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Most auto parts stores sell the defrost duct "hose" by the foot, you can always try there. It's made pretty much like the hose in Kev's pic.

Quote:

Eric,

If only it were that simple. You guys are 'spoiled' at times as our auto parts stores just don't stock that type of stuff for older cars.

Although it's not "correct", after all the sweat and effort expended yesterday I'm not about to replace it any time soon. The next guy who has the pleasure of owning and restoring the '41 will be able to do that.

And speaking of "correctness", the '41 will not be altered in any way unless necessary and even then any alterations are for functionality, or availability as well as fiscal constraints and are easily "correctable". Even though it's more a mechanical rebuild than a restoration it will still look like a Packard, feel like a Packard and drive like a Packard.

Mal
Try a marine store, they have all sorts of ducting material

McMaster-Carr has it by the foot in various sizes great people to deal with have many hardware parts used on cars have excellent on line catalog see page 209. They have fast delivery and not high shipping charges .Not sure of shipping price to you guys down under.

Monday 24th November 2008

Always thought my "blood was worth bottling" as the old saying goes. However it turned not to be so today because the Bloodbank knocked back my offer of a donation because I'd had antibiotics within the last week!

So with hopes of doing my civic duty dashed, it was off to the workshop to find that Wade, with Rick and John's help, had installed the rebuilt trans in John's '39. So while Wade continued bolting things together and back on, under John's car, I did some work on the '41. Oh, and Wade had an O/D solenoid from Peter, another guy in the club, which he's going to fix for him.

First made a gasket for the cover plate on the firewall where the wiring harness exits from the back of the dash. Only took 3 attempts, and MBM (Made By Mal) gaskets came through again. However mounting the plate on the firewall was a challenge and couldn't access the top screw which is shielded by the 'gutter' at the top edge of the firewall. So undid the screw and nut holding it on that side, didn't help. But then had another problem in getting that screw and nut together again. Dropped the nut and washer numerous time trying to thread them together. And while I finally managed to do it it was with a replacement washer AND nut as I lost the originals. They're on the floor somewhere, but where? During the course of this Wade suggested sweeping the floor in that area and I found the nut I was searching for. But it also resulted in some workshop housecleaning, and I suspect this was Wades real intention all along.

Next job was to remove one wire (No 17) from each side of the headlight wiring harnesses as these were superfluous to our requirements. Then sliding on the internal and external headlight bucket connectors to each side of the headlight wiring harnesses. Also made a new MBM gasket for each connector.

By this time Wade needed a break from his under '39 wrenching and we turned to the remaining rear wiring needing completion. Wade made a couple of ground wires for the taillights/stoplights to ensure a good earth for each side. Then I routed them through the taillight retaining brackets and bolted each to the top bolt then fed them through the grommetted holes in the trunk floor. Then drilled a small hole on each side of the rearmost crossmember, scraped away POR-15 from around the drilled holes and affixed the ground wires. A test of the taillights, and more importantly the stoplights, showed all now workedas they should.

Then turned to the number plate and trunk lights. Cleaned up the cylinder which clips into the trunk handle housing and tested that the bulb and wiring worked, it did. Onto the trunk light, this was disassembled leading to Wade figuring out how it went back together, which he did. This is the place the tilt switch I bought will come into play because the mercury switch in the original is cactus. After a failed attempt to 'modify' the mercury switch made a substitute out of a length of bolt hacksawed and ground to fit. Wade made a new contact and wire up, using one of the brass rivets I'd bought some months ago, and it too worked.

Had also removed the trunk handle because of having difficulty in getting the number plate light socket to fit, couldn't do it. Turns out there's a build up of 'bonky' around the hole it inserts through, so with a little judicious filing a good fit was achieved. But because the trunk handle and number plate bracket were now off some opportunities now arose. One was to clean up and POR-15 the number plate bracket. The other was to take the trunk handle to a locksmith on the way home because I didn't have a key to fit it. Should pick it up tomorrow or Wednesday and it's going to be keyed the same as the ignition key.

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Tuesday 25th Movember 2008

Just a couple of hours at the workshop this morning. Wade wasn't in so I was left to my own devices. First took down the rear number plate bracket hardware which had been hung up to dry after being POR-15'd yesterday afternoon. Next was re-installing the left rear fender gravel shield, P/N 357492. Impressed Randy? I know I am! Fancy being able to cross reference the part number with the part! But first had to clean up the hardware(nuts, bolts and washers) and make a new MBM rubber washer to replace P/N 326541. There, I did it again!

Then onto cleaning out the old rubber gaskets from the headlight lamp doors. The gaskets are P/N 358078 and the headlight lamp doors P/N 367863. Gee, I'm getting the hang of this now! But the trouble is, I don't want to set a dangerous precedent and be expected to provide part numbers in all future posts! So with that in mind I'll leave the cross referencing for the real experts. Anyway, back to the old rubber gaskets. They were very weathered and perished and falling apart when removed from the '41 many months ago. However the design of the headlight lamp doors has the edge crimped to hold the gasket in place. This creates problems, 1) in removing the crimped pieces of gasket firmly held in place by each crimp, and 2) straightening the crimped pieces so a new gasket can be installed. Removed as much of the old gasket as I could with scrapers, small screwdrivers and small very sharp picks. But left any straightening for tomorrow as I was fearful I would damage the headlight lamp door if I attacked it in my usual heavy handed way.
Besides Wade will be back tomorrow and no doubt will have advice or suggestions as to how this can be done without damaging the part.

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Wednesday 26th November 2008

Part 1

Arrived at the workshop to be greeted by Wade driving out in his '37 120 Sedan and parking it outside. Inside the workshop the way was being cleared so that Wade could get Kevin's '35 out of it's position in Packard row. Rick's area overlaps Wades and because entry and exit of Packards is infrequent cars tend to get parked in front of them for lengthy periods. This includes a Toyota Soarer of Rick's that's been crashed bashed and belted and has a permanent position in front of Wade's '34 chassis and the spot Kevin's '35 occupied for over a year. Outside already was Rick's Toyota Hilux SUV which also occupies a more or less permanent position in front of my '41 and John's '39. When we went for a test drive in the '35 oil pressure was Great. But there are problems! Besides the carb needing a lot of attention the brakes were grabbing especially the left front. That's why the '35 ended up back in the workshop. I suspect if the test run had not had a brake problem the '35 would now be at Carburettor Service Company getting some specialised carb attention. Below are the pic's I took of the exercise.

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Wednesday 26th November 2008

Part 2

After the excitement of the car moving exercise and test run of the '35 it was back to the tools. Started by cleaning up the rear hanger bracket for the tailpipe and painting it with POR-15 black. It looks twisted but Wade assures me that's how it is and how it fits! I would have thought otherwise, but what do I know? And while doing that, Wade was under John's '39 putting in the gearshift linkages and told me he should have done it earlier when there was more room to work with. Then he re-installed the tailshaft, re-greasing the universals which looked pretty dry and lacking in lubricant. I'd had a phone call from the locksmith while POR-15'ing so when I finished that went up his shop about 1 mile from the workshop and picked up the trunk lock. He couldn't cut the new key the same as the ignition key so cut it to suit the lock instead, cost AU$55.00, about US$35.00 at current rates.

Wade next turned to the front end of the '39, the upper bushes and the torque arm rubber bushings needing replacement. While Wade was doing that I started on trial fitting the front inner fender panels so I could measure then make up rubber seals to replace the badly perished originals which fell apart when removed. Needed some 'panel bashing' to get the inner panels into some sort of alignment. This was accomplished by comparing each side to the other, noting the differences while allowing for the mirror image, then proceeding to use some gentle but forceful persuasion to get the panels pointing in the directions they should be. A number of trial fittings and bashings were required helped along by judicious advice from Wade. And finally the panels from both sides were "reasonably straight".

At this point Wade was struggling with removing the left upper bushing on the '39 and so I offered my assistance, if that's the word for it. The battle to remove the old bushing was made worse by not having a specific tool for the job so one had to be cobbled together to enable the old bushing to be pushed out. Once the new 'tool' was assembled it worked very effectively and pushed the old bushing out with relative ease. Installing the new bushing was much easier when compared to the difficulty in removing the old one. After that I left Wade to tackle the left torque arm rubber bushing.

So while Wade did that I turned again to the '41 inner fender panels this time with the intention of measuring and making the rubber seal for the lower edge. As the large sheet of rubber I used for the floor underlay was getting progressively smaller I decided to make a template from an old cardboard box to save myself the embarrassment of incorrectly cutting the rubber. Just as well I did, the first cardboard template although reasonable was not good, But you learn from your mistakes, so the second was good! Then came the fun part trying to locate and mark holes on a rubber strip with a mind of it's own but even that was accomplished. Not easily but for me "with relative ease". Only did the left one and will have to catch up with the right side tomorrow as well as trimming the fiddly bits on the left to clear or accommodate obstructions.

In the meantime Wade had removed and replaced the left side torque arm bushing. Then moved to the right side and, without the need for assistance, removed and replaced the upper support arm bushings.

And to finish. Wade had picked up a contact John had discarded when he rebuilt an auto transmission. Looks like it'll be just about right as a contact in fixing Peter's O/D solenoid!

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Thursday 27th November 2008

After a great morning with out daughter and granddaughters it was off to the workshop in the afternoon. Found Wade in his usual position, under a Packard, this time John's '39. He'd finished off the front end by replacing the right side torque arm rubber bushing in the morning and then moving to the rear spring shackle rubbers and he'd also hooked up the hand brake cable.Wade was working on the front bushing on the left side when I arrived.

Left him to that while I went back to the rubber sealing strips for the bottoms of the inner fender panels for the '41. Refitted the left side and did some minor trimming to clear the electromatic clutch mounting post on the chassis and the brake line and 'T' fitting just forward of that. Next removed the rubber seal from the left side and mounted it on the right side inner fender panels to check to see if I could use it for a template. And it was almost perfect, only 3 holes were in slightly different places. So marked up the rubber and cut for the right side and punched the dozen holes into it. Fitted it, and it's great. There will have to be some more minor fitting adjustments mostly on the left side but all up I'm pleased with the results.

While I was doing the rubber seals Wade continued under the '39 with my assistance given from time to time to hold multigrips, use a long bar for leverage, whack on a bar with a big hammer, etc. All these at moments when a second pair of hands was necessary to get the job done. Surprising how a rusty pin will stick to rubber and defy almost all attempts to move or loosen it. But all rubbers were removed and replaced. Leaves a bit of engine work like changing points and plugs and the brass bushes in the distributor the '39 should be done.

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Friday 28th November 2008

Didn't get to the workshop today, but when I rang Wade this morning he'd just finished giving John's '39 110 a full chassis greasing. He was about to rebuild the distributor with the new bushings John supplied as there is about 1/8" of play in the shaft. He's also going to change the oil, put in new plugs, etc.

And today when I arrived home there was a small parcel for me from Vintage Wiring Harness. I'd phoned Paul there late on Monday afternoon about requiring 6 more of the one to one connector covers and bullet fittings to suit. Wade had also spoken to Paul at the Bendigo Swap Meet a few weeks ago, but that was before we knew we needed these extra pieces.

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