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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

Brian.

Just thinking about it now, I joined 3 days after I bought my first Packard.

Guilty as charged Your Honour!

All I can do is throw myself on the mercy of the court, with my explanation being:

- Before buying the Packard I had hardly used the Internet.

- My eldest son was the one who found PackardInfo and referred it to me. For that I'll be ever grateful.

- Did place the Packard in the Packard Owner's Registry at the earliest opportunity.

I humbly, and with great trepididation, await your learned decision.

Tuesday 22nd June 2010

On my way to the workshop received a call from Noel asking me to tell Wade "It's all his fault!"(Noel's that is). Turns out that what that cryptic message meant was that Noel had been asked by Ron, the guy doing the body work on his '41 160 Club Coupe, whether there was someone who could help Andrew, the guy who bought the '40 160 Coupe at last months auction. Also, although I'd forwarded Andrews details he still hadn't received the PACA membership forms. Wade's agreeable to have a look and help if he can while I've sent Andrew an email about the membership issue.

Because Rick's hoist was unavailable, jacked up the front and rear of the '41, put her on jackstands again, rounded up a pan, undid the sump plug and a steady stream of blackened oil issued forth. Left that to drain and took the top off the oil filter, removed the cartridge and with the use of a large syringe Wade suctioned up the remaining oil from the filter housing, about 1 litre. Using some rags then mopped up the remaining oil in the filter housing. Removed the almost full pan from under the '41 then, while I disposed of the used oil, leaving not a trail of breadcrumbs behind me but oil droplets, Wade re-installed the sump plug. Installed a new filter, filled the filter housing with new oil and put the filter top back on. Re-filled the engine with fresh oil and fired her up. No leaks found, good.

Next was re-assembling the Ranco heater valve with the new seal. Thankfully Wade had disassembled it originally so had a good idea of how to put it back together. If it had been me that knowledge would have been lost! Whoever installed the heater valve in the '41 had very roughly cut a hole in the firewall to accommodate its fitment. Because of this I wanted to fill in the hole as part of the remounting process. To do this I had to push a large rubber grommet over the collar of the valve seal housing before re-assembly began, so that's the large rubber grommet you'll see in the pic's. Re-assembly itself posed some difficulties one of which, as always, was excess POR-15 filling slots and making fitment of tabs difficult. Bending the tabs back to secure the valve seal housing and the valve control body was also not easy necessitating using the vice to hold and bring the control body together with the valve collar plate. That done all that remained was re-fitting the small, but strong, spring between the valve body housing and the end of the valve. Posed difficulties because of its size, or lack of it, and the positioning required to catch each end. But, with his usual dose of perseverence, Wade did it again.

By this time, and quite a bit of time had passed, needed to drain the cooling system of the water in it to 1) re-connect the heater hoses, and 2) refill the cooling system with anti-freeze/coolant. Reason being the PACA run we're going on at the end of the week is to Tamworth, which experiences below freezing overnight temperatures, so don't want to court disaster. Leaving the system to drain, went round to Repco (local auto parts store) and picked up 2 x 5 litre containers of anti-freeze coolant as well as 6 new hose clamps for the heater hoses, the present heater hose clamps being rubbish! That done, back at the workshop, while Wade was re-placing the heater hose clamps, I cleaned up the number plate backing plate I made and painted yesterday. A painter I am not, so removed all the paint and will leave it natural aluminium(aluminum) for the time being. Heater hoses done, re-filled the cooling system with coolant/water and fired the '41 up. But not for long, Wade had knocked the radiator cap off and it was under the car somewhere. Cap wasn't on the floor so had to jack up the front end, again, and Wade finally found the cap without further mishap. Fired the '41 up, again, and let her run until the thermostat opened, which took quite some time, then topped the radiator up again. All that then remained was to mount the number plate backing and badge/medallion mounting plate.

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Mal,

Glad that seal worked out. I am amazed how many different RANCO valves across 30+ years that seal fits.

Hopefully NAPA keep producing those seals, or it may be time to stock up for the future! Only issue I see with those valves is that those tabs really can't take take more that one or two rebuilds before breaking. I don't think RANCO designed them that in mind.

Hopefully with a new seal in place it should get another 50+ years of service life!

Wednesday 23rd June 2010

Last day at the workshop before heading off on Friday for the Packard run to Tamworth. But before getting there dropped the '41 into Quikfit Mufflers at Gladesville for replacement of the exhaust pipes and muffler with a stainless system. Discussed my requirements with Tony and settled on 2" engine and tail pipes with flanged fittings fore & aft of the muffler. The flanged fittings are a "just in case" should a future need arise for removal of the exhaust system. About that time my lift to the workshop, Wade, arrived. Leaving Tony to it we departed but only as far as Wade's locksmith, which is literally just around the corner. Wade was picking up Big Red's right front door handle and new lock, lock courtesy of DAF, which the locksmith had fitted after Wade drilled out the broken lock some weeks back.

Arriving back at the workshop Wade set about re-fitting the door handle and lock. Only trouble was the collar on the handle would only screw so far into the fitting on the outside of the door. So back to the locksmith, this time in Big Red, to get a first hand appraisal of the problem. By this time it had started raining and the only parking available was outside. No umbrella of course so Wade got wet demonstrating how the handle wouldn't fit. Then under cover, more screwing and unscrewing of the components whereupon the locksmith said he thought some dislodged crap in the threads could be causing the problem. Back to base, while I cleaned the threads on the collar of the door handle Wade cleaned the threads and surfaces of the door fitting. Tried it again on Big Red and this time it worked, just, needed a little jiggling of the handle when locking or unlocking. Also tried turning the door fitting 180 degrees but couldn't screw the collar in at all. It's just slightly off square, probably to accommodate the shape of the door. Completed another half rotation of the door fitting and re-installed the handle and bezel. It'll have to serve like this for the Tamworth trip so Wade and Gina have a lockable Packard.

What to do now? With Tony saying the '41 would be ready some time in the afternoon I proposed we work on the '34 which tends to take a back seat most of the time to the other Packard activities going on. Little did I realise what I was letting myself in for, not that it was a real big deal. What it was, was cutting a caneite board to shape to replace the backing/insulation board behind the firewall. Wade has one but its LHD, the RHD board being "lost" by the panelbeater! Using the firewall as a template marked the outline of the board then started cutting. Wade's mate Barry, the guy hosting the Tamworth run this weekend, said its easy and cuts with a Stanley Knife. Yes it does cut with a Stanley Knife but the blades need constant replacing as they dull quickly. The caneite also tends to grab and tear a bit. About this time Graham came by and suggested using a fretsaw, only trouble was we didn't have a fretsaw. But I turned around about 15 minutes later to see Graham with one together with a selection of blades, he'd ducked home and grabbed his. Graham! Also received assistance from Murray. Cut the caneite and then a trial fit which showed it was close but needed some minor trimming. Again Graham came to the fore producing a hand sanding plane and with a bit off here and a bit off there shaved it back to size. Then cut the steering column slot, hole for the accelerator pedal and a few other miscellaneous holes with a number still to be done as well as a long slot for part of the accelerator pedal linkage.

While I was doing that Wade firstly cleaned and chamoised Big Red in preparation for heading to Tamworth tomorrow, then started installing the cowl vent doors on the '34. Heard a lot of muttering and cursing about holes and hinges being filled with paint, and for once it wasn't my fault! Wade did manage to get the left side one installed but the right side is apparently well and truely clogged up and will be finished off another day. During all this Noel dropped in to pick up his '39 for the Tamworth trip leaving his Rolls Royce to take it's slot in the workshop. Whereupon Rick said "it lowers the tone of the whole place"

And finally the call came from Quickfit, the '41 was done and ready to be picked up. All aboard Big Red and back to Gladesville where the '41 was up on the hoist so we could see what had been done and ask questions. Tony is a real nice bloke who likes working on older cars and it was a pleasure talking to him. One thing I learned is that they use only silicone for sealing on their exhaust fitments. A high temperature red coloured one for exhaust manifolds and engine pipes and a general purpose silicone for tailpipes equivalent to the stuff used to seal roofs! Don't use exhaust putties at all. Anyway, the new system looks and sounds good, as it should, no more pops in the exhaust note.

Then on the way home broke the new wiper control button, have to patch something up tomorrow in preparation for the trip. Also filled up with fuel and since the last mileage check I've covered 175 miles and used 87.75 litres of fuel. This gives 7.55 (US)mpg or 9.1 (IMP)mpg, worse than the first mileage check. Hope it improves on the way to Tamworth or we'll be stopping at each fuel stop on the way!

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My dad has had a bunch of those silly cars shown in your last photo. He had a T-shirt made up that said, "If you love your Rolls, you've never driven a Packard."

Thursday 24th June 2010

Quick update, yesterday on the way home in the '41 in a rainstorm heavy handed Mal broke the wiper knob. It's a repro knob with a plastic tongue across its middle that snapped when I turned it hard the wrong way. Because the forecast has showers and rain as possible over the next four days wanted working wipers at the turn of a knob, and not with a pair of pliers. So a fix was to hacksaw a slot across the body of the knob and then use a small piece of hacksaw blade as a metal tonque, and it works! Also tidied up the left front MBM parking light gasket which was hanging loose. Cleaned the exterior and the carpet, with the rest being done early tomorrow morning before departure time because we're off to see the granddaughters now.

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Tuesday 29th June 2010

Arrived back from our weekend Packard Rally to Tamworth yesterday afternoon. The '41 went pretty well but the carbie flat spot contributed to a real struggle up the long Murrurundi Hill on the way north. Now over 1000 miles on the rebuilt engine after the 600 plus on the Rally. Mileage slowly improved over the course of the Rally, with the final leg of the trip home giving about 10 mpg(US) or 12.2mpg(Imp). Booked her in with Tim at Carburettor Service Company for Tuesday of next week to find and fix the problem. Apart from that the only other drama was the right side window winding handle fell off. Almost had a heart attack when my wife said she was getting extra air in on her side and looked over to see the handle and escutcheon missing, but fortunately they were on the floor.

And for identifying some taillight bezels as '56 Chevy I'm now their "proud" owner
Know anybody who would want these before I put them on eBay?

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