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Thursday 1st April 2010

Arrived at the workshop before Wade and set to work taking down the parts painted yesterday. After Wade arrived Big Red's engine was cranked over using a booster battery to ensure oil was circulating which it was by the gauge indicating about 3-4lbs pressure without any plugs in. Because there wasn't more to be done with Big Red until the new plugs arrived, surprise, surprise we did some work on the '41. First was re-fitting the cross-firewall throttle linkage, accomplished with me inside the cabin equipped with a screwdriver while Wade positioned the linkage and the nuts. Next was the clutch and brake pedals setup. Started by trying to ensure that all the components were there and that they fitted together. Necessitated some POR-15 removal to achieve good fit and touch up on the wire wheel for the bolts that hold the assembly to the chassis. Pre-greased the new pedal pivot shaft and any other swinging components then trial fitted to the x-member. Looked OK but there was some interference between the pedals and the pedal panel. Out came the assembly and it was determined the sequencing of spring, pedals and spacers was incorrect. Also determined at that point we were a circlip short but continued anyway reasoning that the missing circlip could be caught up with later as everything else could go back together in the meantime. Bolted everything back in and pedal clearance was no longer an issue. Next Wade re-connected the master cylinder actuating rod from the brake pedal to the master cylinder. The end part of doing that was very frustrating for Wade because of access and visibility restrictions in trying to put the split pin into place on the inside of the pedal bracket. Necessitated Wade using long nose pliers to hold the split pin and push it through the hole by feel and good fortune, but he finally made it in the end. Then John came to the rescue with a perfectly fitting circlip he liberated from some trans gears of his. Being a transmission "specialist" John has lots of stuff lying around which can come in useful. And It's a perfect fit.
John!

During the splitpin fit saga the new sparkplugs for Big Red had arrived. Then after Wade gapped them, 0.028", in they went. Then key on, Wade pushed the starter button only to be greeted by Awww, Awwwww, Awwwwwwww, the sounds of a very flat battery. Wade brought back the booster and, half a crank later, Big Red sprang into life Vrroooom, sweet! I was stationed on the right side of the engine to manipulate the throttle linkage while Wade applied the booster pack. And it didn't just catch me by surprise, when it sprang so easily to life, but Wade too! The value of ensuring the cylinders are well oiled during assembly to ensure compression is available more than compensates for the oily exhaust which accompanies it. And.....no leaks, water oil or fuel. Well, there was a minor drip from the packing gland which could be expected after almost a year of inactivity. And later a minor drip from the top radiator hose was spotted which tightening of the clamp easily fixed. All the guys in the shop came over and Rick even balanced a coin on edge on the cylinder head while the engine was running! Oil pressure was a touch over 40 psi while engine temp was showing about 170 degrees after about 10/15 running time. John's timing light was hooked up and the distributor was manually adjusted back to the timing mark. Switch off and the throttle linkage was adjusted and which resulted in idle speed dropping back to normal as it had been running a little fast at idle.

After a glass of red for Wade was downed in celebration of this milestone, and about a 1/4 glass for your truly, we then returned to the tools. This involved non-mechanical stuff in the form of affixing new cowl beading to Big Red, by means of heating the beading with a heat gun, bending it to the shape of the cowl and screwing it in place. Both sides of the cowl were done but only one side of the radiator housing, because there weren't sufficient screws and nuts available, but there's always next week! And I've got a couple of very short videos of the engine running but until I figure out how to load them the still pic's will have to suffice.

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Figured out how to get the three little videos I took together, but its all very short, 18 seconds total running time. The first part is trying to crank with the flat battery, second part, focused on carb, is the motor running while the last part focuses on the oil gauge then you can hear Mal swear as the camera swings away because a still shot and not a movie was expected! As this luddite learns more about how to operate the camera I hope to provide more videos from time to time.

Big Red - Back to life

About a month ago received an email from BillB updating the progress on his '37 115C Coupe Roadster. After gaining approval from Bill, I've reproduced a mildly edited version of part of it here together with further edited updates from yesterday and today.

" I finally got around to starting the car, I wound the motor over with ignition off to bring up petrol, my rebuilt pump works well, but petrol gushed everywhere out of the top of the EE14 carby. So off with the top, no top gasket and no needle in the seat! Further inspection with the top off revealed one badly corroded venturi and the other badly distorted. This was supposed to be a "rebuilt" carby from ......... So off with Emails over the next week to ask what he can do for me with an eventual reply to send it back and he will fix it...... now at his mercy as to when I get it back. I did fit a needle out of an old Carter so I could finally start the motor, did start easy with good oil pressure but switched off fairly quickly as petrol dripping everywhere."

Here's part of yesterdays email, also edited.

"I am still waiting for the carby to come back from ....... it is very hard to get any replies to my Emails so I am going to phone him this week, he has had it back for over a month now and I think I have been pretty patient. Finally got the remains of the chrome plating back and have fitted what I can, as mentioned before do not want to fit grill, bonnet and right front guard until carby on and motor tuned. Attached couple of photo's show car with rear bumper fitted, cover on left front spare and new running board mould fitted. (Kanter's ended up being US$120 cheaper for freight than Max Merritt.) Photo show the new hand-made bonnet louvres that I welded up to replace those terrible die cast originals with all their pot marks! Also rechromed hand throttle with new cable.The sign is an old one from my Mazda Dealership, so I updated it!......We are going to south island of New Zealand .....so it looks as though completion will now not be until May unless a miracle happens and I get the carby this week."

And todays email

It is OK to use the stuff I have sent you as you see fit (make sure you protect the guilty). I had hoped that I would get the car on display for its first time at this www.clevelandautospectacular.com.au which is on the day before we head for NZ, beauty of this show is that it is only 10km from home, oh well, always next year!

I did "protect the guilty" Bill, and my best wishes are with you in getting the '37 back on the road ASAP.

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Content removed. error in judgment, my apologies. DAF

I think the bumpers are correct for 1937, I know the over riders are 38, could not locate good condition 37's to replate..

Bill,

Two pic's. First one is Wade's '37 120 rear bumper, looks like yours. Second is of '37 115C and 39 120 over-riders in PACA club stock, could be of help. I can take pic's of individual over-riders if you need/want some.

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I retract my comment and apologize for stirring up the issue. I have witnessed too many "experts" doing the walk around judging at car displays and personally find it distasteful and rude, considering the effort we go to restoring these cars and making the effort to share them with others. Bill, your car is lovely and I wish you all the best in your efforts to finish it. If I can be of any assistance, please feel free to email me directly at flackmaster@sbcglobal.net

Wednesday 7th April 2010

The Easter Break was spent celebrating wife Kath's birthday, completing the spreadsheet of PACA spare parts and seeing Carol King & James Taylor in concert. Then yesterday I joined Wade and Gina in Old Blue for the Morris Minor Picnic Club run to the Radio Museum at Kurrajong followed by lunch at the local pub. Not that it was all without incident. The spreadsheet, although completed, didn't support the links to the pic's I'd taken, something about knowing just enough about computers to get me into trouble? Then yesterday in Old Blue a whistling sound developed which couldn't be traced! But the Kurrajong Radio Museum was very interesting, entertaining and informative. And, seeing that the other hat that Wade wears is old radios, was eagerly awaited by him after last years run there only to find the museum closed!

So today it was back to more mundane matters, like working on Big Red at the workshop! First task was installing new cowl beading to the left side of the grill shell. Straightforward, only complicated by the small screws and nuts necessary, which once again did their best to resist installation efforts but were finally bedded down. Then it was onto fixing the water leaks. These being the upper radiator hose, although it had been re-tightened a number of times, still not fixed. The valve on the cylinder head, although a new o-ring had been installed, there was still a minor leak. And a fresh leak from the lower two screws on the face of the shutter-stat, these became apparent to Wade this morning when he first arrived. So off with the radiator hose, clean out of the rust particles caught by the in line filter, a clean up of the surfaces on the radiator inlet and head outlet and back on together with new clamps. The valve on the head was taken off, cleaned and then re-installed with another o-ring. The two lower screws of the shutter-stat were removed, cleaned, equipped with copper washers and re-installed. Refilled the radiator and start it up again to test it all. However, being still tight and still with a not fully charged battery the booster was again brought in to play. Once fuel was up to the carb and the throttle man, me, got his act together it started reasonably easily. Checked for leaks and there were none, so far so good. But Wade wasn't happy with the way it was running so John's timing light was again co-opted. Funny, nothing had been touched since last start up but it was now off from Wade's mark. Manual adjustment of the distributor, under the guidance of the timing light, and back on the mark. Engine off, but what's that? A pool of water under the engine! Topside inspection revealed nothing so Wade was onto the creeper and under Big Red with shop light. Wade was able to determine it was only water from the overflow tube exiting into the channel of the front cross-member then running across and dropping through a hole on the other side. Pheeew! After that scare the head was re-torqued as the engine had run for some time, time enough for the shutters to be wide open, and was thoroughly warmed up. Again straightforward? Would be, except for obstructions like the coil holder and the distributor. Necessitated removal of the distributor to permit access to be gained with all headnuts nicely re-torqued. The other matter which will be attended to shortly was the generator not charging, the time honoured quick fix of giving the regulator a whack not doing the trick!

All that done, it was time for the bonnet(hood) to go back on. This necessitated co-opting some extra muscle in the form of Grahame and Murray to each manage a corner, the front ones, while Wade and I handled the rears. Easy enough to lift it up off the stand, manoeuvre it around to the front of Big Red then lift it much higher up while taking it towards Big Red clearing the mudguards(fenders) and headlights and depositing it back from whence it came. Mission accomplished? Well, not really, it now remained to ensure the fit and gaps were right. Although it was close it was apparent the right front was too close while the left front was too open with the rear gaps being good. As part of the strategy for this, when bolting the grill shell to the fenders, all the bolts were left loose. Shouldn't be too hard to juggle things around? Wrong, the grill shell wouldn't budge. So once again Wade was under Big Red, this time armed with a crowbar to try and wedge the bottom bolts in the desired direction. Did move a bit but not sufficient to re-align as required. More pushing and shoving but no more movement. At this point it was decided to loosen the radiator from the frame it sits in but this necessitated removing the new beading only recently put into place on the sides and top of the grill shell. Why was it necessary to remove the beading? Because the heads of the retaining screws were under the beading! That done some more pulling, pushing and shoving and finally the grill shell had moved sufficiently, not much but enough to make a difference, and everything could now be tightened up. Same fight as before getting the nuts onto the screws for the beading ensured when it came to that part of it, but everything is now tightened and in place. While Wade was underneath he also tightened up the front bumper bar bracket nuts and bolts. This gave me the chance to do a strong man impression by lifting the bumper assembly and hold it in place while the nuts and bolts were tightened.

What to do now? Why, re-install the left and right engine to frame splash shields. Only problem was there was a jack stand in the way on each side. Instead re-mounted the front wheels then Wade re-adjusted the front brakes, they were a little tight. Also tightened and pinned the front axles bearings, Wade had left this until Big Red was close to returning to earth. That done, a couple of shop jacks were employed to remove and re-position the jackstands so the splash shield installation could go ahead. Left side was easy, and I'm saying this as the guy passing the spanners(wrenches), while the right was more difficult. So difficult that even I got got to turn a spanner, but only because Wade ran out of hands and couldn't be both under the car and up top at the same time. See, I do come in useful occasionally! You might remember I mentioned earlier I was the throttle man? Why? Because both the floor and toe boards weren't yet back in Big Red and consequently the accelerator pedal wasn't connected. With all the other work done, now was the time to get the floor back in place. But first Wade was going to replace the old chipboard like insulation. First was the toeboard where the insulation is held to the steel floor by eight rivets. Wade attempted to drill them out but because of the effects of 70 years of degradation they spun in their holes. What to do? Why Mal, of all people, came up with an idea! Use a pair of pliers to crush the crimped end of the hollow rivets and drive them back through the board and sheet metal. I could tell Wade was at least a little sceptical but I was determined to give it a go. First one, failure! Second one, success! And Wade was involved too, while I was the pliers man he was the hammer and punch man, and as we went got better and better at the technique involved. Finally after seven were removed went back and had another go at number one and VOILA separation of the two pieces gained. Onto the bench where Wade was able to drill out the eight rivets holding the collar and perished gasket where the tower for the transmission shift lever passes through the floor board. Then I went to work doing what I do best, cleaning. So while Wade was tidying up my task prior to departing was scraping the metal portion of the toe board.

One more thing - Wade found the whistling sound is a leak or leaks on Old Blues radiator.

And a couple of videos. Note, the cameraman obviously is still learning so shots of ceilings, floors, etc are to be expected.

Engine start, timing light, distributor adjustment

Front wheels

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Thursday 8th April 2010

This morning was spent with our grand-daughters so I missed catching up with PackardInfo member DavidM when he visited the workshop prior to my arrival. David has 3 Packards, a '22 Sport Tourer and 2 '29's a 633 Roadster and a 633 7 Passenger Sedan. The Sedan is in the final throes of it's restoration and is currently at the upholstery shop. Reason David dropped in was to have a look at the limiting straps on the doors of Wade's '34. David's '29 needs these and he remembered a post of mine when Wade and I installed new ones in the '34. Turns out they are the same as the '29's and now that David has seen them in action, so to speak, will purchase them for the '29. At least I think that's the story, in a nutshell, but if I'm wrong David please advise me of the error of my ways.

Wade had cut a new rubber gasket for the gear shift tower going through the toeboard, reassembled the toeboard and further cleaned and metal readied it in preparation for POR-15 painting. He'd also removed the wooden floor from the metal floorboard because it too needed replacing. And that's where I came in. Time to clean the metal floorboard up, so after lots of scraping and cleaning, followed by Marine Clean and Metal Ready it too was ready for POR-15 by day's end. While I was cleaning, Wade, after making a new battery hold down and installing a new Optima battery, the one it it was 7 years old and came from Old Blue, started up Big Red without any need for a boost, caught quickly and ran sweetly. Then Wade was under Big Red reconnecting clutch and brake pedal linkages even at one stage co-opting assistance from Graham to help him in this endeavour.
Graham.

Then it was onto getting Big Red closer to being a running, driving Packard again. Yesterday the front wheels went on, today it was the rears turn. Wheels on and tightened reasonably the brakes were also backed off a little as they too were tight. After some miles on the road the brakes will again be re-adjusted once they are bedded in. Then with a jack under diff centre, the jack stands were removed and Big Red's rear was gently lowered to the concrete floor. Now under the weight of the car, the wheel nuts were tightened again using a long bar to ensure they were snugged up tight. Next were the rear axle nuts, these too required the long bar's persuasive touch to ensure they are on real, real tight with split pins completing the job. Then the front end was jacked up, axle stands removed and not quite so gently lowered to the concrete, lot more weight upfront helping gravity to take effect! Front wheel nuts then long bar tightened. There remained the rubber bump stops to be installed in the front end, right side wasn't a problem but left side didn't want to co-operate. Turned out to be excess rubber on the square shoulder of it's mounting bolt which a delicate Stanley knifing took care of. Then to complete all this, now that Big Red was back on Terra Australis, the hubcaps after their oven baking experience last year, were re-affixed to the wheels.

A few other things were then re-attached, being an overflow tank, no more alarming puddles on the shop floor. And re-installing the aircleaner, which by the way has a paper element, it'll be even quieter now.
sorry Wade, looks like I've spilled the beans now. After all that Big Red was started again, and start it did but not without incident. First attempt Big Red was in gear, but that was quickly remedied and started easily second time round. Wade took the opportunity to check whether the generator charge was being returned to the battery, as you'll hear in the video about there being "Nothing, no volts on the field". Which term was explained to me later and Wade says he has a new regulator should that prove necessary. So very close now to getting back on the road now with the main things left to do being the painting of the toe and floorboards, the new floor insulation, remounting the pedal pads and re-installing the front seat squab.

And finishing with a little piece of history, went back in this thread and found Big Red was taken off the road on the 2nd of April last year, so has spent just over a year being motionless.

Todays Video

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Friday 9th April 2010

Arrived at the workshop to find Wade setting up parts for POR-15 painting. So donning my arm protectors(cut off socks covering wrist to upper arm!) and gloves opened the can, stirred, poured out sufficient for the job at hand and resealed the can. Parts being painted included the toe and front floor boards for Big Red, some nuts and bolts, the sheet metal piece from the '41 covering the space between the top of the grill to the radiator and some touch up of '41 parts previously POR-15'd.

While I was painting Wade checked Big Red's voltage regulator again, then installed the NOS one he had in it's place. Then he went on to some front seat adjustment work. By this time I'd finished POR-15'ing and lent a hand where I could. Reason the front seat needed adjusting was because somewhere in reinstalling the runners, sliding mechanism and seat back and lower frame the adjusting cog mechanism was out by 1 cog on one side resulting in the seat binding up when trying to be slid backwards or forwards. To correct this fault the seat frame had to be detached from the mounts, the mounts loosened and the cogged shaft moved a cog forward on the right side as that side was further back than the left. A fair bit of work for something that's not seen but does contribute to driver comfort. An aside here, apparently Old Blue's front seat mechanism doesn't work and is fixed in place so there's no adjustment there, Wade will be spoiled once he's back driving Big Red.

Last things done before leaving were re-mounting the '41's front wheels, taking out the jack stands and wiring up the gear shift rods. This will enable the '41 to be pushed out of the way next week when Big Red moves out of the workshop. There will also be a reshuffle of the cars in the workshop when that happens, with the '34 going from one side of Wade's workspace back to the other side.

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