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Tuesday 29th April 2008

At the workshop, first tidied up the pieces I'd POR-15'd yesterday. Then it was more cleaning of pieces and nuts/bolts, mainly in the wire-brush wheel of the bench grinder, these pieces will be POR-15'd tomorrow. Spent about 4-5 hours doing this and it really cleans them up nicely leaving them bright and silvery. Not much more of this to do.

Oh, almost forgot I had a call from Harvey on Sunday evening, he's going to re-woodgrain the dash for me. Harvey gave me instructions for stripping the present brown paint off and to leave the original pattern which fortunately remained under the centre behind the radio. I'll probably do this later this week and then the dash will be off to Harvey so he can work his magic.

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Wednesday 30th April 2008

Only spent an hour and a half at the workshop this morning and the time was spent POR-15ing the bits cleaned yesterday. Surprising how long it takes to paint all the fiddely pieces. And it's like a christmas tree or more so wind chimes stringing all the pieces up to paint them, plays quite a tune when they get bumped!

Earlier in the morning rang the chrome plater and he advised the bumper bars were done but they were still working on the over-riders. over-rider bars and bumper bolts. The tail light bezels will be another couple of weeks anyway because they are pot metal.

Yesterday I rang a couple of coach companys to get quotes because I am on the Organising Committee for the 2009 National Packard Rally of the Packard Automobile Club Australia Inc which will be held in the Southern Highlands in March 2009. I needed quotes for a trip from Mittagong. the hub of the Rally, to Crookwell. As part of the activities of the rally it is proposed to visit Crookwell by coach on Thursday 29th March 2009 for a guided tour of the Sydney Vintage Car Restorations workshop there. Received one email reply and I sent off an email to another coach company detailing our requirements. Anybody interested in the Rally its the last week of March 2009 and all are welcome.

And, just after I returned home today, received a package from Yesterdays Radio containing the knob for the over-drive in the '41.

Now off to see the grand-daughters!

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Friday 2nd May 2008

Although no work on the '41, from Lee Bros, picked up various nuts, bolts and washers to replace the broken, destroyed and beyond repair originals.

Mal: This may sound like a dumb question but here it goes. Since all the bolts and nuts on your Packard are SAE and not metric. What do you do when you have to replace SAE bolts and nuts, find replacement SAE hardware or re-tap and use metric threaded hardware.

John F. Shireman

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John,

Not a dumb question at all! But that's why I went to Lee Bros, being a specialist, they stock UNC & UNF Hardware as well as British and Metric. Costs a bit more but it's worth it to retain the right hardware on the car. My fallback, if they didn't have what I wanted, was to search through the plastic and tinplate ice-cream and other containers of mainly Model A and early Ford stuff I still have from 40 years ago, but this wasn't necessary. Thanks for your concern.

Saturday 3rd May 2008

Couple of hours at the workshop this morning. Took the decorations off the Christmas tree, AKA the stand where the bits and pieces were hanging for painting and drying. Cleaned a couple more bits I'd missed and touched up some bits from painting the other day.

Then prepared for my next assignment, replacing some of the rubber and other material components including gas tank insulation strips, front floor material. heel rests material, some rubber grommets, the inner fender panel bottom rubber strips and the beading between the fenders and the body. On that note, currently there is beading between the rear fenders and body but none at the front. So I'll take the opportunity to replace or renew all of it. Took some time to compile the list, take measurements and gather samples so I'm fully equipped with less chance of a stuff up trying to do it from memory and will make the trip to Grippy Rubber on Monday.

Mal, Are you sure there is supposed to be beading on the front fender? My '41 limo has beading for the rear fender but not the front. I can't tell from the parts book.

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JD,

In taking the front fenders off the coupe there were small remnants of beading material still adhering to the fender and the body. So it looks like at some stage there was beading there and I'm aiming to purchase sufficient beading to do both front and rear fenders. Irrespective or whether it's "correct" or not, I intend to have beading on the front fenders as I think it looks strange without it.

Monday 5th May 2008

Gave blood plasma early, then dropped into the workshop for a quick tidy up of the bench in preparation for Wade's return in the next few days. Wade likes to keep as clean a work environment as he can and in his absence standards have slipped somewhat so catch up was required. But at least with Wade's set-up everything has its place and is in place so there's usually no searching for the right tool because it's where it should be!

Then off to Grippy Rubber at Silverwater, a specialist rubber parts manufacturer and supplier. There, with Carolyn's help and advice, picked up the rubber sheeting, strapping, grommets and beading I required for a total of AU$118.60, about US$112.00.

By the way, the nuts, bolts and washers purchased last week totaled AU$54.50, about US$51.00. I'll try and include costs when these occur and at the conclusion of this saga will detail and total all costs if I can.

Hi Mal

At the last PACA National Rally I was asking about restoration tips.
Three spring to mind -
Do something every day (which it looks like you have handled)
NO part costs more than $10.00 (if you are ever asked by your wife, or anyone elses)
NEVER keep receipts

Not my words (just in case your wife wants to shoot the messenger)

Regards

(Fred)