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Friday 10th July 2009

David,

Took the rusty bumper centre piece to the plating shop this morning. Peter there was at a loss to explain why this happened only to that piece while the other parts done at the same time all appear OK. Anyway, he said it'd take about two weeks to re-do it and they'll take it right back and do it completely again. Maybe it did skip the copper coat as you suggested. Whatever the cause, I'll be keeping a close eye on the rest of the re-chromed parts, being all the bumper and over-rider pieces and the tail light bezels.

Quote:
The above quote is Post #113 which generated responses in Posts #'s 114 - 118, including in the last one my abject grovelling about how I got it wrong, But so be it, those who live by the sword die by the sword and those who live by the pen do likewise. Anyway Barry has been kind enough to forward two further pic's relating to his 54, '51 and I've included these below as well as an edited version of the email that accompanied them.

.....The picture of the 51 on Packardinfo had the wings on upside down, and no one noticed!!!......Took me a month to wake up......

And to Barry for including the '51 in the Owner Registry. Will be even better once we sort out how to load a pic for him. And of course better still once he gets the '37 120 and '38 V12 entered. I've already had a word about this in his ear and he muttered something about don't stretch the friendship. Whatever could he mean?

EDIT - Pic problem sorted.

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Sunday 12th July 2009

End result - The '38 was sold at auction today for $23K, the reserve, and after commission and charges I'll be left with $20K. Seeing I paid $24K for it 2 years ago and with the current economic climate I'm happy with the result. Besides running, registration and insurance expenses the only real outlays in that time have been a WFI rebuilt water pump, new temperature gauge and a new head gasket.

Monday 13th July 2009

Didn't get to the workshop today because Wade was returning from his second honeymoon trip to Canberra. But the next best thing happened, the horn button for the '39 110 Coupe Harvey's working on arrived this morning from Yesterdays Radio. Together with the knobs I ordered for the '41, so Jerry. So I had the perfect excuse to go over to "Harvey's Workshop" instead, especially since Harvey paid for the horn button yesterday when I saw him at the auction! Arrived to see the '39 110 Business Coupe sitting outside in the sunshine. Harvey had cut her back and polished her up and she was sparkling away, a nice sight to behold. The Coupe had been inspected last week and a "Blue Slip", Road Worthiness Certificate, obtained and is now on Club Registration for Historic Vehicles. The horn button will go into the Coupe which currently has the button out of the Coupe Roadster so it could pass inspection. So the work Harvey's put in over the last month came to fruition, though there are still a few minor matters to attend to including re-mounting the bumper bars once they return from re-chroming. Once these are attended to Harvey's got the task of doing the same for the '39 120 Coupe Roadster. One thing I noticed on the 120 is it has a fan with "fluted" blades. Harvey tells me these came in about that time but they tended to be noisier than the flat type.

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Tuesday 14th July 2009
Bastille Dayhttp://www.marseillaise.org/audio/marseillaise.wav and Harvey's birthday, Harvey.

But enough of the festivities and back to the workshop. Did the right rear axle and brakes today and after last weeks effort on the left side this only took about half the time. Almost everything literally fell into place, save for those parts requiring de-POR-15'ing!

Also cleared a space in the workshop for the 110 engine, for John's '39 TJ Richards bodied sedan, due to arrive today. Just as we'd finished the axle and brake re-assembly John duly arrived followed shortly thereafter by Clynton and his wife Margaret. John had met Clynton at the National Rally and it transpired that Clynton had a reconditioned 110 engine. Well this suited John just fine as he was going to rebuild his engine, or should I say have Wade rebuild it for him! Anyway they struck a deal, and with Cylnton now visiting relatives, threw the rebuilt engine on a trailer and brought it with them to Sydney on their way through to Armidale. As well they brought the four 15" wheels I bought off PackardInfo member JP also through contact at the National Rally. On their way north Clynton and Margaret had stopped over with PackardInfo member Peter Packard and his wife Ann in Canberra. There they picked up more parts, a trans and a sump for PackardInfo member tabletennisport, aka Noel.

Then came the unloading, the box trailer being unhitched from the Nissan Patrol tow car and wheeled into the workshop. The engine, very very securely tied down, was released from the straps, ropes and chains positioning and holding it in place. It being on a wheeled stand in the trailer was then wheeled to the rear of the trailer, after jack stands were placed under the frame of the trailer at the rear so it wouldn't tip up. Then John maneuvered the forklift, picked up the engine still secured to the stand and deposited it on the workshop floor. After wheeling the engine over to it's space, the straps holding it to the stand were released and the engine crane lifted it off the stand. It was then deposited on the floor, supported in an upright position by blocks of timber. After refreshments of tea or coffee, and some Packard talk, the trailer was re-hitched to the Nissan and Clynton and Margaret continued on their journey north.

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Thursday 16th July 2009

Spent less than an hour at the workshop early this afternoon after some R&R with the granddaughters this morning. Wade had been busy over the last couple of days finishing off the front brakes, hooking up all the brake lines, bleeding the brakes, connecting up and adjusting the hand brake. But today after helping Wade, as he readjusted Big Red's steering box and tilt on the steering column, it became obvious there was nothing left for this man of limited mechanical aptitude to do! Wade was going to carry on doing some re-wiring to reposition the blinker switch in Big Red and run some fresh wires for the new blinkers that will be installed at a later date but nothing for little old me. What this means though is that I'll bring the '41 down tomorrow and we'll start on the laundry list of things to do on it. Some can be done immediately, others need parts or info, while some are longer term projects.

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Friday 17th July 2009

Drove the '41 down to the workshop, and on arriving found Wade still engaged in sorting out the various wiring problems under the dash he inherited when he bought Big Red 2 years ago. At some stage, among other things, it's been converted to blinkers. The steering column stalk unit was mounted low under the dash necessitating the driver reaching down to operate it. The blinkers had been wired into the front fender running lights while the rear ones activated the rear stop/tail lights. But Wade's going to install separate blinkers, fore and aft, courtesy of Harley Davidson Motorcycles. Because here in Oz, to be street legal, our laws require the blinkers to be separate lights from the stop/tail lights. He's putting the wiring in place now but the actual blinker installation will be done later. While Wade continued with that I did a "foreign order" of my own. Using the wire-wheel and bead blasting cabinet to remove the rust and crust from a cobbler's last I'll POR-15 for use as a household ornament for the lovely Kath. That done I did help Wade to remount the left side rear hood catch, me on the engine side and Wade on the passenger compartment side of the firewall. He positioned and held the nuts while I tightened the bolts, worked out well.

Next was getting the '41 into the workshop into the space between Big Red and the '34 chassis. But before doing that re-positioned the engine block/crankcase assembly from Big Red on the table it had occupied a month or so back and moved the table, it's on wheels, into a position behind where the '41 will sit. The actual positioning of the '41 necessitated the movement of 5 other cars so a path could be cleared to permit the '41 to be backed in. Then 4 of the moved cars were returned to positions similar to that occupied before the shuffle. Once in jacked up the '41's front end because the brakes are still squealing but not as loudly as I've seen referenced in another thread on that subject. Took off both front wheels and brake drums and will again clean up and then remount next week. While I was doing that Wade continued with his wiring saga and also ordered more wire and connectors from Paul at Vintage Wiring Harness in Victoria which should arrive Monday.

Also took some pic's of the various stickers and badges on Big Red when Wade bought it in 2007, and which remain to this day.

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Monday 20th July 2009

Rang Harvey before going to the workshop. Why? Because now I have a point of reference with the two '39 Coupes he's working on for his boss. Harvey tells me that "Kermit", the very green 110 Business Coupe, only needs the bumpers back on when they return from re-chroming to finish it. And he's now working on the 120 Convertible Coupe. Anyway the reason I rang him was that I noticed when I was there last week that the '39 110 has "resting plates"(my term) on the rear of the front seat frame against which the bottom of the front seat back rested. My '41 120 doesn't have these although there are brackets where they should mount. I'll be teeing it up with Harvey to get over there to measure the resting plates up so I can have some fabricated because the seat back is too far to the rear without them.

Also rang about getting the "new" wheels for the '41 blasted and then powder-coated. Just want to dress the car up a bit because the off-white/cream colour of the body is somewhat bland and I'm not going to re-spray the complete car so it'll be only be the wheels which get the treatment. Currently it has black wheels and it'll go to red wheels, and I'm hoping to get close to the colour Wade has his '34's wheels. Besides the lovely Kath is quite adamant the Coupe needs it, so who am I to argue otherwise?

At the workshop Wade was showing me the old Kreisler bakelite radio he's restoring for my sister Chris's partner Dennis. Dennis's Dad went into a retirement home and my youngest son Greg and I were helping Chris and Dennis to clean out his house. Out the back, fortunately under cover, my son found the Kreisler radio in an old dog kennel of all places! Immediately I saw it I said "I'll have that" to be be instantly over-ruled by Dennis saying "Oh no you won't!". Well, that was that, but I did volunteer Wade's services, wearing his radio and electronics hat, to check the radio out. I'd given it to Wade some weeks back and now it's working, required a couple of condensors, at least that's what I think Wade said, and a new speaker. Wade had brought in the radio's case because it needs to be cleaned up. He'd used some cutting compound at home but ran out of it so I'll source some more and finish the job. Looks like Dennis and Chris will have a very nice looking radio which Wade tells me is rare and has value, a good find.

As Wade was telling me this John, he of the '39 110 six rebuilt engine, arrived to discuss with Wade what needs to be done before Wade starts on the engine changeover. Wade needs to go over to John's in the near future 1) to look over the car again, 2) and then procure any parts required so everything is on hand and doesn't have to be chased later and leaving the car sitting in the workshop for an extended period. Reason being, painting of the '34 body is close to being finished so once it returns to the workshop space will be at a premium. During Wade and John's discussion a package from Kanter's arrived, contained the seals previously out of stock but not the gaskets required. Although Wade had since locally sourced seals and the jobs done, so the Kanter's ones will go onto the shelf as spares.

That done, I started cleaning up the left front brakes only for Gina, Wade's wife, to arrive. Last Friday Wade had ordered some wire and stuff from Vintage Wiring Harness and it arrived at home this morning. Gina, dutiful Packard wife that she is, accordingly expedited it's arrival at the workshop by personally delivering it. While there, Wade showed Gina what he's currently working on including the disgraceful state of Big Red's wiring and which the new wire will be used for.

Back to the left front and then Jeff from PACA, '52 200 Deluxe Sedan, arrived. He was there to pick up the Penrite oil that Wade had ordered for him and which arrived last week.

Finished the left front, and while doing so Noel rang to say he was bringing over the running boards from his '41 160 Business Coupe. The theory being, I'd use his better running boards on my Coupe while he had my running boards re-rubbered and used them on his Coupe. Noel arrived just as I was repacking the right front wheel bearings so after a quick clean up we proceeded. Well, as we all know theory and practice, are best summarised by YFAM, Randy Berger as "In Theory there is no difference between practice and theory. In Practice, there is." So although Noel's board's are better than mine, it's only by a small degree. So, despite Noel's best intentions, I'll now need to have my running boards re-rubbered.
Noel, for the thought, although things didn't work out, it is very much appreciated. Noel also picked up the trans for his Coupe that Peter Toet and his mate had checked over and painted, and also a sump for his Coupe painted at the same time as the trans. They'd been delivered last week by Clynton and Margaret together with John's 110 engine. That done finished re-packing the wheel bearings, re-fitted the brake drums, adjusted the lock-nuts, fitted the split-pins, re-mounted the wheels and called it a day, actually only half a day because there were other matters to attend to.

EDIT - Almost forgot, during all of this received a phone call from PackardInfo member Bill B, who needs to have the capillary tube on the temp gauge of his '37 repaired so he can continue with his restoration. Bill is near Brisbane about 900 kms north and the local guy he's had it with for the past 3 months hadn't done anything with it. Took it back to take to another instrument repairer only to find the old guy who used to do that work there retired about 12 months ago. I'm passing onto Bill the details of Mobile Instrument Service and Ron there, presuming he hasn't retired yet, this is the guy who repaired my '41 temp gauge capillary. So next time I'm up in Queensland I plan to drop in to see Bill and his '37, if you read this Bill - you have been warned!

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Tuesday 21st July 2009

Arrived at the workshop to find Wade had just finished running new wiring in Big Red for the blinkers to be fitted as well as replacing some sections of "crappy" wiring. Turns out this last part came in handy a little later on.

Energies were then devoted to the '41 with a review of the list of things to be done identifying the horn, clock and the radio as matters which could be easily attended to. Mind you I use "easily" in reference to Wade, because when it comes to things electrical I'm at a complete loss. First up was the horn and I climbed under the dash to loosen the 3 screws at the back of the steering wheel hub that hold the horn ring. But it took a bit of effort to unscrew them. Why? Because I used a small flat screwdriver instead of a phillips head! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_F._Phillips
Then took off the horn ring but there was no wire attached to the horn contact? Wade sent me under the front of the car to retrieve the wire where it exits the centre of the steering box, but again no wire! Examination of the contact button showed the cable had broken and obviously fallen out after Wade disconnected the connector on the wire when the horn played up some months back. Wade suggested I retrace the '41's tracks for the last few months to find the wire but I resisted that suggestion. His next suggestion though, of using a length of the wire he replaced in Big Red, was much more acceptable. After cutting off the parts held together only by twisting the wires together there was a piece left of the right length! Had to drill out the stump of wire remaining in the horn contact because as well as being soldered it was crimped! Soldered the new/old wire to the contact, fed it down the steering column and rescrewed the horn ring back to the hub, using a phillips head screwdriver this time, much easier. Wade then crimped a new connector to the bottom end of the wire, connected it up, re-connected the battery and PAAAARRRRRRRP! The horn works!

Onto, the clock. PackardInfo bksmith's brother had fixed the clock a few months ago but until now it had sat on the bench still carefully bubble wrapped waiting for this moment. A straightforward install, for Wade that is, I just passed tools, held lights, acted as go-fer. Again reconnected the battery and
Tick, Tick, Tick. The clock also works!

Then the radio. This necessitated Wade getting upside down under the dash in order to remove it. Comparatively easy to remove, again for Wade that is. Had to remove the heater control bar from the bottom of the dash, held by two screws. Then disconnected the aerial and undid the 2 nuts which hold it in place and it slid out very easily. Wade will work on the radio at home, on the bench, as time permits. All that left us where? With a dash now with a gaping hole in the middle where the radio was, while the glovebox door now has a clock in it in place of the hole I've driving around with for the last 6 months.

What next? The windscreen wipers, no problems here with vacuum or the lack of it because '41's had electric wipers! The problem here was with the area the blades were sweeping and their effectiveness in doing so and when turned off they parked below the edge of the rubber. Easy to fix, shouldn't it? While easy, is was rather finicky trying to achieve a balance between parking the blades just above the rubber and sweeping to just the centre piece of the windscreen, but after numerous attempts Wade nailed both sides! Then it was adjusting the tension the arm has on the blade. It had been operating with just the bottom half of each blade having sufficient drag to clear their swept path of rain. A little judicious bending of each wiper arm resulted in what appears to be a better, more even tension being applied. Didn't think it was appropriate to be waving a hose around in the confines of the workshop to test their effectiveness so the real test is still to come - RAIN!

Electric related items done, what now? Well because Noel's generous running board swap offer didn't come to fruition, after yesterdays inspection of his boards, we next turned to the running boards. When I say we, again it was Wade who almost literally dived under the side of the Coupe to start unbolting the left side one. A quick squirt of penetrant and all 4 nuts holding the boards to the brackets came off easily. Then with a bit of maneuvering the board was in my hands. Same with the right side, came off easily. Both sides did lose a bit of the perished and brittle rubber getting them out but it's all going to be replaced anyway. Next one board at a time up on the bench, spraying all the clips with penetrant then the slow process of clip removal. While I concentrated on removing the little front and rear trim strips, Wade took off the side trims, the right one of which has lost it's stainless cover, the remnants of the rear mud flap at the rear of the boards and some minor "panel bashing" to correct previous injustices. I'll have the boards sandblasted to remove the old brittle and perished rubber then probably have them sprayed with ute-bed liner or similar.

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Wednesday 22nd July 2009

At the workshop, Wade continued working on Big Red's wiring while I turned to the right side running board removing the very perished, almost petrified running board rubber. Used a hammer and a screwdriver as a chisel, a slow slow process. Started by chiseling across the corrugations but after a while tried chiseling along the corrugations and found this better, not much, but better. At one stage Wade suggested using heat, so tried using John's heat gun, actually an old hair dryer, and did a test using the dryer but it takes a long time to warm the rubber sufficiently, must be the heat transfer to the metal coming into play, before you can scrape off a small section of rubber. Wade thought Rick had an industrial strength heat gun but couldn't find it. Later when I spoke to Rick he said he's got a gas powered torch which I declined because the smell of burning rubber, with me in the middle of the plume, didn't appeal at all. Was able to remove almost all the rubber from the board, chip by chip, with shrapnel flying in all directions. Then started using my trusty scraping knife to get the little lumps left behind. A slow process but I'm getting there.

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