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Mal,

That Cyclops center Aux light is interesting. Any special reason in running just one? Has a very "Tuckerish" look to it.

Quote:
Kev,

Apparently the light was already on the 110 when John bought it. Although driving lights are usually paired, sometimes only one is mounted. John has left it "as is" and I for one quite like the look.

Although driving lights are usually paired, sometimes only one is mounted. John has left it "as is" and I for one quite like the look.

Very continental!! Single driving lights were quite de rigue?r on expensive, prewar European touring cars.

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Thursday 19th November 2009

Wade was already working on removing the master cylinder from 70yo Packard Two - Noel's 120, when I arrived. Much muttering about getting it out because of the tight confines it's in, in RHD configuration. Of course he managed to extricate it from the levers, pedals and other impediments but then there was further muttering about how was he going to get it back in? But never fear, if there's a way Wade will find it and if it came out it HAS to go back in. During the course of the mutterings I was doing what? Why cleaning the wheel cylinders from the 120. Front ones came apart OK but there was a lot of crud there. The rears were stuck so just cleaned the outsides. Also cleaned the master cylinder, externally only, and Wade will leave it to Col, his brake guy, to disassemble likewise the rear wheel cylinders. All cylinders will be resleeved with S/S sleeves and re-built with new components and should be ready next week. The book Col has, lists Packards back to 1935 for brake parts and kits!

Concerning 70yo Packard One - John's 110, Wade had discussed the carb problem with John last night and he agreed rebuilding it was the best option. So that was the next task, removing the Tillotson YR2 and ferrying it over to Tim at Carburettor Service Company. Tim expects to have it done next week.

But back to 70yo Packard Two - Noel's 120, during the course of the brake disassembly yesterday it was noticed the right rear wheel bearing looked very dry. So the bearing retainers and backing plate were removed for closer scrutiny to occur. As I said yesterday, "the more you dive into a 70yo Packard the more you find to fix", and yea so it came to pass. Wheel bearing was shot and also needs a new seal. This precipitated inspection of the left rear wheel bearing and all front wheel bearings. Most had some problems, and although some probably could be reused, the doubt now raised was too great to ignore with Wade recommending to Noel replacement of all the wheel bearings. While Wade was removing various wheel bearings and seals, where was I? Cleaning of course. This time, the bearings as they were removed for critical inspection, as well as all the other components and nuts & bolts removed yesterday, so that all will be ready for reassembly next week. To that end Wade is going to ABC bearings tomorrow to source the bearings and seals required while I'm travelling north to Queensland for the weekend where I'll be seeing my folks.

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Some questions that came it to my mind by looking at the pictures;
1.How long has that brake cylinder been on the car?
2.What kind of brake fluid did you ore the previous owner use? I had same kind of sticky and odd looking fluid coming out of some old brake cylinders by another car.And I belive the brake system had been out of order on that one for 10 year at least. I don't want to say your has to be that bad, no offence.
3.What kind of lubricant will you use on the rear wheel bearings?

Monday 23rd November 2009
Quote:
Steve,

I believe the brakes were done about 12 years ago early in it's restoration. It was a number of years before the restoration was completed so the car was sitting for a while. Don't know what fluid was used previously but DOT5 Silicone will be used exclusively when it goes back together. And I found this when I googled "Silicone Brake Fluid DOT5"http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/cows-brakefluid.html which says in part "On the practical side, beware that glycol and silicone brake fluids are hugely incompatible with each other. Mixing even small amounts will create a sludge that looks amazingly like Italian salad dressing and is about as effective as a brake fluid -- meaning, not." Looks like both types of fluid were used resulting in the salad dressing effect! The wheel bearings will all be lubed with Penrite High Temperature Grease.http://www.penriteoil.com.au/pis_pdfs/PI_High%20temperature%20grease.pdf A picture of which can be seen herehttps://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=2179&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=149

Anyway, after my sojourn to the Gold Coast over the weekend, returned to the workshop this morning to find Wade disassembling Big Red's fuel/vacuum pump. Wade had pulled it apart to check on it's condition and was disconcerted to find oil in the vacuum section of the pump but couldn't see anyway apparent how the oil was in that section of the pump. Irrespective, Wade had a pump rebuild kit and that was what he was going to do anyway. Wade had also rebuilt the radiohead for Big Red over the weekend and that went back in the instrument panel which then went back in the dash. Also on Friday, while I was away, Wayne had delivered the package from Eric to the workshop.Quote: So of course next step was to open the package. Here it became exciting because it was a little like a lucky dip, because it had been some time since I bought the parts on eBay. There were the things I'd remembered, the distributor and 20's hubcaps. And the things I didn't or only had vague memories of, the glovebox lock and keys, the 40's bonnet(hood) ornament, the solenoid with box and the klaxon horn. And Eric's surprises, at least I think they are both from Eric, the cut-off brake/clutch pedal and the old oxy cutting torch! I won't email you Eric, instead you can enlighten all of us as to what they are all about! I could imagine the brake pedal is to be chromed and mounted on the study wall, it will when I get a study, as a memento of the Speedster build, but the oxy torch???????????

However after that I picked up my sister up from the airport because she flew back from the Gold Coast today. On the way out Wade said he'd just had a phonecall to tell him the Tillotson carb for the 110 was ready and I was able to pick it up on the way back from the airport. Among other things turns out the accelerator pump needed replacement, a fair bit of corrosion needing to be cleaned out, the needle and seat were replaced and the bolts holding the cast iron base to the alloy body were also replaced with screws, it being an invitation to disaster to leave the bolts there. During my absence Harvey called in to the workshop to pick up the parts for the 120 engine rebuild he's doing for his boss Vince. Two other packages from Max arrived this morning, so after Wade removed the thermostat and retainer and the rubber bump stops for the 110, Harvey was able to collect all three packages to proceed with the rebuild.

Back at the workshop Wade was finishing off Big Red's fuel pump so I started making some MBM gaskets for the 120's rear axles and also cleaned the rear axle hubs on the 120. So once the brake bits for the 120 come back and he rest of the new bearings arrive, some were picked up By Wade on Friday, it'll be put back together. While I was finishing the gaskets Wade was mounting the rebuilt Tillotson on the 110. Started her up and aside from a leak where the fuel line connects to the carb, an external leak, it ran well, and no other leaks! A re-adjustment of the throttle linkage to give full travel and cleaning and new oil in the air filter were also required. To finish off the 110 tomorrow we'll take her for a test drive, re-torque the head, remove the thermostat housing to add the new thermostat and retainer and Wade is also going to refit the shutterstat because JJ Smiths have installed it incorrectly, instead of opening the shutters when it gets hotter it's trying to close them! My previous false statement of......Quote:...... should be completely and utterly disregarded!

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I wondered where I put that torch!!!

Actually, it was meant to be in there, as that is a very personal item....

Mal, I found a neat tool for cutting circular gaskets. It is a compass, but instead of having a pencil at one end it has a blade. You can cut holes or round shaped gaskets. It also has a pad where the pointed end can sit so there is no pin hole mark in the middle if you are making a round gasket. I got it at HobbyTown, a hobby supply store here in the States. The price was about $5US, and comes with extra cutting blades. Enjoying your blog, keep up the good work.

Tuesday 24th November 2009

Arrived at the workshop to find that although Wade had arrived he wasn't there. Turns out he was around at Brooker's Brakes picking up the brakes parts for Noel's 120 from Col. In Wades absence I went up on the roof of the office to take some pic's of the workshop, the office being built inside the workshop and its roof is used for storage purposes. On Wade's return we were off to do a pickup run, Big Red's block was ready, the oil cooler "fix" also for Big Red was ready and the rest of the wheel bearings for Noel's '39 120 had come in. First stop was Wilkins Performance Engineshttp://www.wilkinsengineering.com.au/index.html to pick up Big Red's block, pistons and valves. While there, saw that Harvey had dropped off the engine parts he'd picked up yesterday from Wade, for the '39 120 and he's rebuilding for his boss.

As we were leaving there Wade rang Harvey because Harvey might have some 120 brake parts, like a front brake shoe spring to replace the "bodgie" one currently on the left front and some anti-rattle springs for the rear brakes, neither of which had a spring just a piece of rubber! Turns out Harvey was just heading home for morning tea and as we were about 5 minutes away we put our orders in too. Thanks to Carol, Harvey's wife, Wade had coffee while I had tea both accompanied by slices of Carol's home baked cake, delicious. Harvey had a brake shoe spring but only one anti-rattle spring, so besides having full stomachs we didn't leave empty handed. And Harvey had called me last night and asked me to purchase an accelerator pedal for the '39 120 he's working on, so it's been ordered and should be here in a couple of weeks. He also asked me to order him a new grill for his '40 Willys which I'll be doing early tomorrow morning Oz time to align with business hours in the US.

Next was Pirtek, where we picked up the re-engineered oil cooler for Big Red. O_D, before you go blind, please skip to the last sentence of this paragraph. The oil cooler in Big Red was leaking and to fix this Wade had removed the finned cooling "block" from the mounting plate and had a U-shaped tube fabricated by Pirtek to take it's place. The other stop was ABC Bearings where the balance of the wheel bearings for Noel's 120 had arrived from ABC's warehouse.

Back at the workshop, after unloading the ute, it was into getting the brakes and bearings back onto Noel's '39 120. Noel has a wedding to do in a couple of weeks time and with all the parts now here his car has become the priority. Front brakes re-assembled, bearing cups installed in hubs, new wheel bearings cleaned and packed with grease and brake drums installed. At the rear the new wheel bearing were cleaned and pressed onto the axles and inserted for a trial fit. Looks OK, but end play will be checked in detail tomorrow and the rest of the rear brakes re-assembly done. Then it'll be onto re-installing the master cylinder, Wade's leaving this until after we flush out the "Italian salad dressing" and whatever other crud might be in the brake lines, probably got nothing at all to do with facing putting the M/C back into place!

Quote:John,

Thanks for the gasket cutting tool tip. Glad you're enjoying reading about what's happening, it's even better at this end of things!

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Wednesday 25th November 2009

Wade was checking the end play of Noel's '39 rear axles when I arrived and they checked out OK. Then it was into cleaning out all the brake lines. Because most of the brake fluid had already leaked out, while being driven or escaped when dismantledfrom the cylinders, there wasn't a great deal left to flush out. However all was flushed and blown out with compressed air and is now clean.

Next I was set to work installing the backing plates, outer axle oil seal & housing and retaining plate and this is where the MbM gaskets from the other day came into play. Wade doesn't enjoy the very sticky gasket cement at all and that's why apprentice Mal was selected for the job. Suffice to say I'm only too happy to help and the more practice I get the better I should be. Did the left side first, only problem being stripping one of the blacking plate retaining bolts! As a temporary fix a nut and bolt were purloined from the right side to finish that part of the job. To do the right side we now needed another blacking plate retaining nut & bolt. Looking around spied the brake drums and brakes from the Post-War diff obtained from Wayne back in January. And what do you know, even though there are only 4 x bolts & nuts they are the same as the 6 x bolts & nuts on the '39. Also discovered the hand brake anti-rattle springs were there as well so these were likewise appropriated. While I was installing the right side MbM gaskets, backing plate, oil seal & housing and retaining, this time without stripping anything... pheeeew, Wade was installing the left side wheel cylinder and hand brake cable to the backing plate. Together, we then installed the shoes, adjuster, various springs and re-connected the brake line, then the key and brake drum were re-installed. The axle nut was only nipped up at this stage and will be properly tightened once the '39 is back on the ground. We then turned to the right side and did likewise there. Now came the part that Wade was dreading, if I can use that word, re-installing the re-built master cylinder. And strange to say after the difficulties experienced in removing it putting it back in wasn't too bad at all. Of course, it did entail some undercar work on both Wade and my parts, but the first nut and then the first bolt went in very easily in comparison to having to fight them all the way in getting them out. The next large nut was more of a problem because of the tight confines restricting spanner access and swing. Wade was very pleased that this aspect of the job went so well. Then back to the front, does that make sense, and connected both flexible brake hoses and that ended things for today. Tomorrow the system will be filled with fluid, bled, brakes adjusted, wheels re-installed, axles nuts tightened and split-pinned and taken for a test drive.

During the course of the day there were a couple of visitors. The first being Noel's good friend Tony who did most of the body work on the '39. Tony was there to pick up a '41 sidemount cover Noel had left for Tony to do some work on for him. Only a little later Noel also arrived, fortunately on both occasions Wade and I had our heads under the '39 when the guys arrived so at least it looked like we were working! Noel had dropped in to see how things were progressing and I believe the answer is......well. Later on a suasage sizzle was put on for lunch and we broke for that of course. After lunch Wade and I walked up to Sam and Ivan's workshop, not to get any machining done but to look over the tools and equipment being auctioned on-line tonight. The business together with the automatic transmission repair business next door have been closed. Sam was there supervising the removal of hundreds of torque converters which had been sold as a job lot for $1,200, and as Sam said, he could pick out 10 and get $1,000 just like that but it's outside his control! Wade really wanted to have a look at the 4 post lifts being sold in the auto trans business, there were 6 of them up for auction. After viewing the 6 of them and dismissing those with hydraulic leaks he determined that Lots #11 & #12 looked reasonable, although in saying that they were all quite old. I was then tasked with bidding on one with an upper limit of about $550. However when I returned home and accessed the auction site I soon discovered that government taxes and sellers commission would push the final price up considerably. So I limited my bidding to $460 on the first one and was outbid straight away, one gone. And on the other, I was the high bidder until the last few seconds then got sniped!
Bottom line, as I said to Wade in my email, we'll still be spending plenty of time on the workshop floor!

EDIT - One more matter, from yesterday - Quote: So, getting up at 4:30am I rang the US for the Willys grill only to get a recorded voice telling me they were in Florida for the Daytona Turkey Rod Run and wouldn't be back until 3rd of December. I hope Harvey appreciates all that I'm doing for him!

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