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Friday 11th June 2010

Wade was looking to remove the balancer from Big Red when I arrived at the workshop. Sourced a socket big enough to fit the bolt 1&7/8" from his 3/4" drive set, but because of the effort which will be required to loosen it, was going to use John's long 1/2" drive socket handle for leverage. Only trouble was couldn't find John's 1/2" to 3/4" adaptor. Searched high and low in both John's and Wade's workshop areas but no luck. John thought George, another mechanic with his workshop a street away, probably had borrowed it and it was still with him. Although a phonecall to George was negative John nevertheless went round to look for himself. And what do you know, while John was away, asked Rick and he had it on his hoist! This was discovered just before John returned, naturally. However with the socket, adaptor and socket handle all together there wasn't enough room to get the socket on and still clear the radiator. There is another strategy being contemplated to overcome this but that'll be next week when the running is taken up again.

The trip to take Big Red's original balancer over to Graham Wilkins for balancing was to be the nest item on the agenda. However PeterL arrived just as we were about to leave in the '41 for the trip. Peter had called in earlier in the week, while we out on a test drive, and left a few more parts from the OD Trans he'd re-assembled for me, shift levers and tailshaft flange. While there in discussing OD's he mentioned he'd deleted the "OD operation instructions" that PackarInfo member Phils38Coupe had forwarded to me last year and if I still had them? In fact I do and I've just forwarded another copy to Peter, so thanks again Phil. Then off so see Graham with Big Red's balancer, see video for for the last part of the '41's trip there. Unfortunately Graham wasn't able to offer "while you wait" service so we left the balancer with him and returned to the workshop.

Back at the workshop jacked up the '41 and Wade adjusted the clutch pedal free play, because it had been "chattering". Wade also had me as observer when checking that Old Blues stop lights were working, and they weren't! Wade has been using Silicon brake fluid in Old Blue for over 18 years now and the only drawback in that time is that he has to replace the brake switch fitted to the master cylinder about every couple of years. That done, I was then treated to the workshops answer to that age old question - How many men does it take to change a light bulb? For the answer, see this video! Following that we were off to Wings Restaurant at Eastwood Rugby Club for lunch. Quite a large roll up today with three of John's street sedan car racing(circuit racing) mates from 25 years ago joining us. They all drove rotary powered Mazdas and from the tales told really enjoyed themselves. All up there were 11 attendees apparently the biggest turnout for some time.
Quote:
Kev,
Done and !

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Monday 14th June 2010

The '41 spent some time on the road yesterday and this morning racking up some easy "running-in" miles on the rebuilt engine. Total miles since rebuild = 150. See this Sunday morning drive thread for details of yesterdays and todays runs.

And have now finished sanding work on the running boards, a couple of hours yesterday on the undersides and a couple of hours today topside. All hand sanding, mainly underneath trimming the plugs filling the numerous holes and at each end where the belt sander couldn't be easily used. Now need to POR-15 the undersides again as well as cover some areas where I sanded through to bare metal! The topside will then be painted with bumper bar paint or similar to give a more running board rubber like finish.

However, as mentioned in the thread referred to above, there is now a problem with the OD making expensive and worrying sounding noises. Because of this, called Peter Packard about the symptoms afflicting the '41's OD for some over-the-phone advice. Peter advised we put the '41 up on a hoist, run it up and into OD then test the OD using a "hot wire" to bypass the kick down switch to test its operation and also test locking it out of OD. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

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Tuesday 15th June 2010

On the way to the workshop filled the '41 up with fuel. For the 155 miles travelled between fills, 65.37 litres of fuel were required. And with 65.37 litres = 17.27 US gallons or 14.38 Imperial gallons this gives about 9 mpg or 10.8 mpg respectively. Low mileage figures for sure but I expect improvement with much less workshop running, more road and highway running and as the engine loosens up.

Took the running boards down to the workshop by transporting them "mounted" on the running board brackets but without using washers/nuts to secure them in place. Because of having to slide them in at an angle from the side so the inner lip goes under the door and body line then laying them down flat with the captive bolts in place in the running board brackets there was no likelihood they would part company from the '41 on the way. Once there I proceeded to final clean and prep them then applied POR-15 to the underside of each. And called Harvey, had also called him on the weekend, and he's going to spray the flat black paint on the topsides of the running boards later this week.

And when I arrived Wade was in the midst of manufacturing a special Packard tool to facilitate removal of the harmonic balancer from Big Red without having to remove either the front clip or radiator. The special Packard tool took the form of the 1&7/8" very large socket having a flat surface ground on either side of the socket fitting, an idea suggested by John. And although I queried Wade as to whether I should mention this in my narrative and he said no, in spite of having to face "The Wrath of Wade", I have nevertheless decided to make mention of it. It's really necessity being the mother of invention in this case, it's not as if Big Red itself was being modified in any way. By doing this and using a large adjustable spanner(crescent wrench) the retaining bolt for the harmonic balancer can be accessed without the need for removing major components from Big Red. Only thing removed to facilitate access was the fan belt. That is if you can still use the term access for the very confined space you now have to work with and in. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it worked! Wade had also phoned Graham Wilkins earlier who advised to come over in a couple of hours and pick up the balanced balancer.

And while I was painting, Peter Packard had phoned Wade and had a detailed discussion concerning OD's and their failings and foibles. In order to give Wade a first hand view, feel and experience of the '41's OD problems we took that for the journey to Graham Wilkins with Wade driving. On the way there we called into ABC bearings for Wade to source a large o-ring to take the place of the perished original rubber ring on one of the tuners for the radios Wade is rebuilding. Looks like he found one, not exactly to spec but close enough to do the job. And the price, all of AU$2.50, Pepe don't let him tell you otherwise! I also took the opportunity, while Wade was in ABC, to duck round the corner to Grippy Rubber to buy some rubber grommets for the '41. Leaving ABC, and travelling to Seven Hills to see Graham Wilkins, Wade pulled into a side street at Rydalmere. In the side street, he drove the left side of the '41 up onto the kerb affording room for him to slide under the side and, disconnected the OD Solenoid wires. Doing this improved the performance of the OD somewhat but on the over-run the sounds emanating from under the car still weren't good at all. Was unable to manually lockout the OD using the cable to the dash. Locking out the OD as per the manual, consists of depressing the clutch while in gear then pulling the OD lockout knob out. But doing this still resulted in horrendous crunching noises so wasn't persevered with. Wade is of the opinion that the "sprag" clutch is shot.

Anyway, putting that aside, arrived at Graham Wilkin's to find he hadn't yet balanced the balancer and was still in the process of finishing the collar required so the balancer could be fitted to the balancing machine. Because of this we were afforded the opportunity to watch the balancing process "live". Consisted of mounting the harmonic balancer on the end of a shaft looking somewhat like a tailshaft but running on two pairs of rollers. The driving end of the machine contains the controls and a number of indicating dials. Speed is about 1,000 rpm and the area of imbalance was shown as being at 290 degrees(there's a 360 degree wheel on the front of the machine to reference the balancer to) and a quite substantial imbalance too! To bring it into balance Graham drilled holes, in the face of the balancer being balanced, at and around the 290 degree indicated mark. Although newer more sophisticated machines can tell you how big a drill to use and how deep to drill, Graham's machine wasn't that refined. This necessitated Graham drilling a couple of holes, running the balancer again, drilling a couple of holes, running the balancer again, drilling a couple of holes, etc, etc until the imbalance was negated.

That done returned to the workshop in the '41 and which, except for the OD's problems, is running very well. Oil pressure is good, temperature is good, although it's winter here at about 17C or 63F and it's getting looser and stronger all the time. Now that it's not "sort of" constantly in, out and about OD even I can feel that it's running well. Back at the workshop Wade first remarked the timing marks on the balanced balancer then attempted to install it into Big Red. My earlier observations about access now came firmly into play. Although Wade could start the balancer on the crankshaft he couldn't get it back on the snout, and no amount of coaxing, contortions or cussing helped. Unfortunately I had to leave Wade to it at that point, because of our regular babysitting appointment, but I fully expect it'll be back on when I get in tomorrow. Wade is also going to look at the '41's OD lockout, time permitting, so I'll also see if that transpired.

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I don't remember when I last posted in this topic, must have been a long time ago
But in one of Mals previous posts he posted pictures of a Datsun 1600, my interest is that how has this car preserved so well is it the Australian climate or just it had a good owner!

I don't recall just where I heard it, but I was under the impression that Packard balanced the crankshaft, flywheel and vibration damper as a single assembly, perhaps with the pressure plate as well. If that's correct, wouldn't balancing a single component of that assembly possibly throw remainder out of balance? I can't recall that I've ever seen indications of balancing on the vibration damper, just on cranks and flywheels. Who knows....?

G'day all, I also cannot recall seeing balancing marks on the harmonic balancer. On the other hand you would imagine that the balancer should be provided as a balanced unit, if it was meant to be a replaceable part. Wade will soon find out when he test drives the car. I consider that he has probably made the correct decision in balancing the harmonic balancer. Best regards Peter.

Wednesday 16th June 2010

Had a phonecall from Harvey before leaving for the workshop. He's procured some paint for the '41's running boards and I'm taking the boards over to his place tomorrow morning where he'll spray them for me. Harvey also asked if I could bring over a clutch throwout bearing holdback spring from Wade because he's "lost" the one from Vince's '39 Convertible Coupe. So first up at the workshop ensured I collected said spring from Wade.

I'd taken Old Blue home last night and on arrival found the '41 back in the workshop but it hadn't been looked at it, Wade instead concentrated on Big Red. The re-balanced replacement balancer is now on and the vibration experienced before is now no more. BUT.......Fix one problem and another rises up to take it's place! There was now a pronounced "knocking" sound coming from Big Red's engine. Wade was of the opinion it was probably valve or valve gear related and wasn't happy at all about this latest development.

While Wade tinkered with Big Red, trying to locate where the "knock" was coming from, I jacked up the front and rear of the '41 and supported the frame with jackstands. Then, forgoing Big Red, Wade disconnected the overdrive lockout cable from the OD's lever and tried to move the lockout lever without success. To facilitate moving the lever I was dispatched to starting up the '41 and engaging 1st gear, still no movement. Then reverse gear, doing this resulted in the lever moving. OK, but what to do now? Answer, that time honoured method, using wire to hold the lever in the lockout position. Wade also disconnected all the electrical connections for the OD and stowed them away with cable ties. Went for a test drive with all working well, but no OD as it should be. So, for now, we have a temporary fix and will be able to take the '41 to Tamworth next week, a round trip of about 500 miles plus runs while there. But before we go I'll be getting some more miles up in order that the running in oil can be changed out. Penrite's recommendation is to change the oil after 500kms(300 miles), so this weekend I'll be racking up some more miles in the '41.

The '41 done, Wade then turned his attention back to Big Red. More listening and still couldn't pinpoint the source of the knock. Using Rick's stethoscope, John then listened to numerous points on the engine still without being able to locate the source of the noise. At this point Wade decided to take off the tappet cover to observe the valves and springs in operation. Still no sight or, for that matter, sound of where the noise was coming from. Until.....it was noticed the vacuum line from the vacuum pump to the inlet manifold was loose. Now this was a known factor because in adding the vacuum gauge to the manifold the line was disconnected and had remained that way since. Started the engine again still with the knock, knock, knocking but put a finger over the open end of the vacuum pump pipe and like magic no knock! A simple solution to a seemingly major problem.

Problem solved and Wade decided it was time to get serious about the slight but elusive miss he's been chasing without success. John was of the opinion, everything else being eliminated, that it was likely to be a leak in the hotbox area. Now Wade has had some experience with these having to sleeve a couple of intake manifolds and using a stainless steel plate to block off hotbox completely in another instance. So off with the carb and intake manifold and there was fuel in the bottom of the intake manifold side of the hotbox. Detailed examination couldn't locate a hole or leak so it was decided to do the block-off treatment in this instance. Now, with of our temperate climate, extreme low temperatures aren't a real concern like they could be in other parts of the world. It just means the engine takes a little longer to warm up. Without any stainless steel to hand a block-off plate was fabricated from a sheet of hard copper. After Wade used a gasket to mark the shape, Murray cut out the rough shape from the copper sheet with an angle grinder. I returned home briefly to pick up a jig-saw for a closer detailed cut and while there cleared the letterbox. And in which I found the new Ranco Heater Valve Seal procured and sent by a very considerate PackardInfo member. Back at the workshop cut the plate and finished it on the grinder and linisher. While doing that Wade had taken the opportunity to reset the tappets, finding a few needing minor adjustments, and replaced the tappet cover. I then set about cleaning the block surfaces of old gasket while Wade drilled the holes in the block-off plate. All the pieces were now ready and the process of putting it back together again commenced. All together again and start up, and.......no knock.

Will add links to videos a little later.

Videos added -

1) Searching for the elusive "knock"

2) Still to come No "knock" and balancing a coin


Quote:Dave,
Wade has spent a small fortune on the rebuild of his engine including balancing of all such components, individually and where required as an assembly. Because the balancer was changed, from the one that came with the engine, in the rebuild and it was now thought to be suspect, another path was taken rather than completely dis-assemble the engine again. If by using it's original balancer, with care taken to ensure it was balanced in itself, then a lot of further time and expense may be avoided if that cured the problem. So far it looks like it will but I'm sure Wade will be very very careful until he's sure there really is no longer a problem.

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Thursday 17th June 2010

No workshop time today. Instead took the '41's running boards over to Harvey's for painting. Arrived outside his house at 9:00am to receive a phonecall from Harvey saying he'd be home in 5 minutes. He was at the auto paint and parts business he works for to pickup the paint! The paint should have been ready yesterday but they'd forgotten to mix it by the time Harvey arrived late afternoon. I was set to giving the upper running board surfaces a light rubbing to help ensure the surface would grip the grey undercoat/primer Harvey was mixing up. A coat of primer on the upper surfaces of each board then Harvey mixed up the flat black for the final coats. After a test spray on a handy piece of the wall, and time for it to dry to check it turned flat enough, then Harvey was off. A couple of coats to each board later and it was done. Time in 9:00amm, time out 11:30am and I was off home. See this video.

During the time I was at Harvey's received a phonecall from Quik-Fit Mufflers, they have received the S/S muffler and the '41's now booked in for Wednesday of next week for replacement of the exhaust system. Harvey's mate Ross also dropped in to chew the fat for a while. And again I was requested by Harvey to chase down some Willy's parts for him, this time hubcaps. Only too happy to do so, after all how many spray painters do you know who want to be paid in hubcaps? So if anyone has 4 mint '40 Willys hubcaps, see pic's, could you please let me know? Afterwards went to the local vehicle registry office to sort out their belief I was still the owner of the '38 Eight sedan I sold last July. Was easier than I thought, really just waiting time, supplying details of the new owner and filling in a form - done! Then it was off for babysitting. All this in the '41 getting up more "running in" miles in preparation for changing the oil and filter next week as well as a service, prior to leaving for Tamworth at the end of the week.

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Monday 20th June 2010

Took the running boards and the bottom edge trim strips down to the workshop for finishing and refitting to the '41. The small trim pieces at each end of the boards needed to be re-mounted as well as the bottom edge trim strips.Installing the small trim pieces entailed re-drilling all the mounting holes on the boards filled with Rhino lining. Then, one trim piece at a time, utilised many of the old clips that came off the boards as well as most of the packet of new clips from Restoration Specialties. 3 clips per trim piece are required and necessitated a few attempts before we got it right. Had to redrill some of the initial holes because the Rhino tended to catch the clip preventing it from passing through and locking in place. After that little obstacle was overcome, the biggest drama was keeping the 3 clips on the trim piece while the first(the lower front or rear edge clip) was clicked into place. While another minor irritant was aligning the two remaining clips, while previously they tended to slip off at inopportune times now they tended to stick resisting movement when you most wanted it! That done cleaned up the stainless on the left side bottom edge strip. Didn't clean up the stainless on the right side, doesn't have any, it only has the backing strip and clips! So until I get some replacement running board bottom edge trim strips I'll make do with what I've got. Once all that was done remounted the boards on the '41, see pic. Kath will be pleased, she really likes them.

At the end of last week Wade had put Big Red up on Rick's hoist to drop the sump(pan) to track down and fix the oil leak. Now, when Big Red first came off the road in April '09 it was because of oil leaks and here we are in June '10, but Wade thinks he's finally fixed it. Wade also changed out the water in the cooling system and refilled it with coolant and then discovered it was leaking coolant this morning! Wade's mate, Barry, reckons coolant will find holes and leak where no holes exist! Wade also adjusted the clutch pedal play in Big Red and started loading up for the trip to Tamworth on Thursday.

Meanwhile I was in the process of making a mounting plate for the front number plate. This is so it can be attached to the number plate bracket and also provide room along the top for Club and Rally badges to be fitted. Cut a piece out from 1/8" aluminium(aluminum) with a jig-saw, rounded the corners, drilled mounting holes and painted it white. Will mount it tomorrow after the paint has dried. Will also make up another tomorrow for the rear number plate. And mounted a NOS rear view mirror to replace the original which is suffering from the silvered reflective surface deteriorating. Tomorrow we'll also look to fitting the new seal to the Ranco heater valve and remounting the unit in the '41.

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Happy 3rd Anniversary Mal ! (Joined PackardInfo 20 May 2007)

Brian