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Wednesday 28th July 2010

Oil! Oil! That's the word that came to me driving to the workshop this morning. What was I thinking when I wrote - "All that should remain is re-installing the wheels/tyres then re-tightening the axle nuts once back on solid ground. The '39 will then be good to go!"? Before the '39 can go anywhere first the diff needs to be filled with a very vital lubricant! Fortunately Wade, as usual, was way ahead of me because on reaching the workshop there was a 5 litre container of oil on the bench. But unfortunately there was only about 1 litre in it! However Dave from Penrite is making a delivery tomorrow so oil will be well. Bad jokes aside I sprang, or rather slid into action on the creeper, under the '39 and put the litre we had into the diff. About a month ago I bought a cheap baster, just for these types of situations, after having to fill the diff in my '41 using a funnel, tube and small container. Filled the diff then but in the process spilled a lot of oil. Using the baster it's certainly a cleaner method but very slow, having to draw the oil in then push it out and repeat that numerous times. Just thinking, using a sports drink bottle with a flexible plastic tube might be even better! Hmmmmm......

While I was under the '39 Wade had taken out # 2 sparkplug, cleaned and re-installed it. He'd noticed there was a lot of gunk around the plug, appeared it may not have been properly seated. However Wade is suspicious because the plugs are NOS of unknown age and with time the seal between the porcelain insulator and the metal body sometimes fails. So after I finished under the '39 Wade started it up. And start it did, spun over very quickly on the now fully charged up battery coupled with the cleaned up starter motor. With the engine now running and the car up on jackstands the diff was "tested" by shifting the trans into top and letting the rear brake drums spin. Enabled the litre of oil in there to be circulated and could also listen for noises, of which there were none! # 2 sparkplug also appeared to be fine but will get a better test tomorrow when under load on the road.

Just as Wade switched Noel's '39 off, who should arrive but the man himself. Noel brought over the front shocks from his '41 160 Coupe which Wade had Tony "Shocks" rebuild last year. But they'd both sprung leaks so Wade will be return them to Tony for warranty repairs because they hadn't seen any service. Unless you count the 30' they'd travelled mounted on the chassis when being pushed around the yard. And Noel says he has some NEW Autolite sparkplugs which he'll drop in the next time he's over to replace the current plugs. Wade was happy to hear that. And then Noel said did you fix the welch plug? Blank looks on both Wade's and my faces then realisation that Noel was talking about the missing welch plug at the rear of the '39's OD that PeterL had noticed a few weeks ago when installing the DAF snubber. After Noel left Wade measured up the plug, in the tight confines under the '39 it looked about 17mm, then had a look in his stock. Plenty of bigger plugs but no small ones. However John managed to source a couple of boxes of plugs of various sizes, the smallest of which was 11/16 and of which there was only one! Fortunately it will fit. Using a bit more nous this time Wade measured the 11/16" plug directly against the plug in the spare OD, saved a lot of twisting and contorting. Fitment of the plug, which is now foremost in our minds, will wait however until the '39 can be put up on a hoist to give more reasonable access.

Yesterday Wade had picked up a couple of side mirrors to mount on Emily. Mount on Emily? What are we talking about? Emily is a '37 115c Sport Coupe owned by PACA member WendyS. Emily is coming into the workshop soon for a service, tune-up and general checkover all in readiness for the National Rally to Kangaroo Island in late September. The trip to K.I. from Sydney is about 1,400 kms, or about 825 miles. And all up, well over 3,200 kms or 2,000 miles will be covered, so mechanically the participating Packards need to be in good mechanical shape. Wendy's Emily will be followed in by husband Dicks '39 Convertible Coupe also for a service, tune-up and checkover in readiness for the rally. Now that's a Packard family for you! Mind you the '39 might come in before the '37 because those details haven't been settled yet, but suffice to say they'll both receive some pre-rally Packard TLC.

While Noel was at the workshop I returned a CD, he'd lent me a little while ago, of pictures from his Christmas with DAF. David, I'm tempted, very tempted, to publish a very candid shot of one DAF but, seeing I value my life very highly, have just managed to restrain myself from doing so. This is killing me......! What I will publish though are some Packard relevant pic's from a trip to New Orleans and Noel with couple of Packards.

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Thursday 29th July 2010

Yesterday, just after Noel arrived and the '39's engine was switched off, I said to Wade and Noel "What's that noise"? It was a glug, glug, glug sound and I was assured it was just the radiator overflow operating with the radiator coolant finding it's level after the 10 minute engine running time. This morning, Wade found a puddle of water under and in front of the '39. Seems the glug, glug, glug was actually a leak from the water pump. Preliminary investigation appeared the leak was emanating from the lower left water pump retaining bolt. However after draining the coolant, removing the fan and pulley then wrestling with the retaining bolts it was apparent the water pump seal was in fact the culprit. Just a word about the fan removal on a 120, not an easy job, the radiator fins act like an old style cheese grater with no regard for the frailties of human flesh! It's hard enough getting them out and when the time comes putting them back in is even worse! Did I mention wrestling with the water pump retaining bolts? I did? What happened there, was a 9/16" spanner(wrench) or socket was too small while a 5/8" was too big. What did fit was a 5/16" Whitworth spanner(wrench) or socket. But because of clearance issues with the front motor mount and the 2 lower bolts, that's where the wrestling came in. But with Wade's never give up, and if someone put it on I can get it off, attitude they eventually succumbed. Needless to say, these bolts will be replaced! Pump off, didn't look too flash inside and the bearing felt like it had lumps in it. Cleaned up, the pulley flange pressed off, impeller pressed off and shaft and bearing pushed out there was another surprise waiting. the impeller had been modified to accept a modern seal. While Wade had a "spare" impeller it was more decorative than useful having deficiencies of it's own.

Wade made some calls chasing parts and informed Noel of this latest "development". Noel, in turn, was soon in contact with a well known US Packard parts hound who just happened to have a NOS water pump on the shelf. This is now winging it's way across the worlds largest ocean to enable Noel's '39 120 to return to the road, it'll just be a little later than previously envisaged. While all this was going on David from Antique Tyre Supplies at Ingleburn, also distributors of Penrite Oils, arrived. David was delivering various Penrite oils to Wade, including the diff oil required for Noel's '39. David also informed me I hadn't paid for the bonnet(hood) welting, for the '41, I'd bought from him probably 18 months ago! And he's now promised to send me the bill! Isn't there a statute of limitations on these things? Now I think of it, I'd rung David about the welting and he'd posted it to me. Appears the accounting for it must have slipped between the cracks for a while. Meanwhile, Noel is apparently forming all sorts of conspiracy theories concerning this latest episode with the '39. Thinks I might be sabotaging it in order that I'll have something more to write about. I can assure you Noel, I didn't and don't do anything, these things just happen when I'm in the vicinity!

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Monday 2nd August 2010

At the end of last week Wade had finished filling Noel's '39's diff, put it back on the ground, tightened wheels lugs and axle nuts and put the hub caps back on. Now all that remains is installing the NOS rebuilt water pump when it arrives, and then it will be good to go. Wade had also made a bumper mounting bracket for a rumble seat step plate in readiness for "Emily's" arrival in the near future. Emily has the step pad on the mudguard(fender) but is missing the bumper mounted step plate. Dick and Wendy provided a brass step plate and a "drawing" of the required bracket. The WFI bracket looks good. And speaking of Emily, a parcel arrived today containing most of the tune-up parts for Emily and the '39 110 Convertible Coupe. However it was short one part which will necessitate Wade phoning or emailing the vendor tonight.

And today started with some workshop maintenance. My time today was spent cleaning parts but before doing so the light inside the blasting cabinet needed fixing, because sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but mostly it didn't! While Wade was attending to that I replaced the sacrificial plastic sheet stuck onto the interior surface of the cabinet door lid. Although the surface of the door lid itself is clear plastic, the sacrificial plastic sheet saves the lid from getting blasted and turning opaque over time. Longest part was cleaning the old adhesive off to ensure the fresh sheet has a good bonding surface to adhere to. That done, now having light and a see-through lid commenced cleaning. Cleaning encompassed the speaker case for Pepe's radio, the step plate and steep plate bracket for Emily and an old hydraulic jack that Wade is going to use in Big Red which presently is jackless. Didn't just use the blasting cabinet, what could be removed initially on the wire wheel was done so and it all takes time. Then tomorrow morning Wade will paint these assorted pieces. And a diversion in all this was the arrival of Wayne, who dropped in during his lunch break for a Packard catch up.

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Tuesday 3rd August 2010

Just a quick drop in to the workshop today where Wade was just finishing off POR-15'ing some of the parts cleaned yesterday. Today Wade is also involved in helping George, a local motor mechanic, set up his relocated workshop. Wade is sorting out the present electrical wiring, who knows what is what or if it's safe? And advising on new wiring and connecting it up after new conduits are in position.

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Thursday 5th August 2010

Arrived at the workshop to find Wade was around helping George. To pass the time until Wade's return, I did a little workshop housekeeping cleaning the areas around the cabinet blaster, wire and linishing wheels and Wades metal bench. Then while cooling my heels, funny because I was actually outside soaking up the winter sun, John said hop in and gave me a lift around to Georges new workshop while he went on to pick up some parts from Brookers Brakes. A little while later Wade received a call from John to say there was a guy back at his workshop waiting for him. Back to Wade's workshop where we met Neville a friend of Barry Smith from Tamworth. Neville delivered 1) A Super8/Twelve pressure plate Wade had sent late last week that Barry now didn't require as he was able to source a NOS pressure plate from a PACA guy in Melbourne, 2) Big Red's distributor that Wade had sent up a little while ago to be checked and set-up as required, and 3) A battery powered large mantle bakelite radio for which Wade has fabricated a battery pack using modern batteries which he needs to "tune" to the voltages required, 90V & 1.5V. Then back to George and another phone call, this from Wendy who was bringing "Emily" over for her tune-up, mechanical inspection and check and some other listed matters.

Returning to the workshop, all that Wade could do at Georges being done, the girls arrival was awaited. While waiting, the painted bumper mount step plate was given a haircut. A haircut? Yes, it is brass and was painted black all over. To accentuate the checked pattern upper surface of the step plate it was put on the linisher and the paint removed leaving black paint in the channels of the grid and a shiny brass surface on the square checks. The brass should age to give a nice patina given a little time. About this time Wade received another call from Wendy, she was sort of lost. How do you get sort of lost? Well she was in the vicinity but couldn't find the workshop because it's at the end of a long driveway behind a factory making bathroom vanity tops. A little later, following some over the phone directions, and there was Emily coming down the drive with Wendy at the wheel. After Wendy and her Mum left, who followed over to take Wendy home once Emily was delivered, work commenced on Emily.

Before doing anything though, Emily was taken for a test drive. Drives pretty well, she was restored about 15 years ago and gets along nicely. However stopping is another matter! In the course of the drive a truck came out from the left and Wade hit the brakes pretty hard although there was never any danger of a collision just an unexpected situation. In doing so Emily demonstrated very unladylike manners pulling heavily to the right. The braking test was therefore conducted out of sequence and the test run continued, with the rest of the test drive checking out OK. Back at the workshop a hand on each of the road wheels revealed Front right - Hot, Rear right - Warm, Rear left - Warmish and Front left - Stone cold! Some brake work is therefore required hopefully, at the minimum, just an adjustment but will be dependent on a drum off inspection.

Then first up? The step plate of course. The step plate mounts by means of the left outer bumper bolt to the inside of the bumper bracket but there was a problem. The bumper bolt was already being used to mount the left side blinker. The blinker was on a right angled bracket with a hollow post elevating the blinker itself. What to do? Why do a swapsie, mounting both sides' blinkers on the inner bumper iron bolts instead of the outside bumper iron bolts. Additionally the right side outer bumper bolt was swapped for the left side one because the right side one was a little longer and because of the thick bracket for the step plate every fraction of an inch counted. Another snag encountered was that the tops of the bumper over-riders prevented the blinkers from being mounted, but not by much. Solving this meant Mal and a file elongating the bumper mounting holes in the right angled brackets, and it worked.

That done, next? Mounting a pair of side mirrors Wade had picked up for the job a couple of weeks ago, the last ones in stock. First the right(drivers) side, a rough approximation of where it would probably go which turned out to be pretty accurate, then mounted but not tightened up. Next Wade into the driver's seat while I up, downed, in and outed the accessory. Worked out well with good vision to see car's in the outside lane for merging and overtaking or for parking. Then the left, passengers side, mounted easily and tightened up.

What else? This wasn't on the list but I noticed when the driver side door was closed the licence plate rattled. Wade had a look and told me this was a typical '37 problem. Reason being the stanchion rising from the left taillight is pot metal and with the licence plate hanging out there in the breeze it often gets snagged by people, on clothing or other objects and ends up cracking or breaking. In Emily's instance the stanchion was down to just a stump and removing it from Emily revealed what was left had been repaired by using a ground down nut! The ground down nut didn't fit too snugly so a little more grinding was in order to give it better shape and a better chance of fitting. A small rectangular piece of rubber was also cut to fit between the stanchion and the taillight housing mount. And what do you know? No rattle now! Wade tells me Old Blue has also suffered from this and it's stanchion is also shorter than it should be although not as short as Emily's.

Then around to the front of Emily, and there was a pool of water slowly spreading from a water pump leak. Just what Wade doesn't need, another water pump rebuild! But being a water pump with a rope seal a little judicious tightening of the gland nut was undertaken with apparently the leak stopping. This will be tested out by Wade taking Emily home for a night or two, just hope that's OK with Gina, to ensure everything is working properly.

Sorry for the late posting as I usually post events on the same day they occur. This time a combination of factors including a Packard club meeting on Thursday night and then driving 1,400 kms in the last 2 days conspired to thwart that.

Emily's road test

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Tuesday 10th August 2010

Late start at the workshop this morning, followed a 4 day trip north to Queensland starting last Friday and covering well over 2,200kms. I'm tired! Wade has been busy getting Emily inside, jacking her up, disassembling the front brakes, getting the wheel cylinders to, and already back from, Brooker Brakes. I started the cleaning of the disassembled parts in preparation for reassembly when first Noel arrived. Noel had with him the newly arrived NOS water pump for his '39. Noel also had a set of Autolite spark plugs for Emily from the same source. But there was a problem there because Emily has 14mm plugs and not 10mm. Fortunately Wade has sourced a set of NGK plugs for Emily locally so that really wasn't a problem. During discussions with Noel, Noel's friend Tony arrived to pick up some more running board trim strip clips to be able to finish off Noel's running boards. While Tony was there he was hit with two more jobs, 1) fixing the right side front door lock on Noel's '39, Wade took the handle off so Tony could take it away to play with, and 2) fixing the skin on Emily's left side door, it's being held together by tape at present. This fix will have to wait until after the National Rally because Emily needs to be complete until that is over. Once they departed I finished cleaning which encompassed the brake hardware, shoes, springs, wheel bearings and brake drums in readiness for re-assembly. Then drained the engine oil from Emily, gapped the new NGK plugs and installed them. Had to leave, at this stage, because of grandparental babysitting again being required this afternoon.

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Wednesday 11th August 2010

Brief note on today. Cleaned up Noel's NOS water pump, that is dusted off the light surface rust on the wire wheel. Also conducted a leak test on the pump by plugging the inlet neck with a plastic bottle stopper with plastic electrical tape around it to give a "not quite" watertight fit. There was a slight drip leak from the plugged inlet but no leaks elsewhere. Then painted it and a few other parts with Packard engine green. Lastly cleaned up Emily's front wheel cylinders, pistons, springs and bleed valves. Tomorrow the front brakes should go back on Emily

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Thursday 12th August 2010

Started by cleaning up the water pump parts painted yesterday for Noel's '39. Wade then assembled the front wheel cylinders for Emily and then the front brakes were re-assembled, shoes, adjusters, shoe location pins, springs, etc. Then it was my turn to get dirty or rather greasy. Re-packed the front wheel bearings, only trouble is I seem to attract more grease than the bearings do. Wade meanwhile was installing new flexible hoses. Brake drums back on and brakes adjusted and bled. I then went under the front end and greased all the fittings. Lovely to see the kaleidoscope of colours that resulted, squeezed out were brown, red and blue greases! While I was greasing Wade went round to pick up a new oil filter from Repco, only trouble was they didn't have one in stock but it'll be in tomorrow. Finally on went the wheels and Emily returned to the shop floor. Then about 7&1/2 litres of fresh oil was added but, because there wasn't a filter installed, start-up was postponed till tomorrow.

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Hi Mal, It looks like Emily has a Stromberg from a Holden fitted. It needs to have bigger than standard jets or it will run lean and burn valves. It will also stall when cold on foggy mornings, due to ice forming on the butterfly gap, same as on Holdens. Peter

Monday 16th August 2010

Beat Wade into the workshop for a change and noticed that Emily wasn't there but her air cleaner was. Had a look inside the air cleaner and found it didn't contain an element. Shortly thereafter Wade arrived in Emily as he'd taken her home for the weekend, wonder how Gina liked that! Wade explained that he needed to re-adjust Emily's front brakes and clutch pedal travel, because there was none.

But first the simple task of installing the NOS water pump in Noels's '39. The hub on the water pump shaft was being replaced because it was threaded for UNC bolts. I tapped out the UNF threads on the replacement fan hub so the bolts would fit without fighting. Sorry, it's always a fight in the tight confines between the radiator and fan, but it's best that all the threaded fasteners involved turn freely. That done I made a quick trip to Lee Bros to replace the UNC bolts Wade had picked up on Friday to replace the Whitworth bolts which hold the pump to the block but were found today to be too short, necessitating 1/4" longer bolts. The hub was then pressed off the water pump shaft and Noel's original hub pressed on in it's place. But.......the hub pressed on much too easily and accordingly was pressed off again and the original hub resumed it's original position. Next the pump setup was checked on the engine to ensure the fan pulley aligned with the crank pulley, which it did. Then finding some UNC bolts for the fan pulley from the junk box. Found five, one of which was cut down into a "dowell" to aid in fan fitment while the other four were run through a die to ensure baulky threads weren't an issue. I gasket cemented all the water pump and gasket surfaces and assembled the backing plate loosely by means of the three top nuts and bolts, but not loosely enough as it turned out later. While I was doing that, Wade scraped and cleaned the mounting surface on the front of the block. That done, and after I gasket cemented the block face, the new longer bolts were slipped into the pump housing. That was the plan but not all slipped in because my loose tightening of the upper bolts and nuts didn't allow any movement for alignment of the four lower bolts. Some quick spanner(wrench) work all bolts were in place and the pump was located on the front of the block and the bolts tightened up. On to the fan pulley and fan and despite the trials and tribulations earlier this is the real hard part. Hard because of the lack of space between radiator and fan in which to insert and then start the fan retaining bolts. First one went on comparatively easily but after that matters quickly degenerated. Next one, lost the spring washer, but no matter just replace it with a spring washer from the next bolt. Lost that spring washer too, so again replace it with the remaining spring washer. This time lost both the bolt and spring washer. None of these hardware items made it to the shop floor all having taken up residence somewhere in the crossmember under the harmonic balancer and lower pulley. Washers were easy to replace and we were fortunate to find another UNC bolt which also got the thread cleaning die treatment. Fortunately the next three attempts were all successful, very fortunately so, as I doubt there were any more UNC bolts of the right size left. Fan belt on and another Whitworth bolt replaced on the generator tension adjusting bracket and things were just about done. Had to leave at this juncture because of an unscheduled visit from the granddaughters, so missed start up but will find out tomorrow how that went.

Quote:Peter,

Besides the Strommie, Wade found out it has a different set of points so the set he ordered from the US doesn't fit. And I understand you've just bought another Packard, with a TJ Richards body no less!

And had an email from Bill B over the weekend, here's an edited version of it and a few of the pic's mentioned.

"One of my old customers came and took over 500 shots of the car yesterday(even worse than you!) with his fancy SLR Digital........
Car still not registered, joined "Bayside Vehicle Restorers Club" Friday, their Secretary is in Germany at the moment so waiting on paperwork to get "Club" rego. This Club is by far the biggest around here and have plenty of rallys, both weekday and weekend, so should be able to get a few miles under the belt. The license plate is a 1937 Pennsylvania one I purchased over there years ago and restored it to correct colors, will put it on for shows. The PACA badge is #.... from when I joined the club back in 1979. Temp gauge seems to be behaving itself at present ????"

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