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Tuesday 14th April 2009

Last night fell into an old trap, lost my post on the days activities, should know by now because it's happened so many times before but got lazy. Anyway, here goes again.

After returning from the Gold Coast, actually it was grey with the rain so didn't live up to it's name at all, it was off to the workshop. Wade had been busy in the morning removing the driveshaft from "Big Red" as well as both rear shocks. He's now contemplating removing the rear end but before doing that has to re-site the jackstands currently under the u-bolts. I started on scraping front suspension parts again but hadn't been going very long when Noel arrived with his '39 120 sedan for some of Dr Wade's personalised Packard treatment.

After some re-shuffling of cars in the workshop, Noel was able to back the '39 into the space between "Big Red" and the '34 Chassis, Seemed that Wade had the left rear hupcup off and loosening the wheel lugbolts before it had come to a stop he was so anxious to "treat" this patient. Reason Wade was doing this was the big stain on the WWW, with thoughts it could be a leaking brake cylinder, axle seal or both. By this time I'd caught up with Wade and had a trolley jack under the rear end while Wade slipped some jackstands in place. Harvey's brake drum puller then did it's job on the brake drum, no dramas like on "Big Red", and once off all was revealed. Brake wheel cylinder not leaking - good! Rear axle seal leaking - bad! The oil had been running out the drain hole, good, down the outside of the backing plate, through the slot in the wheel then down the outside of the tyre and WWW and of course also down he inside of the tyre. At this point I gave Noel a lift back to his warehouse and left Dr Wade to continue administering treatment to the '39.

Noel's warehouse, which besides containing the remaining PACA "Club Stock" also has a primary function of handling table tennis equipment. Noel's background is in Table Tennis and he has a storied history in the sport. In fact Noel organised and ran the table tennis tournament at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. I also saw Noel's table tennis memorablia collection, but forgot to take a pic. Suffice to say table tennis has come a long way from the long handled bats and cork balls of over 100 years ago. Also learned some things about modern table tennis equipment and the much higher tech approach to the sport now. Finished up with Noel showing me pic's he'd had received from PACA member Col in North Queensland who's restoring a '38 120 Limo as well as his restored '20's Model T Ute.

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Wednesday 15th April 2009

After the vampires had finished with me in the morning, and they had to have two bites with a miss in the left arm but struck blood in the right, down to the workshop in the afternoon. Found Wade had fixed Noel's left rear axle seals and it was all back together. He'd also installed a NOS breather cap, provided by Noel, on the diff housing as the original did not have a hole in it to breathe! This was where I came in and while I pumped the brake pedal Wade bled the wheel cylinder which had been disturbed.

Then came the real work of the day, cleaning the left and right front suspension components. First scraping the excess grease, dirt and gunk off, then into the parts cleaner for more of the same and a final going over with brake cleaner. Not perfect, but a lot tidier to handle, there'll be a final clean and paint(POR-15) before being reassembled with the parts on order from the US.

While I was cleaning, an essential part of any Packard work or restoration, Wade was finishing off the '39 by cleaning up the WWW tyre, reinstalling the wheel, tightening up the lug bolts, tightening and split-pinning the axle nut and re-installing the hubcap. Next he was onto the '39's radio and found there were two blown fuses, now fixed so the radio now works! Except when plugged into the aerial! Works fine through Wades finger but I doubt Wade wants to act as Noel's aerial. So now he has to find out why the under running board aerial isn't working.

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Thursday 16th April 2009
Quote:
Bill B emailed me today after receiving the '37 120 parts referred to above saying "Thanks for transporting the fan and pulley to Queensland and for getting your sister to bring them to Brisbane. They are both in good condition and will be easy subjects for a "make-over"............reconditioning will not get done until next week. Should get both manifolds back next week complete in new shiny black, so slowly getting there! Probably ready for a month-long visit to the upholsterers by mid to late June barring any unexpected hold-ups." So it looks like his '37 resto in going well.

And a few pic's of todays cleaning exercise at the workshop this afternoon.

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Friday 17th April 2009

Happy anniversary Kev! And good to chat with you today.

Now back to the workshop.

Cleaned the rear sway bar and left and right front springs for "Big Red". While doing that Wade was into Noel's '39 and he found the radio's connection to the under running board aerial was broken. Further investigation revealed the aerial wire needed replacement as well. Now Noel has a working radio pulling in the signal courtesy of the under running board aerial.

Next was relocating the jackstands under the rear of "Big Red" to enable the differential housing as well as the rear springs to be removed. The diff to cure it's oil leaks and the rear springs for new bushes and cleaning. Wade also tells me he's going to replace all three hand brake cables although he hadn't intended doing so originally.

There was also a guy in the workshop today, one of Rick's mates but I can't recall his name, saying the car yard he works at has a '34 Packard there at the moment. So on Monday, if all works out, we'll return Noel's '39 to him, drop into Carburettor Service Company for some new jets for Barry's '51 Convertible, have a look at the '34 in the car yard, pick up some new bearings for "Big Red" and move the '41 into the space vacated by Noel's '39 to find and fix the noise problem.

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Monday 20th April 2009

Removed diff housing complete with centre section from "Big Red" after U-bolts were persuaded to loosen their grip on the housing. Balanced housing on floor jack and wheeled it to one side then with Wade under "Big Red" lifted it onto left rear spring then out onto floor. Removed brake line, top cover then loosened centre section nuts turned housing over so centre section was underneath housing and eased centre section off. That was my cue to go into cleaning mode again and "hours" later it was all accomplished.

While I was cleaning Wade drained the radiator of "Big Red" and removed all fasteners holding it in place. Only things remaining in place are the hood stays and these will come off once the engine crane is returned to the workshop. That radiator is one heavy piece of equipment! Wade was also undoing linkages, removing the carb and other things in preparation for lifting the engine out after the radiator.

During this a PACA member Graeme, owner of a '28 526 Coupe, had dropped in. Said that he recently started the 526 for the first time since he's owned it, and that's 36 years, so progress is being made. Noel also called in and picked up his '39 after it's radio and rear axle seal work. And Wade showed me a '40 trunk handle that Rob from South Australia had left with him on the weekend to pass onto PACA member John(aka Appin on PackardInfo).

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Perhaps I am missing the obvious, but once the diff is off, how does one reset it when reinstalling to the correct angle to the drive shaft?

Quote:
John,

The diff housing sits on the rear springs with alignment holes in each spring mount corresponding to pins in the centre of the spring then held in place by the U-bolts. Once mounted like this the pinion flange in the diff centre section is then set at the required angle to align with the driveshaft through the rear universal joint. I think this is the info you're after? If it's the internal adjustment between the crown wheel and pinion that is another matter and completely outside my area of inexpertise.

Ah ok, I was thinking the U Bolts only held the diff but that couldn't be or it could turn.

No I understand about the pinion gears, those tolerances are listed but I would sure be nervous about it.

On mine I think the guy before Peter let the diff run dry and the bill to get it going again was 3500.

Tuesday 21st April 2009

Took the '41 down to the workshop so Wade could look and listen to the noise I heard last week. And what do you know? No noise! Although when Wade took it for a test run there was noise, PAAARP! The horn started to do it's own thing, so was disconnected at the bottom of the steering column. That'll be attended to another day along with the other minor fault fixes currently required. In the meantime, more driving of the '41 hopefully without further noises or problems arising.

Half the day was spent on the road in Wades Holden Ute. First stop was retrieving the engine crane from Troy's place. Troy has an early 70's Australian Muscle car in his driveway, an XY Ford Falcon GTHO,but it could benefit from attention real soon while there's still enough of it left before rust completely destroys it.

Then a used car yard on Parramatta Road. I'm sure every town or city has it's own "Parramatta Road" where an assortment of car yards are to be found together with the used car salesmen in attendance so beloved by us all. This car yard's owner is also the owner of a '34 Packard 1100 Sedan on historic registration and it's been sitting under a cover behind the yard for the last couple of years. The owner is also a member of PACA but Wade says he's never seen the '34 as it hadn't been to any of the clubs monthly runs. So rolled back the cover and there it was, a '34 1100 703 Sedan looking reasonable. Appears to have had the upholstery redone at some time in it's life as well as a repaint. Overall pretty well complete but would benefit from some TLC not to mention a restoration. Next to the '34, and under a cover as well was a '37 Lagonda Sedan and in the workshop an E Type Jag both also owned by the same guy.

Next stop was Carburettor Service Company where Wade bought some new jets for Barry. And in that workshop receiving attention was a very very nice Aston Martin and a Mercedes 190 Convertible.

Off then to General Instruments at Lidcombe for all new hand brake cables to be made up for "Big Red" using the originals as patterns. Should be ready Wednesday afternoon or Thursday at the latest.

After a quick stop for some electrical components at Altronics at Auburn next was ABC Bearings at Silverwater. Needed front and rear axle bearings for "Big Red" and some new wheels for the engine crane. Bearings for "Big Red" now on order while the wheels they had didn't suit the engine crane application.

Final stop was Meguiar's to present an updated "Certificate of Appreciation" for their support of the recent 13th National Rally. The original certificate presented to them was spelled Maguiar's and obviously needed replacement.

Back at the workshop, after all that, turned to "Big Red" and after manouvering the engine crane lifted out the radiator and grill assembly as a complete unit. That was the easy part. The harder, much harder, part was separating the grill and surrounds from the radiator itself. Certainly seems Packard never intended these parts to be easily disassembled. Next Wade took off the distributor and coil and disconnected the temp sending unit from the head. Also took off all the head nuts. While Wade was doing that, I turned once again to cleaning parts and the sense of satisfaction this gives not to mention the dirt, grease and grime shifted to do so. Then off came the head with some help from Rick. At first glance the top end seems fine, bores look good and valves look OK.

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Wednesday April 22nd 2009

While Wade removed engine accessories and manifolds from "Big Red" prior to the engines removal I was outside removing the rear shock links and front axle shock mounts from the parts '34 chassis for Terry(Traumjaegercat)https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=2511&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=40

Back in the workshop helped Wade in the actual removal of both the intake and exhaust manifolds and also took off the top bellhousing retaining nuts from inside "Big Red". Then there was a search on for the plates Wade uses for lifting the senior eight engines. Couldn't be found, so a new pair were fabricated from flat stock. Started manouvering the engine crane into position to hook up the chain to the plates on the head studs fore and aft.

At this point Harvey arrived with an old valve radio which Wade will be performing his magic on to hopefully bring back to life. It appeared Harvey, who also has a '37 Super 8, would see the engine come out. But before that had to remove the front bumper to allow the engine crane closer access to "Big Red". Then after undoing the two front engine mount to chassis bolts, all was ready, so lifting the engine out began. Well that was the theory. Lifted, just an inch or so for clearance, but the engine wouldn't break clear of the trans! Even though Harvey wasn't dressed for the occasion he was into it, first offering advice then hands on inside the cabin attempting to lever, hammer(using a block of wood between the "persuader" and selected stud ends) and using bottle jacks to try and force the engine from the trans. Engine was also lifted and lowered a number of times to change angles or wiggle the setup in an attempt to break the hold between engine and trans. All this without any luck at all, not even a faint movement, no hint at all of a break between the two. After about 2 to 3 hours of this Harvey bid his farewell and offered to return tomorrow morning to continue assisting in what was becoming a major drama.

However after Harvey left it was decided to try again. This time the rear chain mount on the engine was changed to bring that lift point forward by a row of head studs. The lift was also increased to about double the height previously attempted. This combination finally had success with daylight now being seen between the engine and trans. A little levering between trans and engine and finally freedom! Once free, the engine was lifted higher to clear the steering box arm, slowly brought forward, manouvered to clear the fenders then wheeled into the vacant area between "Big Red" and the '34 chassis. The engine was lowered to the floor and two "legs" bolted to the rear of the block. Back into the air, drained of oil, then manouvered and placed on Dr Wade's operating table.

Wade commenced taking off the remaining accessories, the oil filter and lines and oil cooler "box". And I left a man, now happy in his work, disassembling his Packard engine.

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