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I love the milk can radiator!

Wednesday, 14th October 2015

Progress! The front clip is back on!!! Well it's sitting there with some bolts and fasteners in place, but at least it's not sitting on the floor anymore. With that space cleared it seems much more spacious in the garage, as it should be! And, it proves it can be done on your ownsome. I for one was almost in concert with those nay/doomsayers who advised against it but got there in the end. Still a lot to do in getting everything buttoned up and aligned but the major challenge has been met and achieved. Must say this old arthritic body is finding it difficult getting under the Coupe. Especially as, at times, it's a lot of under and out and under and out, etc.

First thing done today was putting the final two sump bolts in place because in buttoning up the sump last week came up one bolt short. So left one out of each side and while at Wade's Shed on the Central Coast on Sunday raided his "junk box" for a couple the same as the sample I took with me. And of course I found the missing sump bolt today when chasing a nut I dropped into the confines of the front crossmember understructure. The nut I dropped in there was the big nut that secures the bottom of the radiator collar structure to the frame. In trying to fish that out, disturbed the missing sump bolt which promptly made it's way to the floor. Before getting to that stage I'd done a final clean up of the engine and surrounds. Then put the front wheels back on and dropped the coupe to the floor from the jackstands. Rolled the Coupe forward until it was just behind the clip. Raised the clip until the bottom of the mudguards(fenders) would clear the tops of the tyres(tires). Also had to tie the right side of the clip to a shelving unit, the clip had an annoying habit of rotating 90 degrees! Then pushed the Coupe forward in increments. After each push forward would check each side for alignment and clearance, then repeat and repeat. Also, as protection, draped old towels over the rear of the mudguards(fenders). Once close to position started lowering the clip and pushing and checking in smaller increments. Once one of the right side bonnet(hood) side panel locating holes was reasonably aligned with the corresponding captive nut, a nut was loosely threaded in. That's when I turned to the aforementioned big nut to secure the radiator collar and structure to the front crossmember, a major fastening point. Initially I couldn't locate the nut to be used which I'd scrounged from my own "junk box", there wasn't a nut there when I pulled the clip off! Finally found it just where I'd left it, but over time something had gone on top off it! There was more very minor shuffling of Coupe and clip in order to get the captive bolt to drop though the locating hole in the crossmember. It wasn't till I realised I actually needed to stop moving the Coupe and concentrate on only moving the clip that success came. Then loosely bolted the left mudguard(fender) to the body. Next reinstalled the rods/stays from the front crossmember to the sides of the radiator collar. I'd taken each side off differently, the left without it's base bracket, the right including it's base bracket, and because of that had to first put the base bracket back on the right side stay/rod. That's about as far as I progressed, but for me it's quite an accomplisment!

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Thursday, 15th October 2015

The front clip is now secured, at least I don't have any fasteners left over, as far as I can tell. Hopefully tomorrow will start putting things back on the engine and reconnecting wires which were disconnected for the clip removal, etc.

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Friday, 16th October 2015

Incremental progress only. Reinstalled the upper and lower radiator hoses and refilled the radiator, etc with coolant. Haven't yet put the fan or fanbelt back on, but, as a leakage test, ran the engine for a couple of minutes after the coolant was added with the temp gauge coming up to about the 1/4 mark. All looks good, so far, with no apparent leaks either coolant or oil. Will leave overnight and check again tomorrow.

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Mal, what's the contraption in the middle of the top radiator hose?

Mal, looks great!

BDC, I asked the same question about two months ago. From Mal then:

It's a commercially available Tefba in-line filter.

http://www.tefba.com/

Sounds like a dangerous device to me if you don't keep it clean.

Saturday, 17th October 2015

More progress , but not fully there yet. But, should be able to go on a test drive tomorrow.

First up was a visible inspection for leaks and...... there were none, so good start. Then, once again, was back under the Coupe. First to secure a nut and bolt holding the right side lower inner mudguard(fender) rubber strip to the inner mudguard(fender). This originally would have been a fabric like material but I replaced mine with rubber strips back in 2008. Will never be judged, and if anyone is that close to be able to discern what it is they deserve a poke in the eye for their efforts! Then put the headlight loom cabling back into it's clips. Next was the fan pulley, fan and fanbelt. Last few times doing that I've used a golf tee for alignment of the pulley and fan but used something different this time, a straight plastic rawl plug. The golf tee was a little short for ease of use and in looking around found a 5mm x 37mm rawl plug to be perfect for this task, it's been added to the toolbox. Once the fan was on, the fanbelt was installed and the generator, with the commensurate tension on the fanbelt, tightened up. Then reconnected the wiring, glad I took pictures back in June when it came apart, There were only 6 wires to hook up but, for me, the pic's certainly helped. Oh oh, just remembered haven't hooked up the turn signals! Part of the problem with the wiring is that there's a ground(I think) on the side of the wiring bracket "thingie" on the left inner mudguard(fender) which bolts through to the outside of that panel. Last time had to get Kath to help in undoing this but this time managed to tighten it up on my ownsome, reaches round and pats himself on the back! Still not finished but far enough along to be able to start up and run for further testing. Ran it for over ten minutes, getting up to operating temp and again without signs of leaks. Didn't have time for more with grandkid sitting duties tonight.

"Sounds like a dangerous device to me if you don't keep it clean."

BDC, You're right in saying that, but it certainly catches debris which would otherwise end up clogging the radiator. Will be keeping a watchful eye on it to ensure it doesn't get clogged itself.

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Looking good! Why didn't you just put the fan on before installing the radiator?

G'day Ken,

Doing it on my own it was "easier" to do it this way. With the '41, in taking the front clip off and putting it back on, with the new radiator in it's collar, I didn't want to take any chances I'd damage the radiator. Placed 2 layers of cardboard against the radiator as protection during the reinstall process. With the fan on, 1) there'd be very little margin for error in the clip reinstall process, and 2) I wouldn't be able to reinstall the lower radiator hose. Well maybe you could but with the tall sides of the '41's engine compartment, coupled with my decidedly unathletic body I couldn't. I know Packard mechanics, back in the day, must have done that sort of thing routinely and I salute their ability.