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G'day Mal, There is an instrument place in Canberra which still reconditions the capillary tube instruments. I had a few done for the 38 Six and Eight two years ago. Cost about $A60 each. I shall see you this weekend for Noel's birthday so have a think about it. I need to talk to you about getting a few front shocks reconditioned for the 38 Eight. I understand that the Sydney connection is no longer? Best regards Peter Toet

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Peter,

Sounds good about the Canberra connection for re-conditioning the capillary tubes. And I'll see if I can re-establish contact regarding the shocks. See you on Sunday.

PS - Do you have a spare like that in the pic below? Or just the part with the left hand thread would do.

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Mal,

If you feel like going at it yourself, here is a method for repairing capillary temperature gauges. Oh, and these use ether, not mercury. Still dangerous stuff if you have long term exposure.

ply33.com/Repair/tempgauge

Tom

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Tom,

Thanks for that, however as I'm nowhere near skilled enough to undertake such a procedure I'll leave it to the experts.

Friday 27th June 2008

Today Marine Cleaned, Metal Readied and painted sump, side plates, a few other small parts and the 101 bolts for the sump.

While I was doing this, Wade was in and under John's '39 110 Sedan getting the trans out to take out the clutch. A word about John's '39 - It has an Australian body by TJ Richards which I've been told is similar/same as Studebaker bodies having a more laid back windscreen, door handles on the belt line, different rear window , etc (And see Peter Packards 2 '38's in the Owner Registry, they too have TJ Richards bodies). According to the book removal of the trans and clutch is simple, but the book was printed for LHD Packards. When the steering is RHD together with the shift, clutch and brake linkages it's almost impossible to remove the trans "by the book". Anyway, as usual, Wade came up with a work-around and the trans and then the clutch came out but will go back in a little differently as a few things were learned along the way. Oh, and by the way, don't think I was just standing around I did help, passed spanners, held spanners, got the trolley jack(twice), etc, you get the picture, Mal AKA #1 Gopher, Go 'fer this, go for that. From Wades initial examination of the clutch, needs a new plate as linings worn and springs rattle, the face of the pressure plate is scored although from a cursory examination the flywheel looks OK but will be checked again next week, the throw-out bearing and spigot bearings are shot and needs a new spring on the throw out. Wade is also going to look and do a few other things on the '39 like check and fix the binding brakes, new plugs and the "thump" in the front suspension. John's also looking to get all four fenders tidied up as all have scrapes/blemishes on them.

This brings me to the rest of the day as I left early afternoon with the shop shutting for the obligatory long lunch on Fridays. I had arranged to meet Col, the owner of the Leaping Indian Hood Ornament, later in the afternoon. Col was a panelbeater/spraypainter before he changed careers about 15 years ago and is now a carpenter and had said he could fix the dings in my '38's front fenders. I also returned the Leaping Indian as the valuation given of AU$300 was way beyond my budget. After Col, and his workmate Russell, had a good look over the '38 I asked him to give me a quote on the panel repairs and re-paint for the 2 front fenders along with brush touch-ups of chip marks in other areas. The price was a third of what I'd been quoted by a panel shop some months ago. So all that remains is to tee up when he can do it, which will be after the next Packard Club run in mid July and he expects it to take 3 days.

But back again to the Leaping Indian. Col was disappointed it wasn't an original Hood Ornament but pleased with it's apparent value. He then said he thought it would have been worth AU$100 and I said as I had only been prepared to offer AU$50 before it's value was known I was out of the running. Col then turned round and said OK I could have it for $50! Whereupon I said that I didn't have the cash with me and then Col said I could catch up with that another time! All that happened before he quoted on the panel/paint repair. Then talking later, he asked what I thought should be done with the Leaping Indian and in my generosity I said he really should try selling it on eBay. Col thought about that for a second or two and said yes he would try that but if it didn't sell then I could have it for $50. So I may still end up with a Leaping Indian!

And as I was about to leave I told Col about John's '39 and gave a very sketchy outline of the panel/paint work required. We then got to talking about where the workshop is and the guys there and it turns out he knows John and so I'll pass on his regards when I see John tomorrow, small world!

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Saturday 28th June 2008

Couple of hours at the workshop this morning. As Wade wasn't going to be in, started by putting the horns and brackets back on the engine, no problems. Then the brackets and rod for the cross engine throttle linkage, fine on the left side then go round to the right side and there's nowhere to mount it as the manifolds have been taken off. OK then what about the water outlet on the head, all painted and ready to go, right? Wrong, all painted but not ready to go. Started by gasket cementing the bottom of the outlet and the gasket Wade had made, then realised the new thermostat had neither been tested nor installed in the outlet neck! Mild panic set in to be replaced by stoic acceptance as I cleaned up the gasket cement applied and looks like I'll be cutting a new gasket! Did also manage to re-install the breather tube at the rear of the block. Ran out of options so instead of trying to do real work went back to something I know I'm good at, having had lots of practice, scraping and cleaning. This time it was the lower block edge so the sump can be re-installed next week and managed to do that without any drama. I then cleaned up the trans cross member for the '39 110, the right side was caked and baked with oil, grease, dirt, small rocks and one 1" split pin and in doing this it's quite clear I was in my element.

Also passed on to John, Col's greetings and John said as I had thought, "small world". and that he hadn't seen Col in many years.

And last night had a call from Harvey, the guy woodgraining the dash, he can't find the paint he's used previously as the manufacturer has discontinued it and his fall-back option has likewise disappeared from the shelves. He's asked me to see what I can find using the internet, but so far have drawn a blank. He also suggested Lithographers ink could be used, so with that last in mind went to an art supply shop on the way home after the workshop. There they couldn't help with the ink but there was a plethora of paints so I'm going to suggest to Harvey he might have a better chance of sourcing the paint there than in trade paint shops and hardware stores. Then after leaving the art supply store saw what I think is a '48 Buick, needing some TLC, sitting in a storage unit's parking lot.

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Mal,

I am in the printing ink biz, so I can get you inks, pigments, etc if you need them.

Quote:John,

I'm taking a punt here based on the Forum Name in Packardinfo.com that your name is John. This follows from some recent communications through the PACA Website with John at Appin. If not, I apologise for my assumption.

Anyway, back to the offer, I hope to catch up with Harvey at some stage tomorrow and I'll run things past him then and come back to you if need be. Irrespective could you please let me know, gently if you can, whether I've made the right call on the name?

Yes Mal, John in Appin here. I'll PM my phone numbers if you think you need anything for colourants.

Monday 30th June 2008

Yesterday was Noel's 70th birthday and with Noel being a bachelor Jeff and Margaret kindly put on a lovely party for Noel in celebration. And I can now tell you, Margaret's a great cook! About 20 from the Packard Club were in attendance, including Peter Packard from this Forum in his '53 Clipper Deluxe Sedan. I'm not supposed to post the pic I took of the photo of Noel with everybodies comments adorning it, but what the heck, he'll only be 70 once!

So after the festivities it was back to the more mundane tasks down at the workshop, instead of the tall and sometimes true tales, of yesterday. But first went and donated at the Bloodbank then dropped into the workshop on my way home in case Peter was there as yesterday I'd forgotten to give him the temperature guage and capillary for the '41 which he'll have repaired when he returns to Canberra. Peter hadn't arrived yet so left the guage with Wade and went home, changed and returned to find Peter had arrived along with Jeff.

Jeff was driving Peter's 327 Clipper to guage how his '52 200 Sedan performed in comparison, although his '52 is sadly lacking in performance at the moment! Jeff and Margaret burnt some valves in the '52 on their return trip from a rally at Wagga Wagga, about 300 miles south, the same weekend that Wade and Gina went on the Border Run to Berri. Yesterday, with the head off the engine, there was a gathering around the 200 at one stage but not so much a post mortem but more a diagnostic and prognostic session about these things as blokes like to do.

Anyway after Peter and Jeff had left, Wade and I started on our respective tasks. Wade pulling more of the '39 110 apart and me cleaning up the gasket surfaces of the sump of overpaint when another Peter arrived. This Peter was on his way to see Noel who thought he had a tailshaft for an O/D '39 120 as Peter is currently converting his '39 120 to O/D. So more social time until Peter bid his farewell and we returned to work.

Before putting the sump back, had to re-assemble and re-install the oil-pump's swinging pick-up which had been removed and partially dis-assembled for cleaning. This was not without it's moments as first I needed Wade's assistance to determine the position for the pick-up head re-assembly. Then struggled to re-connect the pipe from the oil pick-up head to the pump inlet as it was slightly cross-threaded and which I carefully fixed with a small triangular file. At this point thought I'd done well only to discover I'd installed the pipe upside down. If you're supposed to learn by your mistakes I don't know why I'm not a genius by now! Gasket cemented the four surfaces of the sump and gasket segments then, with Wades assistance, lifted and bolted the sump back in place. While Wade then turned to cleaning the parts off the '39 I tightened up the 101 sump bolts trying to avoid the drips of the Loctite gasket cement being squeezed out as space was displaced.

During all that, had lent Wade a hand fetching and holding spanners. Also wrestled with the pedals of the '39 trying to bring them up through the floor because the way down was very effectively blocked by all the linkages on a RHD Packard. Finally succeeded in freeing the pedals from the clutches of the rods and cables below and later after Wade had cleaned them up discovered the clutch pedal appears to be made of brass!

Back to the '41, next with Wades assistance postioned the oil filter canister and re-connected the inlet rubber hose and outlet copper line. Then moved on to the oil filler tube, although I'd re-positioned it, Wade suggested loctiting it in to prevent oil leaks around the base where it enters the block. Did this by cleaning internal block surface and base of filler tube and applying Loctite to both then after pushing the tube in by hand driving it right in using a hammer against a block of wood.

Tomorrow, won't be at the workshop, but will take the exhaust/inlet manifold assembly over to Reconditioning Services at Auburn, an inner west area of Sydney.

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And John,

Saw Harvey yesterday and he's found some ink and also another type of paint. He'll experiment and test these and if they fail I'll take you up on that offer then.

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