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Quote:
Carl,

Thanks, I believe the pictures help round out, add to and illustrate the story I'm telling. And although it has been said "a picture is worth a thousand words" -en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_picture_is_worth_a_thousand_words - I haven't been short of words in these dissertations, the pic's do make a difference.

Saturday 24th January 2009

This morning drove over in the '41 to see Peter, the guy I'd bought my '38 from back in May '07. I was returning the king-pin reamer set I'd "borrowed" from him about a year ago and also to show him the '41. Peter also had a '40 110 Sedan at that time which is now owned by Forum member Appin, John a Texan now resident in Australia. The '41 went well and it being a hot day, being 35C by 11:00am, coped comfortably with the heat, a lot better than the driver did!

I'd also rung Wayne, a PACA member here, about the spare engine and overdrive trans he has. On Thursday when talking about it he tells me it has the head off and the cover that had been on it is missing so "it'll need a re-bore". I was hoping for something a little better but will arrange to go and look at it and have arranged this for next Saturday the 31st.

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Monday 26th January 2009

Australia day -en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day

Yesterday was not a good day. I've been tossing up whether to come clean or not, but in the end conscience won out and I must confess my sins. What happened you ask? Two things, both bad and both avoidable! First I scraped the right rear fender in the morning.
And to top it off scraped the right front fender in the afternoon. Constant readers will recall I had also scraped 3 fenders on the '38 and had them repaired last year. So it seems I don't learn from my mistakes, only repeat them.

Day started out badly, when on backing the Coupe out of the garage, thought I had enough room, from my vision in the right side door mounted mirror, to clear the garage entrance. I did, but not enough to miss the chest of drawers near the entrance which put a "crease" about 10" long in the right rear fender. Not too noticeable and I was going to live with it because the surface hadn't been broken. Anyway after that had a nice run up to Rouse Hill and back, about 35 miles all up, to see Kath's sister Maureen and her husband Steve who were both impressed by the Coupe. Took a pic on the way back at about 40mph, estimated, because the speedo isn't working properly and the cable is making noise but all the other gauges are working(even the fuel gauge, but I'm keeping a close eye on it). Apart from that the Coupe performed admirably. So later this week it'll be back to the workshop to be attended to along with any other matters requiring attention.

Then it got worse! My eldest son Luke, and his wife Donna, came over to join my youngest son Greg's day before Australia Day BBQ, a ritual at our place for him and his friends for the last few years. Took Luke, Donna and Emma, Greg's girlfriend, for a ride to show off the Coupe and on backing it out of the garage contacted a brick step with the right front fender just in behind the wheel opening about 3" x 1&1/2". And this time lost some skin off the Coupe. OUCH! So with this injury It'll be back to Col, the guy who fixed the '38's scars for some remedial treatment for the '41. I'll also take the opportunity and have Col touch-up the various chips and minor scratches that were already there.

This morning backed the Coupe out of the garage, and this time without incident. The chest of drawers on the right side inside the garage has been moved and the big wheelie bins just outside the left side of the garage door have been re-aligned. I now realise it was because I was avoiding the bins on the left side that the much blinder right side took the battering. So this time it was easy, came virtually straight out without having to worry about manoeuvering to avoid anything. Another costly $$$$$$ lesson learnt. The only thing was, I found an oil spot on the garage floor approximately where the crankshaft pulley is, so another matter for a workshop looksee.

One positive for the day though. I cut out a number of "shims/spacers" from some thin aluminium plate to use in adjusting the castor for the left front suspension.

Confession over, soul cleansed, penance to be paid but Packard still injured.

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Mal, no offense, but maybe it's time for Kath to do the driving and you just become a passenger???

After all the time you spent scraping the rust and crud of the car during the rebuild you need retrained on what should be scraped and what should not. Maybe Wade can give you a few driving pointers on Packard driving. Just kidding as you know we are all friends here.
Still like the look of the dash great refinish job

Mal, no offense, but you took a photograph while doing 40mph?

Mal, Happy belated Australia Day. I was too busy celebrating Robbie Burns Day and forgot to send a greeting. Sorry about the car damage. I have a very narrow driveway also when my motorhome is in alongside. Last summer while backing the Packard up I scraped a right rear fender and just broke the paint but didn't even know I had hit anything until I arrived at the show and someone said "What happened to your car!" Then I felt very sick..

Thursday 29th January 2009

Drove the '41 down to the workshop this morning. Gee it feels good to be able put those words in print! Put some gas in on the way down, about 30 litres, and the gauge reads about 1/2 full. One thing though was when I started up, after getting the gas, there was a knocking sound for about 2 seconds! After that it ran fine. At Wade's suggestion checked the oil level and as it was down a bit so topped it up with about 1&1/4 litres. Will monitor oil level regularly as there seem to be oil leaks up front and also at rear, but not excessively. Looks like the re-built engine will be coming sooner rather than later.

Reason why the '41 was back at the workshop were the front-end adjustments required as shown by the alignment check last week. Jacked the front up, put jack stands under frame and took off both front wheels. First thing Wade found was that both front wheel bearings were loose! Literally could just about rattle them! And this after I watched Wade tighten them up months ago! Anyway, apart from that, needed to adjust the camber on the right front and caster on the left front.

Did the right front first. Undid the upper arm nut and bolt and removed the bolt and also the tensioning nut and bolt for the shock arm which doubles as the upper arm. Pushed the upright out and tied it up so it wasn't held up by the hydraulic brake line. The offset bushing in the upper arm was positioned so that it was "in". Took a measurement for reference and then reversed the bushing so that it was "out". Result of this was that the top was now about 5/16" further out than before. From the advice Brian gave us last week we were looking for 1/4" and think that 5/16" is close enough to suffice. Then bolted the upright, upper arm and tensioning back together.

Next the left front. Took off the sway bar link so the 15/16" bolts holding the torque arms could be accessed. Using a long bar loosened the bolts then undid them to give enough play to allow 2 of the shims to be inserted. Sounds easy but it wasn't. Took a bit a persuasion to get a gap of sufficient width to allow the shims to be inserted. And of course had to slightly re-cut a couple of the shims I made on Monday for a better fit and also finished them up on the emery and wire wheels. Tightened everything back up including the sway bar link which was the tough part. Also took the opportunity to re-tighten the right side torque arm bolts necessitating removal and re-fit of the sway bar link for that side also.

Then the wheel bearings. Put both wheels back on and then Wade did the right side first. Easy enough, but it took a number of turns to bring the bearings back so that there was no slack or play. Wade got up to stretch himself at that point so I thought I'd finish the job by putting the grease cap back on! But before I could do that I heard a THUD! behind me as Wade hit his head and right ear against, the side-mount on the '38 as he crashed to the floor. Scared the whatever out of me as I jumped up and went to his aid. Just told him to lie still initially but after a minute or two he propped himself up against the fender of the '38 while I went to get him some water. Wade has a little jug of water on his desk and I made a beeline for that but what about a glass? On my way to get one, stopped Rick in his work and pointed him in Wade's direction to help. Located a glass and back to Wade, with Rick now in attendance, and that's when I discovered that Wade's jug has a glass as a stopper in it's top. Now remember Wade showing it to me months ago, but in the stress situation it just didn't click in. Wade's hand was shaky with the first mouthful or two, probably shock, and then settled down. After 5 minutes or so we moved to Wade's desk area and sat down and just took it easy for a while. Kept the fluid up to Wade while asking him if he should be going to hospital or seeing his doctor. Wade insisted he was OK, of course, except for his bleeding ear and the bump he copped in that area! After about another 35/40 minutes then returned to finish the right side wheel bearing. But this time with Wade sitting on a stool giving advice and directions while I did the work part. That was the way it was supposed to be but Wade did still got his hands dirty, can't help himself.

Also took the opportunity to check the oil leaks while we could. It's not apparent where they are but could be from the fuel pump or pulley up front and possibly rear main at back. There is also still a small leak from the O/D solenoid which a thicker gasket might fix.

The other thing I'd mentioned to Wade early in the day was the speedo and speedo cable. So after I got the jack stands out and let the jack down, there was Wade upside down under the dash! He undid the speedo cable from the speedo, see pic, and found that there was a small piece of the cable separate from the main shaft of the cable. Is this right? Sorry I didn't think to take a pic of it. But with the cable now disconnected the inner cable can be seen and next time I have a passenger will have them monitor whether it's turning or not. The other option of removing the dash to take out the speedo is NOT an option at this time and I'll drive without one for a while if necessary.

But back to Wade. I left early so he could relax at the workshop for a while and impressed upon him to need to get help if needed. John and Rick are there and will keep an eye on him I'm sure. I also told him the reason I was so concerned for him was because "where would I find another Packard mechanic like him", so he knew my true intentions! Seriously though, you'll notice there are no pic's of Wade on the floor after the fall or propped up against the '38 so my papperazzi instincts must need fine tuning! And I wish Wade a speedy recovery as I told him I'll see him tomorrow morning at the workshop!

EDIT - Pic added of Wade's disassembled '34 grill ready to go to be re-chromed.

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Mal, regarding the loose front wheel bearings. You did not mention anything about using cotter pins to secure the wheel bearings. If memory serves me correctly, these cars have a nut to adjust the wheel bearing preload, then a special washer to lock the adjustment, and finally a nut on the outside of the washer to secure the washer and nut. After this a cotter pin MUST be inserted to fully secure the bearings, nut, washer, and nut. Many times the cotter pin is not used. This means the outside nut is the only thing securing the wheel bearings. The outside nut can work loose. The outside nut IS NOT a lock nut, although it can be tightened like a lock nut. I strongly recommend the use of cotter pins.

John,

I can allay your concerns as split pins, or to use your terminology cotter pins, are being used for the front wheel bearing nuts. The method, sequence and hardware including the special lock washer in use are exactly as you describe. I was surprised that this happened, as was Wade seeing he's done many Packard front wheel bearings over the years without this occurring.