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Wednesday 19th August 2009

Yesterday Wade had pointed out a minor problem with the Coupe, the battery had come loose! The battery, an Optima, is mounted on the chassis rail next to the steering box sitting on a rubber pad and held in place by a clamp at each end attached to studs welded to the chassis rail. Looks like vibrations from sitting on the rubber mount combined with possibly not enough thread length allowed the battery to slide out from under the clamps. Easy fix then, a couple of washers to compensate for not enough thread length and re-tighten? Should have been easy but "Heavy Handed" Mal snapped off a not very well welded stud. How to fix it, and more importantly how to fix it so it doesn't happen again? By using a longer stud, drilling a slightly smaller hole in the chassis rail, tapering the end of the stud, gently forcing it into the drilled hole and a good weld job, that's how. Had to utilise John's welding skills with the MIG and now I can assure you that it ain't gonna' snap off anytime soon!

That done turned to the topside of the running boards of which the undersides had been POR-15'd yesterday. Great job, but POR-15 is very runny, so with the myriad of holes in the boards for the various trim pieces some, well a fair bit, ran through to the topside. Started cleaning it up while Wade was continuing with more wiring on Big Red. This time for a back-up light. He's had it since about the time he bought Big Red 2 years ago and because the reversing light switch wasn't working didn't install it till now.

Then, the call I'd been waiting for, the three cars blocking the Coupe in could be moved. That done drove the Coupe outside and proceeded to clean off the blue protection finish on the WWW's and tyre sidewalls. Looks a hell of a lot better now with white, rather than blue, sides on the tyres. That done was able to take the Coupe for a test drive around Wade's circuit, with Wade along as the riding mechanic. Then took the Coupe home with Wade following so I could get back to the workshop to pick up my daily driver. Had a moment on the way home because the O/D is playing up and wouldn't kick down and stalled it on a VERY steep hill. Managed to get going again but will lock out the O/D until the Coupe goes in for it's engine rebuild coupled with clutch/trans/OD work as required.

On Wades side of things he gave me a memory stick containing some pic's of the front of his Super 8 cam, in response to a post in the General Forum,packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... d=3289&post_id=35081#forumpost35081 because he couldn't get his pic's to load on PackardInfo. There are also some pic's of Barry's '38 V12 Club Sedan from when it arrived in Oz last week. And Barry now's the time to get it into the Owner Registry, not to forget your '37 120 too! Wade also rang the guy painting his '34 and has arranged to pick up the body and doors next Tuesday. I've been waiting a long time for the day I'll finally see the '34 Club Sedan in the metal. The mudguards(fenders) and bonnet(hood) still require painting but with the body back Wade will be able to continue to progress the '34 re-build.

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And John, with my new radials the steering on the Coupe has improved markedly, the tendency to wander at will appears a thing of the past. Saying that, it was a short drive so with a few longer runs on the week-end it'll be put properly to the test then.

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Thursday 20th August 2009

Wade had asked me a couple of days ago to mount a hose saddle on the end of the bench, so the air hose could be coiled up instead of it hanging on a hook. Seemed like a 5 minute job but won't go into the details except to say it took about an hour instead of the expected 5 minute time frame.

Then I turned to finishing off scraping the POR-15 run-through from the top of the remaining running board. While I was doing that Wade was servicing his Commodore dual-cab ute. The ute will be used to tow the trailer with the '34 body on Tuesday so it received a very thorough service to ensure it was in shape for the tow ahead of it. Wade is also in the process of trying to run down a set of standard sized big-end bearings for Big Red and he believes he has lead on a set from a fellow PACA member.

Also started to clean up the NOS accelerator pedal from the "Flackmaster", but shelved using the wire wheel when I realised the rubber surface was bonded to the pedal itself. (David, just demonstrating what many years of shelf life can do to parts.) Will clean up the rest of the surface rust, with a small wire brush and paint with POR-15 next week, when I'm back at the workshop next week.

That was it for the day as there were no simple and/or menial tasks left which I could perform. So went home for lunch amazing Kath in the process as she usually doesn't see me that early on the day's I go to the workshop.

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Back in post #186 I included the pic below. This was taken back in 1980 when Robert Sacchi was in Sydney promoting the movie he starred in, "The Man with Bogart's Face".

videodetective.com/?publishedid=2881

Harvey and his then Packard, a '38 120 Sedan with O/D, was used to ferry Robert Sacchi around Sydney for radio and TV interviews, promotions and the film's opening night.

I've also included a pic of Harvey taken today at Eastern Creek.

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Monday 24th August 2009

Only spent about 5 minutes at the workshop today and there I found Wade in the process of removing Old Blue's front clip to have the radiator cleaned, checked, repaired and tested. It's had a bit of a leak for some time and with Wade taking her on a couple of thousand miles round trip in three weeks time decided he's better off get it fixed now rather than have a problem occur during the course of his journey.

And tomorrow, the big day! Down to Helensburgh to pick up the '34's body!

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Tuesday 25th August 2009

Well, the big day, and the '34's body beautiful was to be united with it's lonesome chassis. But !!!!!
Because of high winds, overnight and this morning, with trees and branches down and roads blocked the trip was cancelled! It's re-scheduled though for Thursday but, because of other commitments, I can't make it so Wade has strict instructions to take many, many pic's.

At the workshop I found Wade had removed the front clip from Old Blue and taken the radiator to JJ Smiths yesterday and it's expected to be ready Friday. Wade was also taking the opportunity, while access was readily available, to undertake replacement of Old Blue's exhaust manifold. The manifold has a crack in the flange where it bolts to the exhaust pipe. Although Wade had it repaired about 5 years ago it wasn't successful and with a good exhaust manifold obtained from PACA member Fred D, also known as "Pepe" because he comes from south of the border, now was the time to replace it. Wade had already disconnected linkages and lines and removed the air-cleaner and carb so removing the intake and exhaust manifolds should be pretty straight-forward, shouldn't it? Well No! Why? Because it's RHD and the steering column only has about 1/8" between it and the manifold hot box, and that's after the column has been flattened to clear the hot box! So the steering box is unbolted from the chassis and from under the dash, the pitman arm disconnected from the sector shaft and the steering box and column swung up and outside the chassis to give enough clearance to remove the manifolds. Once out, while Wade cleaned up the surfaces of the replacement exhaust manifold, I cleaned up the block surface of old gasket. All went back together accompanied with a liberal application of manifold sealer to ensure against leaks.

There won't be any posts at least until Friday. Then I'll be able to provide pic's of the '34's body, and the radiator and front clip will be able to go back on Old Blue.

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Mal, thanks for the close-up photo of the full flow oil filter on the '38. I am impressed with your memory and recall of my post to your blog some time ago. Could you also get for me (and others) a close-up view of the oil lines connections to the oil pump cover plate? It would be an interesting project to have a full flow oil filter on the 115C. Too hot to work in the garage these days. Austin, Texas is about to set a record for the number of days of temperatures at 100F and above. We are at 62 and the record is, I believe, 69 set in the 1920s. It is getting a little tiring. It is our "Minnesota Winter". I blame Al Gore. Take care . . .

Friday 28th August 2009

Before going to the workshop rang the guy in Victoria who bought my '38 sedan at auction last month. I'd tried to email him a couple of times but they kept bouncing back, so direct contact was required. Turns out the guy, Peter, has Mercedes and when I asked him why he bought the Packard said he saw it at the auction and liked it! Fair enough. Had it trucked back to Victoria and has been driving it, being impressed with the car itself and the engine. I was able to give him some info about it and he told me he is getting a new radiator because of it's propensity to run hot. Invited Peter to join PACA(Packard Automobile Club of Australia) and mailed him a copy of "The Packardian" our bi-monthly magazine, a reprint '38 owner manual(there was one in the glovebox when it went to auction!) and some membership forms.

At the workshop arrived just in time to see the guys, Wade, John, Rick and Graham starting to re-arrange things so the '34's body could be re-positioned. Yesterday Wade, accompanied by PACA member Peter L had taken the car trailer to Helensburgh and picked up the body and other parts from the paintshop. They still have some more parts to paint including the fenders, hood and grill shell. I started taking pic's and Wade promptly stuck his camera in my hand with instructions to get some pic's for him. So there I was, a camera in either hand, snapping away usually alternatively with my camera and then Wade's camera. Fortunately the guys had it all under control so my in-expertise wasn't required and I continued my work as official photographer. The body ending up positioned between the '34 chassis and the engineless Big Red up on it's jackstands.

Next joined Wade in his Ute for the trip over to Marrickville to JJ Smith's to pick up Old Blues radiator. Turns out it was about 20% blocked so there will be a marked improvement in cooling efficiency when it goes back in. On the way to JJ Smith's discussed the projects at the Workshop and my want for the Coupe's engine to be overhauled. They are the 1) '34 - long term restoration, 2) '37 120 - re-install radiator and front clip and will be able to do in the next few days, 3) '37 Super 8 - rebuild engine and re-install together with radiator and grill. Wade had received a set of big-end bearings on the weekend at Shannon's Eastern Creek display day but it turns out they don't fit! So until some replacements can be sourced Big Red's not going anywhere. 4) '39 110 - remove old engine and install re-built engine sitting on floor shop still need a few parts but should be pretty straightforward and 5) '41 120 - rebuild engine and clutch, trans and O/D as required, but the '41's work will be dependent on what's happening with the other four.

I'd also phoned Peter, at Rhino linings earlier in the morning, and learned if I could get the '41's running boards to him today they'd be ready early next week. So with photographic responsibilities completed that was my final Packard destination for the day.

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Hi Mal,
The 34's starting to look great again. You two are certainly doing some good things resurecting old Packards.
Any chance of a Pic or two of the heat riser valve either side of the exhaust manifold under the carb?
Speak to you again soon in regard to the rear lower shock mount details
Uh roo
Terry

Terry, didn't I send you a sketch of the heat riser valve for the 1934 Eights? If not I can add it here.

Mal, this project never seises to amaze me,it is interesting to read what happens one at the other side of the world