Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Tuesday 24th February 2009
Quote:
Dave,

You said it, Wade was thrilled even though some of the edge was taken off it by the little dramas that came with the start up. As to the what chassis and body style, Wade will answer that directly to save me the embarrassment of getting it wrong.

Now for today, suffice to say it was interesting to say the least. Arrived later than usual to find Wade had already had the '34 fired up again, it had started up easily but was not running right. The oil leak and the earlier water leaks were fine but there was now another oil leak seeping from the front valve gear rocker cover. But before we go back to that spotted the '34's body bolts laid out on the desk and Wade showed me the 2 long carriage bolts with their "tilted" heads to fit the wooden frames. If you weren't told or saw them in situ you'd probably think the heads were bent! Should have taken a close up of that feature, sorry. From this turned back to the '34 and fired her up again. Adjusted timing manually, checked this with the timing light(which had to be rebuilt to get it functioning) and also adjusted the oil pressure relief valve with the engine running and now at fast hot idle sits on about 33psi. During all this it was still running roughly and John suggested it was running on only 4 cylinders! John also suggested a back to basics approach so while the engine was running each plug was grounded to see whether it affected the running or not. Turned out there was no discernable difference for the middle four cylinders 3, 4, 5, & 6 while for the outer four cylinders 1, 2, 7 & 8 there was a noticeable miss when each was grounded. This appeared to point to a fuel delivery problem because the middle four cylinders are fed by the inside barrel of the carb. Furthermore Wade was having flashbacks to both his '37 Super 8 and Kevins '35 in each of which he'd found a hole burned through the "hot box" floor of the intake manifold. He'd spent lots of time getting carbs rebuilt for both those, which they probably required anyway, only to discover the major fault was the exhaust was being sucked into the intake manifold.

So next step was to disconnect the fuel line from the carb, disconnect the automatic choke linkage and remove the carb from the manifold and, at this point, Wade's worst fears were realised. Only there wasn't a hole in the hot box floor, there were two holes! One in each of the intake manifold throats, see pic's! And this on a manifold he had re-porcelained! Next was disconnecting the fuel drain system under the inlet manifold, unbolting the hot box from the exhaust manifold, unbolting the intake manifold from the block and removing the inlet manifold. What to do? First checked out the inlet manifold on Wade's spare '34 chassis, and it looks OK. But Wade was thinking of having stainless steel sleeves inserted into each throat and so, each holding an end, we carried the inlet manifold round to Ivan and Sam's machine shop. Sam inspected the manifold and said yes he could do it but didn't have any stainless tube. Left the manifold there and back to the workshop where Wade checked out the length of stainless steel exhaust tube sitting in John's part of the shop. We'd used this previously as an extension to provide extra leverage on stubborn parts over the last year and who would think it would now turn out to be what was required! In addition to that it had been picked up when the tenants next door had relocated so it came at the right price too. Back to Ivan and Sam's where Sam said he'd look at it and let Wade know.

Back at the shop I proceeded to pull the plugs from the '41 because it was missing and farting around. And halfway through that Wade gets a call from Sam to tell him to come and pick up the manifold as it was done! While I continued with the plug cleaning and re-installing, Wade headed off to Sam's. When the plugs were finished I too headed off to Sam's and found Wade about 3/4 of the way back but resting under the load of the intake manifold and the exhaust tubing so lightened his load and carried the manifold the rest of the way back. Everything was then re-assembled with new gaskets being fabricated by MBM for the fuel draining tube under the manifold. Then restart, at first it wouldn't catch because of no fuel in the carb but after the float chamber filled it was off and running. And a sweet sound it was too, timing was a little out but it was running on all eight and not four as before. Timing was ajusted manually by turning the distribtor with the motor running. Wade holding the timing light and I turned the distributor while being careful to avoid touching the exposed ends of a couple of the plug wires where they exit the North East distributor cap. At the end of that the timing light showed both number 1 and 6 as being spot on. The fuel mixture was also adjusted using the mixture screws on the base of the carburettor. Still idling fast but nearing the end of the day there were big smiles culminating in celebratory drinks all round. At this point as the '34 was allowed to keep running John depressed the clutch and tried to engage gear. Much grinding but no meshing, because the clutch linkage needed adjusting. John with Wades assistance adjusted the linkage and was able to engage and change gears and even crept forward about 2 inches, while sitting on the bare frame, so John's claiming first drive of the '34! And even yours truely had a Jim Beam and Cola and, for a man who hardly drinks now, all I can say it'd be easy to do this on more regular basis. Young Lachlan, John's son, also took a video of the motor running, which also shows Wade and Mal in celebratory mood, and when I receive the link to the video I'll include it here.

Two other matters today.

There was a Ferrari F1 in the workshop which had only 964 kilometres on the clock but required Rick's expertise to fix some faults in the instrument cluster. You'd think when you spend AU$400K that you'd at least get a car which works. A very, very nice car even with it's minor faults but it's the first time I've seen Rick take John for a ride around the block in one of the cars they are fixing. Of course the wail of a Ferrari could be heard echoing around West Ryde, not an everyday experience, but delightful to hear it.

The other matter was me getting the gears hung-up on the '41 just as I got home, I live on a busy road and to be stuck in peak hour, just outside your driveway, trying to wrestle a gear lever that won't move is not pleasant. With a cell phone in one hand calling Wade, and a hammer in the other a number of forceful blows freed up the linkage. Then was able to drive off the road, up the driveway and into the garage, phew. But it didn't stop there, now couldn't find my house keys. Again rang Wade, he was at home so no joy there. Rang John, he was still at the workshop, but no joy either. Then had a thought and found they'd slipped down the back of the front seat of the '41 and rang John so he could call off the search. Teach me to leave loose keys lying about!

Attach file:

---

  (28.63 KB)


  (29.23 KB)


  (30.61 KB)


  (25.22 KB)


  (26.08 KB)


  (31.49 KB)


  (35.86 KB)


  (32.61 KB)


  (37.69 KB)


  (22.54 KB)


  (13.82 KB)


  (40.39 KB)


  (37.04 KB)


  (28.78 KB)


  (34.75 KB)

Owen,
To answer your question, the car was an 1101 club sedan.
This car was a right hand drive car ex the factory. Hence all the extra cross shafts that are used to get the brake and clutch to the other side. This is the second attempt to restore the car. The first attempt was aborted after the body was completely destroyed in the bush fires around Sydney a few years ago. I managed to find a complete wreck in Califonia that hapened to be the same body. So now we are getting close again. As to paint colours etc, there seems to be a lot of differences between what was available in the USA and what we got over here. I have put things together with the same paint schemes as were on the original car. I know, however, that there seems to be some differences to what you guys have. When I find out how to drive this site I will post some pictures of the car before restoration, during restoration and after the fire.

Wade, you're doing an absolutely wonderful job on that 34 Eight and I know we'd all enjoy the pictures, especially me as I've been following 34 Eights for as long as I've owned mine (45 years) and have partial data records on some 150 of them. I'd especially appreciate the thief-proof number of the replacement body, and the original body as well if it's known. And the vehicle number from the patent plate if you're willing to share it (send via PM if you want to keep it private).

Do you know if the car was originally imported/delivered by Kellow-Falkiner Ltd.? They were Packard's agent in Melbourne at the time and I have some data on about 20 1934 Eights that were delivered in Australia by them, all factory RHD cars.

Quote:
Dave,

I posted the above body plate details for Wade's '34 in your old Thief-Proof number thread some time ago, so you should already have this.

Thanks, don't want to be a bother. I have all the data you posted some time ago on a variety of pre-war cars. The only thing I don't have is the thief-proof for the 716-143.

Wednesday 25th March 2009
Quote:
Dave, soon as I know it I'll post the info here. And below is a pic of the '34 as it was many years ago long before Wade became it's owner.

And at the workshop today Wade told me, because I only was there in the afternoon, that the '34 was fired up a number of times this morning. Including for his wife Gina, and she probably expected it would never happen it's been so long in the making. And for Packard Clib member Jeff, who's our Rally Director for the 2009 National Rally next month. And here I'll put Jeff on the spot because a week and a half ago he promised he'd include his '52 in the Owner Registry by the start of the Rally. So Jeff, the clock's ticking!

Attach file:

---

  (30.06 KB)


  (27.21 KB)

Mal & Wade,

I really appreciate the pictures of the rotted intake throat and your inventive fix. While I am not thrilled to learn of yet more chronic problematic areas of the tried and true 320, I am glad to know what to watch out for, and how to affect a fix. I had no idea the intakes had problems also. Surprisingly, I am rapidly approaching a year of trouble free service from my 320.

I look forward to following the progress on the 34 (since Mal's 41 has been done, I feel my day is incomplete) as it progresses.

Jim

I had no idea the intakes had problems also. Surprisingly, I am rapidly approaching a year of trouble free service from my 320.

The intake manifold fix was very clever indeed, but you don't have to be concerned that what had happened to it is a chronic problem, I've been intimately involved in the 320 engine for 4 decades and it's the first such instance I'm aware of - some unusual combination of circumstances must have caused it.

And may your next 44 years of driving experiences with your 320 engine be as uneventful as mine have been.

And may your next 44 years of driving experiences with your 320 engine be as uneventful as mine have been.

I am all for that Dave!

Dave,

Last night Wade diligently sifted through his records of both '34's and here's what he found.

His original '34
Thief-Proof # 185078
Engine # 378261
Chassis # 378207
Body 716-446

USA Replacement
Thief-Proof # 180711
Engine # 375842
Chassis # 375787
Body 716-143

Additionally Wade provided a list of all owners of the '34.

- Mr W Guest
- A Queensland Farmer.
- Max Hood, a former President of the Packard Club here, who restored it.
- Next owner was Tony Packard, a Holden(GM) dealer whose slogans were "Just up the Windsor Road from Baulkham Hills" and "Let me do it right for YOU".http://video.aol.com/video-detail/tony-packard-holden-car-dealership-1980s/833944928
- Harvey Claypole, a Packard Club member was the next, he ended up disassembling the '34 for purposes of re-restoring it.
- That's where Wade came in, buying the '34 in pieces and in boxes and has been slowly putting it all back together over a number of years.

Wade's now waiting for the body to be painted and as of Friday last week it was due to go to the paintshop, which is about 1/2 a kilometre down the road from the panel shop where it was. Then once the body is reunited with the chassis much more work is required to get it back on the road. And make no mistake, although the '34 will be to show standard, it will be extensively driven.

Wade started the '34 up again today to demonstrate the vacuum assist for the brakes because he'd connected it up late yesterday. Very interesting to see it in action even without the '34 moving. Wade also said that it's actually attached to a control on the dash which allows you to adjust the strength of assistance required. And another thing I noticed, is that the handbrake operates on all four wheels. No handbrake turns here thankyou!

And a couple of pic's, please excuse the quality as I photographed them direct from an old photocopy.

Attach file:

---

  (46.69 KB)


  (28.38 KB)


  (46.64 KB)