the crankshaft seal in oil prior to its installation.

In my cleaning of the intake/exhaust manifolds noticed a casting number on the exhaust manifold of #359893. Later, in checking the parts book, found the actual part number to be #356894. A confirmation that, in many instances, the part and casting numbers differ by a digit or two.

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Tuesday 4th August 2015

A little progress, worked on getting the timing case on. Thought it would be straightforward but there always seem to be bumps along the way, well for me there are! Extracted the soaking crankshaft seal from it's oil bath and inserted it into it's carrier and then onto the crankshaft snout. Painted up all the gasket surfaces with Loctite No3 non hardening sealant. Then carefully, but not carefully enough as I dislodged the crankshaft seal from it's carrier when I tried to place the timing cover in place! Tried again after resettling the crankshaft seal into it's carrier. Good that time but in trying to align the timing case cover with the block dislodged the two gaskets where they meet. Off with the timing case, realign the gaskets, again dislodged the crankshaft seal from it's carrier! After a number of attempts finally was together and aligned. Except inserting the bolts was another little difficulty, some would screw in, other were reluctant to do so. Got enough in to hold the timing case in place and turned to the flat bar that holds the bottom of the timing case through the front of the sump(oil pan) by means of four bolts. To do that thought I'd have to get under the Coupe again, that was how I got them out. But after jacking the engine up slightly and putting the front motor mount temporarily back on suddenly had a eureka moment when I saw that raising the engine enabled those bolts to be accessed from in front without the need to go undercar! Certainly helped to do it that way as there was a lot of fiddling to get everything to align and the bolts started. With everything more or less in place then trial fitted the harmonic balancer with a light coating of oil on the crankshaft snout and the balancer to ease its passage. Was a little contrary in wanting to go on so decided not to push the limits, didn't want to hurt the replacement seal that was the reason for all this. Took the balancer off then rotated the crankshaft about 360 degrees because it looked like the seal wasn't centered in the timing case. That did the trick, slowly turning the crank re-aligned the seal and then the balancer slid in as expected. Took the balancer off and proceeded to tighten all the semi-tightened or half loose bolts and one bolt & nut until all were snug. That's the long story, short story is the timing case is back on!

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Saturday 8th August 2015

Today, after a concrete driveway was poured and the concrete finished, put the front motor mount back on the Coupe. But before putting on the motor mount cleaned the channel at the back of the crossmember of it's accumulated grime and associated matter. Part of the associated matter included a manifold washer, wondered where that went? Trickier than I thought, requiring some finessing between the jacking height of the engine combined with some leverage to align the bolts holding the mount to the front crossmember. Then some more cleaning of the front and sides of the engine followed by cleaning of the splashed around oil on the front clip. To do that, lifted the clip back up with the chain block permitting a pleasant working height on a messy job for a change.

That was it for the day, or so I thought. Later there was a knock on the door and who should be there but Graham, the concreter who did the driveway. Expected Graham on Monday, with the concrete starting to cure and permitting him to finish off the work on the driveway. Turns out Graham was passing in his '64 Ford Falcon XM Coupe after filling up at a service(gas) station. Slowed down to inspect his handiwork and in putting his foot on the clutch the pedal went to the floor when the clutch slave cylinder gave up the ghost. Graham had already called for a tow truck, so what was the reason Graham knocked on the door? He'd pulled up behind my daily driver which was parked on the street because of the driveway work and parked in front of me was a neighbours Ute. Graham needed my car, and the Ute, to be moved so the tow truck could pull the Falcon on front first. Then, a few minutes later, the tow truck couldn't find the Falcon when it reached my street turning right instead of left. Fortunately the tow truck driver pulled up, so was able to chauffeur Graham to the tow truck in my daily driver. After being loaded on the tow truck and on their way home, passed them a little later on my way out. Notes on Graham's XM Coupe - small block Ford 302 V8 with 289 heads and a Toyota Supra 5 speed gearbox(transmission). Bought by Graham about 18 years ago, the V8 swap had already been done because ALL Aussie built Falcons up to '67 came only with 6 cylinder power.

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