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Friday 14th May 2010

Arrived at the workshop to find that Ted and Brian from the Morris Minor Picnic Club had arrived just before me. Wade had proposed that, for the 1st June Oasis Run, the group meet at the workshop, have morning tea, view the Packards, talk cars, tell some lies, before continuing to the lunch venue at Woolwich Pier. Ted and Brian were there as an advance party to "inspect the premises and facilities", probably failed all OH&S requirements and definitely the white glove test, but from the gleam in their eyes and the fact they stayed for over an hour means all is OK. In order to provide morning tea for the numbers envisaged Wade asked if either of the guys had a hot water urn or access to one and Ted did, so I'll pick that up on Monday. The urn will serve double duty, besides being used on 1st of June it will be used next Friday 21st May when PackardInfo member Tas, Phil and his wife Marjory, visit the workshop before continuing up to the Vintage Motor Garage on the Central Coast where their '26 Limo is under restoration. Any PACA or PackardInfo members in the workshop vicinity at 10:30am on Friday May the 21st please feel free to drop in and meet and greet Phil and Marjory.

After Ted and Brian left, it was into '41 stuff for me while Wade continued with the '39's re-wiring. Cleaned up the head surface where paint had run down inside the stud holes. Then turned the head back over and installed the new heater pipe fitting into the now cleared threaded hole. First thing this morning Wade had been able to get the broken bolt out of the inlet manifold. Yesterday it had been liberally sprayed with penetrant and the end hammered to help break the seal between bolt and manifold. After I left yesterday, Wade continued this treatment whenever he passed the offending article so it had received a liberal pre-treatment by the time it was attended to this morning. Wade tells me the stud remover didn't work because there wasn't enough of the shank of the bolt for it to grip so resorted to using John's extra large multigrips which did the trick. Next I cleaned out the bolt holes in the inlet manifold, done with the requisite tap, so the new bolts fitted easily. It's hard enough to get these things together without fighting stubborn threads as well! Cleaned up the hot box in the intake manifold, and was there ever a lot of compacted carbon it there! Also cleaned up the hot box face of the exhaust manifold. Because of the couple of times recently that Wade has found holes blown through hot boxes a "leak test" was also conducted. The "leak test" was very simple, inverting the manifold then filling the hot box with water and leaving it to sit for about 1/2 an hour. And......no leaks! Bolted both manifolds to the block and also bolted them snugly together and checked for fit to the block surface and......no gaps. But by this time Rick and John were getting anxious to go to lunch, as evidenced by lights being turned off and the roller door being closed. Taking the hint we downed tools, leaving things as they were, but with a quick tidy up and will again pick up the running next week. I did mention that Wade's still working on the '39's re-wiring, didn't I? Well the re-wiring work is still progressing, but with Wade's assistance to me required on an irregular and sometimes constant basis, it is somewhat slow, but it is getting closer to completion you'll be pleased to know Noel.


PS - Wade and I have joined OASIS, membership is just $2.00, see copy of receipt below.

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Monday 17th May 2010

Didn't go to the workshop today because Wade had an appointment elsewhere. Instead picked up the hot water urn from Ted who visited us last Friday. Saw Ted's recent acquisition when picking up the urn, a Peugeot 404 Station Wagon, which had been re-built for and completed the l'aventure 2007.

From there is was over to see Harvey who's putting the re-built engine back into Vince's '39 120 Convertible Coupe. Yesterday our Packard club had participated in a run and in convoying from one point to the next Harvey got lost due to that most insidious of convoy wreckers, traffic lights. And where did Harvey end up? Why in Packard Avenue, not that helped him in the slightest. Last night I used Harveys misfortune as a theme in the report I wrote about the run for our club magazine. Little did I know I'd get my come-uppance for casting Harvey in that light, even though it was meant as good light-hearted fun! But I did, got lost trying to find Vince's house where Harvey was working on the '39. I've been there at least three times before but this time I came from the opposite direction and although I was in the vicinity couldn't find the house. A phonecall to Harvey and I discovered I was literally just around the corner from where I needed to be!

Reason I was at Vince's to help Harvey with the engine re-install? Answer, last week Harvey had put the engine back in with Vince's help but had forgotten to bolt the clutch fork back inside the bellhousing before the doing so. Probably the fact that Vince was there added to the pressure of the situation resulting in this "little" oversight. Be that as it may, Vince is away this week so Harvey needed a hand with the engine. Harvey also enlisted the services of his mate Ross as three are better than two, plus Ross is also a GENUINE OLD TIME MECHANIC! Just as well, Ross and his know how and experience proved invaluable. First to get the clutch properly aligned, then under the '39 guiding the engine in and positioning the clutch throw-out bearing, finally to get everything bolted back up.
Ross!

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Tuesday 18th May 2010

First up this morning was going round to Repco, local auto parts store, and picking up a tube of Stag Jointing Paste in preparation for re-assembling and re-installing the intake and exhaust manifolds. The Stag was used to coat the gasket surfaces to obtain a leak free joint. For this I did all the "dirty" work in the form of applying the Stag by hand, actually by finger, to the gaskets. First for the intake/exhaust heat box joint, which was loosely tightened by Wade while I went onto the inlet/exhaust manifold gasket surfaces with the substance being liberally applied. The manifold assembly was then bolted and tightened to the block, followed by tightening the hot box joint bolts. Now, it's hard enough to access the nuts onto and off the manifold studs while the engine is out of the car, it must be almost impossible when the engine is in situ. That done the fuel pump and fuel pump heat shield were re-united with the engine. Fortunately Harvey had returned the heat shield on Sunday on our Packard club run.

Next we turned to the transmission and overdrive unit which has been sitting on the shop floor since early December. During that time I'd cleaned the unit up externally. While at one stage Wade kicked it over and because the top was off precipitated an oil spill, not of the same magnitude as that currently being experienced in the Gulf of Mexico, but impressive for what it was. The trans won't be pulled apart as it was functioning well, with no noises when pulled from the '41. One of the dramas with the unit is oil leaks. These are being addressed by installing a new front gasket and a new rear seal for the O/D. With the Solenoid and Governor mountings still to be addressed also being a source of leaks. Fortunately there don't appear to be any leaks between the trans and the O/D so the unit doesn't need to be split apart. Last task, because I had to leave early for granddaughter sitting duties, was remounting the the trans and O/D unit to the engine. But before doing that the engines direction on its table needed to be reversed. Fortunately this was easy, still being attached to the engine crane, so up a bit, remove the wooden blocks its standing on, rotate 180 degrees, then lower back onto the re-positioned blocks. Next was the struggle to remount the trans to the bellhousing. And for this Wade enlisted Graham's muscle. While Wade positioned the throw out bearing Graham and I lifted the trans from the bench and tried to position and line it up. Failed on the first two attempts then third time lucky! Slid into the throw out bearing easily then, with Wade manipulating the u-joint, the spigot shaft engaged the clutch plate and through to the spigot bearing followed by bolting the unit to the bellhousing.

Left for home after that but no sooner was I through the door then Wade was on the phone advising that the Penrite running in oil and motor oil, we'd talked about earlier in the day, and he was ordering for me couldn't be delivered because the guy was on vacation. But......if I could get over to Wetherill Park tomorrow I'd be able to pick it up. And of course I will, so tomorrow that is my assigned Packard task.

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Thursday 20th May 2010

Arrived at the workshop to find Wade under Noel's '39 "playing" with the wiring. He's done quite a bit of that lately. First thing was decanting the 2 x 5 litre containers of Penrite Running In Oil into the 20 litre drum equipped with a spigot for later transfer into the '41 next week. Also re-positioned the 20 litre drum of Penrite HPR30 20W-60 to be used after the running in period and for subsequent oil changes. I'd dropped the oil in yesterday after I picked it up from Wetherill Park. In moving the oil off the bench saw something I didn't notice yesterday, a Packard heater for Noel's '39. Wade's going to mount and plumb it for him which also necessitates moving the radio speaker.

Then onto the trans OD unit. First tightened all the mounting bolts. And now it's mounted on the engine it's readily accessible for cleaning and painting so that's what I did while Wade continued under the '39. Although I'd previously cleaned it, it was now apparent that some of the nooks and crannies had been missed while at ground level. That done, brushed Packard Green on to the trans and OD, also gave the head another coat and also the oil filler/breather tube and later the front engine mount. Then checked my brushwork on the trans and OD with the aid of the workshop light. Well, it was only half done! I know the light is generally not good in the workshop and my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be but this was ridiculous. So light in one hand, brush in the other, much of the unit received much more than just a touch up! At the end looks OK so that's the main thing.

Painting done, gave Wade a hand under the '39 where he was soldering "bullets" back on some of the wires. Between our four hands, Wades with solder in one and bullet on longnose pliers in the other, and mine with torch in one and soldering iron in the other, managed to do the 6 bullets required. Only thing needing to complete the wiring now is running wires for, and connecting the front blinkers. Noel, it may even be working when you come over tomorrow morning for Tas's visit! And Harvey phoned, hopes to make it tomorrow too, depending on some other commitments. Appin says he'll try and make it while the editor of our club magazine, Jeff, will definitely be there and Vice-President Big Bad Barry has also indicated he'll try and make it in his "Stackard". Treasurer Russpackaus gave some flimsy excuse for not attending of, and I quote, "I would love to catch up but I am in Singapore stretching the business muscles". Similar excuse from DavidM, you'd think that Packards would take priority over overseas trips wouldn't you? All that said, there probably won't be much work done tomorrow with the Packard socialising taking precedence.

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Friday 21st May 2010

Before detailing todays workshop activities let me show you some excerpts from yesterdays Chatroom. Now before anybody starts yelling about privacy issues, the Chatroom is a Forum, where anything said can be accessed by all 2,310 PackardInfo members, that is until it clears either through transaction volume or time. I have only reproduced a small part of the conversations that were present when I clicked in and as they have special significance for me I believe I'm more than entitled to air them here.

39super8: DO NOT SAY SNUBBER HERE!

flackmaster: SNUBBER SNUBBER SNUBBER Mal is probably off editing the 1,712 photos taken of Wade drinking tea today.

Snubbers are a subject dear to my heart. The Flackmaster continues to tantalise me with tales of reproduction snubbers nearing completion but as they say, "I won't believe it until I see it"! I continue to live in hope that this project will come to fruition and is not just a cruel joke designed to torture an individual living in a land down-under.

As to Wade drinking cups of tea today, not likely. He's a coffee man through and through, the darker and stronger the better. If the spoon stands straight up in the cup it's almost strong enough!

As to photo's I'm sorry, I fell way short of expectations, only took 21 today!

39super8:......Mouton drank 4ounces. ......should I start a blog and post pics of each feeding?

flackmaster: Why not register Mouton in the owners registry, just be sure to include all known history (or herstory) serial numbers and how and when acquired.

Here we have another subject dear to my heart, the Packard Owner's Registry. I'm glad that PackardInfo members are thinking of this great and valuable resource and ways in which to promote it. But to include Mouton, which if memory serves me right is a cat, stretches it's boundaries too far even for this avowed advocate!

All that said, I'm braced and ready, fire at will Mal!

So onto todays workshop activities. As part of the welcome for Tas, Phil and wife Marjorie, organised tea, coffee, bikkies(cookies) and some crackers, ham and cheese as morning tea on their arrival. But before I even reached the workshop Noel phoned me to ask if I had a copy of the PACA Constitution which he's looking to review for the club. So, after dropping off the refreshments, backtracked home, found the Constitution then returned to the workshop. Apologies for not being able to attend today were advised by Jeff and Harvey because of late arising commitments. Soon after Phil and Marjorie arrived together with their Sydney friends Phil and Jennifer. I think they did this deliberately because I'm not good at remembering names and faces, but I'm not sure if it was to help(with common names) or hinder(trying to remember which Phil was which)! Also arriving about this time were Big Bad Barry and his wife Pam in their '35 and Noel in his Roller. Later Chris in his '62 Packard Hawk, Kevin & Barbara and Gina also joined the happy throng!

As I said earlier, a somewhat lacklustre day with the camera, only 21 pic's! But hosting an event and being a Packardrazzi are two separate and incompatible roles. Running around serving bikkies and fingerfood just doesn't leave a hand free for camera operation. And isn't the host supposed to make introductions, mingle with the guests, attending to all and sundry as well as the hundred or so other little things that crop up to ensure the event is successful? Having never taken on such a task before that it went as well as it did was a testament to the people in attendance who made it what it was in spite of the hosts shortcomings, lack of social graces and inexperience. Thank you all, and thanks too to John, Rick and Graham(without whom we wouldn't have had our group photo).

Plenty of Packard patter, with Phil seeing what was going on in the shop, taking notes, names and numbers. In fact he had to be prised away from the place, being deep in discussion or taking details until the last minute. Only the fact that they still had to get to the Vintage Motor Garage, on the Central Coast about 1 & 1/2 hours north before dark, in order to see his '26 333 Limo, finally broke him free. And an interesting tid-bit concerned Kevin's V12 Jaguar. Kevin tells me it's been there now for 2 years and 5 months, although I knew it had been some time, I didn't realise it was that long! Today Kevin was advised by John that it should be finished by the end of June. Apparently John said to Kevin "One day I'll phone you and you'll be very surprised when I do." to which Kevin responded, "Yes, I would be surprised". All this said, I hope, with a twinkle in the eyes.

After everyone departed there was actually some work done on the '41 engine. In fact yesterday Wade had mounted the upper and lower generator brackets but they still needed tightening. The lower one isn't so critical but the upper arm needs to be installed before the front engine mount is. And that was the next task, but where were the 2 bolts? Couldn't find them, but Wade came up with a couple of newies complete with washers. But these were not long enough, so back into his box of tricks, and two slightly longer bolts did the trick. The engine should now be ready to re-unite with the car on Monday. All the re-wiring work is now complete on Noel's '39, yesterday Wade had finished it off and tested it all. Now for the radio relocation and heater installation. And after all that finally went to lunch with Wade, John and Rick at the Wings restaurant at Eastwood Rugby Club. Have lived in the area on and off for 60 years but had never set foot inside it until today. In fact, 45-50 years ago, used to peddle past the place going to and from high school on my pushbike! And I've no fear of recommending it, after a great lunch of a Filet mignon steak, chips(US = fries) and vegetables all for AU$19.00, at current rates = US$16.00, it was delicious. I'll be going back for more!

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Mal - I mistakenly believed what is said in the Chatroom stays in the Chatroom, so I will no longer throw (what will become perpetual) darts. The snubber project started out as a fun challenge - and has morphed into something else. We have identified the perfect replacement, slightly larger heavy duty unit (note where the original is often found bent), however I have NOT been able to find a machine shop to cut down the mounting post to the correct dimension, and also LH threading the stem has been a request resulting in blank stares. I'd look harder for a shop to do this, but the financials of marketing a replacement snubber may diminish the value of my retirement nest egg of the worlds largest inventory of NOS snubbers.

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Monday 24th May 2010

Late start after donating blood plasma in the morning. In my absence Wade had been rebuilding the distributor for Noel's '39, with among other things new bushes and replacement of a frayed wire. PeterL was there with Wade, he was returning the R9-1 OD Trans he re-assembled for us. Had to install a new rear seal($10) and replaced the sprag clutch housing(no charge from his stock of spares, thanks Peter). Only problem was he'd given it a coat of paint and it was still drying so Peter and Wade ended up with paint on their hands after manhandling it. After Peter's departure I cleaned the surfaces on the O/D for the governor and the solenoid, gasket cemented surfaces and then Wade energised and installed the solenoid. next was installing the bottom bellhousing cover, this wasn't done earlier because the engine was too far forward on the bench it's sitting on. Because the engine and trans were still connected to the engine crane all this necessitated was raising the unit and pushing it back on the bench to give the required clearance. And Noel dropped in to talk to Wade about the heater and radio in the '39.

Then came the shuffling, firstly moving the engine forward on the bench and repositioning the lifting point to re-balance the unit. Then moving Rick's Lexus Soarer and the Peugeot Motor Scooter which has been sitting in front of the '41 for some weeks. This gave us room to push the '41 forward enough so that the engine crane with engine/trans unit attached could be moved in front of Noel's '39. That done the '41 was pushed back into place. John was of great assistance during all this. Then the '41 was jacked up and stands placed under the frame to permit good undercar access for the next stage. The next stage consisted of the engine crane and it's precious load being positioned in front of the '41 ready for re-unification. Then with Rick helping, the engine/trans unit was pushed, lowered and manoeuvered avoiding hanging up on things like the throttle linkage, OD solenoid and anything else protruding from either car or engine. Needed to reposition the front jack stands further aft because the legs of the engine crane bumped into the bottom of the stands about 6" short of where the engine/trans needed to go. That done the engine/trans was almost in place and the jack was then used under the trans to lift slightly for final positioning. Then front engine mount to front crossmember bolts/nuts in place and we could relax. At least I did, Wade was under the '41 bolting the trans mounts to the side of the trans. Also cut some new rubber pads, lifted the front of the engine again and put them under each side of the front engine mount. The trans crossmember is not yet back in the '41 but will be tomorrow.

Quote:David,

I know the mantra of "What happens in ......., stays in......." but nothing, repeat nothing, is safe in the Chatroom! And you certainly do keep the darts coming don't you? Even with this "my retirement nest egg of the worlds largest inventory of NOS snubbers". So cruel, so very cruel.

But good news from a '37 owner, Bill B sent me this email yesterday, edited for reproduction here with Bill's blessing.
"Finally there! First short drive at 3.30 this afternoon GREAT!!

Carby was back from .......... when we got back from New Zealand, they did a good job this time and I would deal with them in the future.

Will probably spend next week polishing and detailing will not register until July as we are going away in the Fifth Wheel for the month of June so will not be able to come to Tamworth.

Thanks to you and Wade for your help (not real confident about the temp gauge as it does not register every time I run car!)

The bumper over riders are not a problem........if you go through the photo's of 37's on Packard Info the big majority have the same as mine ????"

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Hi Mal, sorry I hadn't seen your prior post about banter in the chat room sooner. Mal it's as simple as this... we all like you. I think we often become known for smoothing, for instance the running banter about me for a couple years was the allusive ashtray. Dave, Kev, and who knows whom else had fun with that till Dave found one and sent it. Kev continually gives me the business about buying a 56 Packard. We go back and forth in good fun. Kind of the way guys give each other the business at the car show, or pub.

Before Dave arrived in the live chat, we had fun speculating at his expense if a whole car might appear on someone's driveway that he might source and send for fun. I have received a number of mystery packages, Dave is known for that sort of activity, that's why we are taking fun poke's at him. The things written in live real-time chat were not meant to be mean to you, really in my mind just waiting for you to log in and continue the light hearted ribbing. In context, it makes more sense. Mal, as each of us are known for our own thing, you are known for lot's of pictures, commentary, and on the hunt for the allusive snubber. That is not a bad thing, just fun banter.

Sadly, what wasn't seen in the BS'ing was the part about "we should have an international P-Info meet where Gerd and Mal could join us". Truth be told, I hope to meet you eventually. As a rule, I don't kid about someone I don't care for. I think I have given the pre-Mal welcome at times, stating "a nice fellow will be along soon to make a request" sort of thing.

I never realized the registry was such a serious matter to you. I would not bust your chops over something that is that near and dear to you. The snuubber also seems to be a part you have your heart set on. I have one that needs re-vulcanizing, but is indeed serviceable. As a symbol of my fondness for you I will gladly send it along, Please PM your mailing address and I will expedite.

Bottom line, the lighthearted banter did not read as such after the fact. I am profusely sorry for the hurt feelings. You are correct about the chat room not really being chat, but recorded conversation. I will take that lesson to heart.

Please accept my sincere apology,
Jim

Jim! Jim! Jim!

All I said was in jest! It's just that I'm heavy handed on the keyboard and any nuaces, inflexions and such just don't come across well in the written word. Accordingly no apology is required or expected. I'm sure the written word, except in the hands of poets, good novelists and exceptional wordsmiths, is often misconstrued. I'm also sure that it has happened on PackardInfo with a recent departure probably being attributable, at least partly, to this.

I certainly enjoy the Owner Registry and champion it's cause trying to encourage all Packard owners here to include theirs.

The snubber.....to me at least it's just a dream and David has given me hope that it could be something more than that. It has become a sort of holy grail, just like your ashtray, but it's not something I lose sleep over.

I suppose if I'd used smilies of many descriptive emotions to illustrate my posts I wouldn't get into the sort of trouble I've now stirred up?


Another thing, I referred to Mouton as a cat, a correction is needed because Mouton is a lamb is it not? My apologies Mouton.

Tuesday 25th May 2010

Wade was adjusting the timing on Noel's '39 when I arrived. Because the harmonic balancer wasn't marked or have a pointer he looked on the flywheel for markings for TDC, but in vain. Settled for setting it using of his finely tuned ear which usually proves very accurate anyway. Then onto the '41, firstly with John welding the heads of the bolts holding the hand brake cable to the trans crossmember. This because of the impossible position these are in when trying to re-install the clamp to the crossmember, can't get a spanner on them to stop them from turning inside the crossmember. Then it was under the '41 trial fitting the crossmember, but didn't seem to line up. Out from under and repositioned the front engine mount, there being two sets of holes on the front cross member probably to accommodate 160/180 engines too? Back under, but still not aligned, this time too far forward. So back out, engine back to again and back under the car, and what do you know, this time they aligned. All that remained then was to bolt the cross member in. Easily said, but a little harder to do as it took quite some time to get everything done and tightened up. Then hooked up the tailshaft again, luckily Wade had ensured I marked the caps so I knew which one went on which. Wade was going to continue with installing undercar parts, specifically the clutch linkage, when I departed as grandfatherly babysitting duties again called.

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