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Looks like there was a mat mix-up. It all makes sense now. When I was born the story goes we were too poor to afford the 2nd T in Matthew so I got Mathew - with one 'T'

Sorry about confusion Mal, & thanks for clarifying that Snappy - Matt

Cheers,
Mat

Friday 4th February 2011

A Packard free day yesterday with the grand-daughters coming over and providing some relief from the heat with "Poppy", aka Ozstatman, going for a swim in the pool with them. Contrary to another thread, much of Australia has been experiencing very hot temperatures for about a week now, with it set to continue here in Sydney until Sunday. Temperatures have been in the range of mid to high 30's and low 40's Celsius. The elder of the two grand-daughters also told me a joke, she's 4yo, and I just had to pass it on:

Why did the mechanic sleep under the car?
Because he had to get up oily in the morning!

But.....back to Packards. Yesterday Wade had picked up the 2 water pumps which had gone for machining before Christmas, one for Barry's '38 Twelve, the other for Phyllis's '36 120. Wade had taken the alternator mounting plate with him for countersinking of six holes to suit the side plate on Mat's '34, this should be ready Monday. He also picked up some H/T bolts for the mounting plate but has since discovered Lee Bros gave him 3/8" instead of 5/16" bolts. And Tony Walker, Noel's mate, had dropped by about the door lock he'd picked up a couple of weeks ago that he's fixing for Noel's '39.

Wade had started re-assembling the water pumps yesterday but hadn't completed them. So today the Twelve pump assembly was completed before turning to the 120's pump. Everything looked to being going together well until the ceramic seal wouldn't fit. Looks like the press fit sleeve machined to accept the seal isn't the right size so the pump housing, sleeve and seal will be returned on Monday for remedial work. Will also exchange the 3/8" bolts on that trip.

Unable to continue work on Noel's '39 or Mat's '34 turned to The Fossil instead. Because the replacement body and mudguards(fenders) had come from a non-sidemount equipped car, the fenders had been modified by the panelbeater to suit. While more recently the valance panels had been trimmed to accommodate the mounting brackets. That left the brackets, essentially bent steel rods that stabilise the the mounting brackets, to be fitted. To do so requires a hole to be drilled in each side of the cowl. Careful measuring was the order of the day with the holes required being 10&1/4" from the base of the cowl and 1" back from the vertical moulding crease. The spot was marked, centre popped and drilling commenced. First with a small diameter drill then stepping up through a number of sizes to 3/8". Aim is to a have 7/8" holes which will seat rubber grommets through which the stabilising brackets pass to their anchoring points on the internal cowl frame. From 3/8" stepped up to 9/16" and then 5/8" but from there it became increasingly harder to use larger size drill bits. The larger bits really bit, grabbed and jammed in the metal causing some alarm, so discretion was observed and drilling stopped at that point. The thin section of panel metal is obviously not a happy combination when confronted with the wide flutes of larger sized drills. But Wade has a tapered reamer type bit which he'll bring in on Monday and use that for the final drilling required.

During this drill, pun intended, Noel arrived. And once again he blamed me for something. Seems he didn't know his mate Tony had been at the workshop on Thursday because he hadn't seen it here in a post on "Wade's Workshop". Noel had to actually incur the cost of a phonecall to Tony to find out that news. Well Noel, I didn't know either until this morning when Wade told me about it. If you think it will help, I'll polish up the crystal ball to a brilliant shine but I wouldn't depend on it.

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The step bit will help tremendously. I have a few of those laying around. They are worth their weight in gold several times over!

Monday 7th February 2011

Only a couple of hours at the workshop this morning, most of which was taken up with a road trip. But before the road trip put the Optima battery out of my '41 on a battery charger because, when checked, it was registering a charge of only just over 2V. Yesterday, jumped into the '41, to go for a leisurely Sunday morning drive to pick up fresh bread rolls and to enjoy the ride, but nothing, not a squeak, no horn and no lights! With that I've pulled the battery out and brought it down to the shop where it'll be charged up overnight and go back in tomorrow. Once in I'll check for any discharge indicating on the ammeter then if indicated track anything untoward from there. Wade suggests I've most likely left a door ajar, not closed the glovebox properly or something similar resulting in the battery gradually and continuously draining.

Roadtrip was to 1) Exchange the 3/8" bolts for the alternator mounting plate for 5/16", mission accomplished, 2) Pickup the alternator mounting plate from Anglade Engineering on which they'd countersunk six mounting holes, also mission accomplished, and 3) Drop off the 120 water pump, also at Anglade, for the remedial work required for seal fitment, done, but should take a couple of days for the work to be done on the water pump.

Back at the workshop trial fitted the alternator mounting plate to Mat's '34 using the 5/16" bolts. But a minor problem was encountered, they were 1/2" too long! Couldn't believe it! We'd measured the requirements a number of times for thread, diameter and length, in fact reducing the required length from 2&3/4" to 2&1/2" before purchasing what turned out to be 3/8" bolts(their fault). Seeing I was leaving early I returned to Lee Bros where the counter guy told me, before I even opened my mouth, what I had in the bag. Explained the situation and was able to exchange the 2&1/2's for 2". Also, before leaving the workshop, cut a MBM gasket for sealing the alternator mounting plate with the water jacket side plate.

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Tuesday 8th February 2011

That was quick, bloody quick! Wade ordered a synchro kit for Noel's '39, on Friday night by email from JD at Max's, and it arrived yesterday. four Edit 3 days, to go half way 'round the world, wonder what the shipping was? Wade installed the new springs and balls yesterday and assembled the mainshaft so when I arrived this morning was given strict care instructions about it! Then while Wade assembled the transmission and OD I pottered around the alternator mounting plate for the '34. At Lee Bros yesterday we'd picked up a length of stainless steel tube and this I cut and ground into 6 spacers to go between the mounting plate and the water jacket side plate. Mocked up the mounting plate on the side plate in the '34 together with the alternator to obtain some idea of where the mounting bracket might be best placed. However, rather than depend on eyeball measurements, the fan is coming off the '34 and the water pump loosened so that the fan belt can be removed and more accurate measurements made, after all you only get one opportunity to get it right. Wade completed assembly of the trans and OD, with some minor help from yours truly when more than two hands were required on a couple of occasions. During the course of this had a phone call from Clynton, one of the guys in our Packard Club, who was enquiring about a bug screen for mid/late 30's Packards I'd advertised in our club magazine. Unfortunately he was beaten to the prize by Peter, who last night called and acquired the screen. Best part of it, it was free, because another club member wanted to get rid of it and rather than have it go to the dump I "saved" it and advertised if anyone might need it. Also took home the charged up battery for the '41.

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Wednesday 9th February 2011

Fitted the recharged Optima battery to the '41 this morning and it started up after fuel pumped through the system. Did note that if the door was left open then the ammeter showed a discharge so I've probably left a door ajar, will keep an eye on that in the future.

At the workshop first order of business was installing the trans/OD in Noel's '39. This was accomplished by sitting the trans/OD on a trolley jack, sliding it under the car, jacking it up, manouvering it into place, swearing, jacking it up, swearing, jiggling, swearing, trying different angles, swearing, letting it down, swearing, re-positioning, swearing, re-jacking, swearing, manouvering, swearing. Had a lot of help from Graham in the positioning, re-positioning, jiggling and general muscle areas. And all that swearing must have done some good because it all finally went into place! Wade continued working under the '39 for most of the rest of the day with Graham able to give assistance from time to time when some of the more challenging aspects of parts re-installation were encountered.

I left Wade to the '39 undercar work while I turned my attention to the '34's alternator mounting plate. Mounted and remounted the plate 6, or was it 8, or maybe 10 times, so many so that I lost count. For each little step the plate was mounted, measurements taken, or parts added as it progressed. Major task for today was mounting the Holden bracket to the mounting plate with Wade able to offer advice and guidance on the occasions he emerged from under the '39 to straighten up and take a breather. Needed to establish a reference point on the mounting plate and this was accomplished by using a "straight edge" in the form of a large screwdriver resting in the V of the water pump pulley and measuring from the centre of the screwdriver to the edge of the plate. Using the same "straight edge" approach the mounting plate was also marked for the rear most point of the Holden bracket. On the bench, using these marks, the Holden bracket was positioned and the rear mounting hole marked, then drilled and tapped. Back on the '34, the mounting plate with the Holden bracket affixed by the one bolt was mounted yet again and the alternator mounted. Close observation confirmed all looked good so the position of the Holden bracket was scribed onto the mounting plate. Back on the bench, yet again, the forward Holden bracket hole was marked, then drilled. Remounted the whole apparatus again on the '34 only to take it off again to clean everything up for painting tomorrow.

During the course of trans/OD and alternator work Noel arrived after having been to see his mate Tony. Tony has finished the re-woodgraining for Noel's '41 One-Sixty Club Coupe and he'll be bringing the pieces down tomorrow so I'll get pic's and post then. Noel also needed a cup of tea, a valium and a good lie down when he arrived. He'd received a quote for the rust and other bodywork on his '41 One-Sixty and let's just say it was a lot, lot more than he was expecting.

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She's looking good Mal

Thursday 10th February 2011

While Wade continued under and around the '39, I prepared and prepped the alternator mounting plate, bracket and fittings for the '34 for painting. During this Tony, Noel's friend, arrived with the '41 One-Sixty's re-woodgrained dash and one window moulding. They look very, very nice with the dash polished up from the previous time we saw it and the window moulding looking magnificent with the walnut finish on the bottom contrasting nicely with the lighter coloured finish used above it and on the sides and top. It even looks like real joins in the lighter wood where it transitions from horizontal to vertical in the lower corners.

Once Tony left, he also finally fixed the door lock on the '39 so Noel can now lock up the car, Wade returned to the '39 while I applied POR-15 to the '34 alternator kit parts. Once painting was over gave Wade a hand re-filling the OD and trans with oil. There's only one way to do it, use a pump it's so much easier. So while I pumped Wade held the nozzle in the OD and trans until full and re-installed the plugs. Time to start the '39 again, which it did but was running with a miss. Shouldn't be doing that as all was well when fired up some weeks ago after changing the sparkplugs. So after returning the '39 to the workshop floor the plugs were changed to the set of Autolites Noel insisted on. After all, you never know when a Packard judge might be around do you? When the new Champions were pulled, all looked good except number #8 which was dirty/oily. The only running these plugs have had is in the workshop, only minutes of running time and none under load. So before installing the Autolites a compression test was performed, returning readings of 120/125psi for all cylinders which looks good.

That's where I left things because two little grand-daughters required some "Poppy" time today, how could I pass up that! But Wade's going to check the '39 further, so when I see it next it should be running well. Also put the old side plate, being used for mock up, back on the spare '34 engine, that way it's out of the way. And just remembered, yesterday Mat called Wade and advised he'd found a place who can straighten axles. Only thing we need to know know is whether they need the '34 or just the axle.

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If Noel is so picky about spark plugs, why doesn't he get some correct spark plug wires!

David!