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Wednesday 2nd March 2011

Hadn't been down to the workshop for a while but I learned that, on Saturday, Mat came and claimed his '34. According to Russell, Russpackaus, Mat besides racking up hundreds of miles on the '34 over the weekend, also deposited an oil slick on Russ's once pristine driveway and tried to shift the blame. Shame, Mat, Shame! Although the engine oil leaks were attended to the trans leaks weren't! Mat also participated in an American car display day. And apparently the alternator and mount are going well, although there is still a slight weep from that one lower mounting bolt. And.....on Monday Mat took the '34 to get the axle straightened. Don't know how that turned out although I was hoping to see Mat at the workshop today, when he came in to pick up his daily driver, but he hadn't showed by the time I left. Mat, could you please let us know how that went?

And yesterday, went on an Oasis Club run to Albion Park Rail about 80 miles south of Sydney in the '41 Coupe while Wade drove Big Red. Visited the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) Museum in the grounds of the Illawarra Regional Airport. The museum and hangar complex is open to the public seven days a week and we were taken on a guided tour of the complex. Very interesting. For pic's of the day see this Picasa album. Among the cars attending was a Lloyd Alexander, one of two surviving which are road going. On the way home I detoured to Ingleburn and picked up a 20 litre drum of Penrite HPR30 so I can change the oil in the '41 on Friday. Also have to pickup an oil filter tomorrow.

In my absence Wade has been doing some work on The Fossil, including installing a couple of captive nuts above the rear wheels for refitting of the rear mudguards(fenders). However, before doing that fitment and the valances and running boards, the body needs to be properly mounted and door gaps set. So that's what happened this morning and part of the afternoon. Before doing that Wade fitted the "Brag Bar" from Old Blue to Big Red. He'd already repositioned the mounting arms for the bar to accommodate the wider bumper irons on the Senior over those of the Junior. But before mounting the bar on the car two more badges were added filling the new spaces made available. So after holes were drilled and badges bolted onto the bar, the bar was then bolted to the car. But back to mounting the body, not that there's a lot to tell, and the theory and practice of doing so. Your friend and mine, Randy Berger, used to have a saying as part of his signature being "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." and that's exactly what happened in trying to square away the body and door gaps. Spacers of different thicknesses, tightening and loosening of hold down bolts, jacking the body at significant points then repeating this procedure, or variations of it, again and again and again. All with one of two results, it either changed nothing or made it worse! Late in all this Wade called Barry Smith, who has re-fitted the body to his '38 Twelve recently with great results, but his advice is to forget the theory because it doesn't work! Fortunately for Wade, Barry is dropping in tomorrow, well if you can call a 240 mile trip dropping in, and his hands on expertise will be put to the test. Unfortunately I won't be there, grand-daughters just don't understand about Packards, and I can't say no to them!

After Wade put aside the frustrating body mounting and gap setting process he headed over to pick up the new vibration damper for Big Red while I stayed behind to mind the fort in case Mat arrived to pick up his daily driver. And, as noted earlier, he didn't! Wade also called into Award Diffs and picked up four Harley Davidson turn indicators from the guy there. These, I think, are going on The Fossil to assist in it's forays into modern traffic. While Wade fitted a pair of chrome trim rings to the front Harley turn indicators on Big Red I turned to prepping and painting the new vibration damper. And after a clean with Prepsol a coat of POR-15 Black followed. Wade wants to change the damper over before the weekend because on Sunday there's a PACA run to Morpeth about 100 miles north of Sydney so it'll be a good hit out for the Packards.

And Dave, thanks for the kind words. It's easy to make it interesting when it is interesting. Well interesting to me at least. Had a look at the bumpers and there's no sign of a join or weld in the middle. Lucky you, but you missed out on a great fight!

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Hi Guys,

First my appologies for not getting to the shed today, I will be down tomorrow, Between 2-3pm

The 34 Packard is running FANTASTIC! I could not be happier! we went to a small car show on Sunday & won the best 30's car & surprisingly "Most original car" which I could not understand as I was parked right next to Sam Irwin's 24 Packard. I'm guessing they didnt look too closely under the 34's bonnet...

On the Monday I headed to pro-axle (Top bunch of blokes ) they finished the truck they were working on then put my car on the hoist & done what was needed to straighten the axle. It turned out the camber was out by 1.5 degrees. About 1hr later the car was good as new again

I have no comments to say about that oil slick on Russell's driveway... I hold my head in shame!

I will see you at the shed tomorrow,

Cheers,

Friday 4th March 2011

Drove the '41 down to the workshop this morning for an oil change prior to PACA's run to Morpeth, an old town about 100 miles north of Sydney, on Sunday. On Tuesday, on the way home from our run to Albion Park, I'd picked up 20 litres of oil for the job. And yesterday I'd ordered an oil filter cartridge from Mr Filter at Toongabbie. They didn't have it in stock when I called in about 1:00pm but they were able to have it by 4:30pm from their warehouse when they called me to say it had arrived. Left pickup until 7:00am this morning because of other matters needing to be attended to yesterday. The oil and filter had last been changed at about 77,000 miles on 15th September 2010 before departing for the PACA Kangaroo Island National Rally. Since then have clocked up over 3,000 miles with the change occurring at 80,110 miles. And it needed it, with the old oil being a nasty black colour. I was a little concerned about the filter with the cartridge being the right height but slightly wider than the one it was replacing. Fortunately there was "plenty" of room in the filter canister for the cartridge so it wasn't a problem. Worst part of the process was cleaning out the residual oil from the filter canister and did this using paper towels to soak, mop and wipe up the residue. Sump plug back in and new cartridge in first filled the oil filter canister then filled the sump(pan), tightened down the filter canister top and put the oil filler tube breather top back on. Fired up the '41, checked for oil pressure, it went up to about 45psi so that was a good sign and checked for oil leaks from the filter canister and top, there were none. After turning off the engine let the oil drain back to the sump(pan) and checked the level again, it was down a little, so topped it up. Used about 8 litres all up in the change, 1 litre is approximately 1 US quart, and with the filter and plumbing this was expected.

While I was doing the above Wade was working on Big Red. On the way back from Albion Park she'd been running roughly and missing and, with Wade heading north to stay with PeterL prior to going on Sunday's PACA run, attention was being administered to return it to how it should run.

A little aside here with a story Wade told me today, it goes like this:
At the start of the week Wade had gone to his local shopping centre in Big Red. Finishing his shopping he returned to Big Red and got in. An old guy, well over 80 by Wade's estimate, then came over and started chatting with Wade. Told Wade he'd always liked the old Packards and that he used to work on them. Conversation over, he asked if Wade could start it up so hear could hear the engine running. Wade told him that it was already running and at that the old guy exclaimed "You must be ****ing kidding"! Whereupon Wade told him he wasn't! Must have been before the Albion Park run.

What Wade did today to Big Red was pull the plugs, with all looking to be burning nicely, confirmed by John who couldn't see anything wrong with them. Conducted a compression test, with 130/135psi on all cylinders. Cleaned the plugs and put it all together again. Works fine now, no roughness or misses, why? You tell me.

And just to backtrack a little to yesterday. Wade, together with Barry Smith, spent many hours working on the The Fossil's body mounts and trying to even up the door gaps but without success. Then Wade looked at the large picture of it, from 30/40 years ago, which hangs over his desk. From the looks of it the gap between the doors was always greater at the bottom than at the top. So what Wade is thinking is that this is the way it should be and next week the body will be bolted down and checked again. Mat's also going to cast a beady eye over his '34 to confirm or deny this, having made it to the workshop yesterday to pick up his daily driver and seeing The Fossil as it now is. Saw Mat last night at the PACA Committee meeting and he was able to cast some light on the front axle straightening of his '34. Took about an hour and involved the use of heat and pressure to achieve the desired result and Mat's pleased with the outcome.

Earlier in the week Wade had received his long awaited care package containing various specialty fasteners and a length of material for use between the body and the valance panels. All good, just what he ordered but that was back in November! There had been a previous delivery but it contained nothing that he'd ordered although he was charged for it! Just as he was charged for the recent delivery too! Various emails over the last four months had gone unanswered so it looks like a early morning, Sydney time, phone call is required to sort things out. Tiring of the body fit process yesterday, Wade had turned to the fasteners and had mounted some between the grill shell and radiator collar. At least there was some progress made on The Fossil. The new vibration damper for Big Red was passed over and not installed yesterday although I see it's timing marks have painted.

Last thing we did today was go for a run in the '41 over to Lane Cove to pick up a garage door lock for PeterL which Wade will install tomorrow. Reason we took the '41? Because of a noise I noticed on Tuesday on the run to Port Kembla. At first I thought it was OD related because it seemed to start when I engaged it. But whether running in, or locked out of OD, it was there. Then I thought it might be a blown manifold gasket but inspection today doesn't show anything amiss there, pun intended! Noise is like a "ticking" sound that increases under load when accelerating. Wade suspects it might be a leak at one of the exhaust/muffler joins but it can't be fully investigated until next week. Annoying to keep hearing it, but I'll have to live with it till then. Wade also did "the old soap on the fan belt trick" on the '41, would you believe? That eliminated one noise but it wasn't the one we were concerned about. And Dave and Terry, I forgot to do the muffler measurements on The Fossil, but there's always next week!

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Tuesday 8th March 2011
Quote:After Sunday's PACA run, where 4 Packards did the 200 mile round trip from Sydney and met up with PeterL and Wade who travelled from Peter's home which is closer, Wade stayed overnight with PeterL. Actually he stayed there all weekend doing some work and needed to finish it off so returned home late Monday afternoon. On the trip back to Sydney yesterday Big Red returned to it's cantankerous ways, missing and carrying on. At the workshop this morning Big Red was backed in, only required 3 cars to be moved this time, and some simple tests conducted. First, each plug lead was ground out and in doing so there was no noticeable change to #6 and #7 when they were grounded. Pulled the plugs from #6 and #7 and conducted a compression test. Result was a big fat 0 for both cylinders. last week fine, this week a diagnosis of a blown head gasket! Might have been on the way out last week, but when tested then Big Red had cooled down. Maybe there was enough of a seal for the compression test then?

Then like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland it was "Off with it's head"! All went well there, the hardest part being lifting the head off the engine, must be getting old....er. It was readily apparent what had happened with a piece of gasket literally blown away from the narrow waist section in the gasket between the adjacent exhaust valves in #6 and #7. There was some indication that the narrow sections between #2 and #3, and between #4 and #5 exhaust valves could also have been in the early stages of this happening. Wade has a spare head gasket and that would have gone back on following clean up of the head and block surfaces but then Noel arrived. Noel said he thinks he has a genuine Packard head gasket that will fit and will bring it over tomorrow morning. And talking about "clean up of the head and block surfaces", there was a build up of copper particles in "strips" on both the head and block where the gasket had blown through. At first I thought they were furrows in the metal but scraping soon revealed it was a build up of copper and not the block or head surfaces which had suffered.

Clean up done, but now waiting for Noel's head gasket, turned to the matter which was to be the original point of attention for Big Red today. This was installing the newly manufactured vibration damper. First the fan belt and fan were removed to permit access to the crankshaft pulley. On Sunday another piece of the puzzle was put into play with Harvey lending Wade the vibration damper puller he'd made. But before getting to that the crankshaft pulley bolt first needed to be taken off. For this Wade uses a large socket which has two flats surfaces filed on it and a crescent wrench to turn the socket, this because of space limitations between the radiator and the pulley bolt. The other ingredient in this "Special Packard Tool" is a lot of packing tape wrapped around the head of the wrench and the socket to hold them together. When you're trying to use this setup without any sort of binding between the two even a slight breath, let alone a heavy one, causes the "Special Packard Tool" to break into its component parts. Doesn't look pretty, but it works. Put the "Special Packard Tool" on the pulley bolt, Big Red in gear with the hand brake on, and the pulley bolt wouldn't budge. Enter the third component of the "Special Packard Tool" a 3' length of pipe with a flattened end which slips over the crescent wrench's handle. Nothing like increasing the mechanical advantage is there? Only trouble was it was the same result, wouldn't budge! Next attempt was wedging the "Special Packard Tool" complete with long lever in place and using the starter motors torque in an effort to break the pulley bolts death grip. Still wouldn't budge! There were a number of attempts with all these approaches to overcoming the problem and Graham had been enlisted to stand on the brake pedal to prevent the engine turning which it still wanted to do even in gear with the hand brake on! Of course, for the starter motor attempts it was out of gear. Then Graham came up with the idea of placing a block of wood at a distance from the "Special Packard Tool", a distance of 4" was all we could manage, and then engaging the starter. Tried it, block of wood was dislodged but........it worked! After that the pulley bolt was finger tight and came off easily. Graham. Pulley came off easily, on with Harvey's puller and the vibration damper came off relatively easily. When I say on with Harvey's puller, that was difficult to do because of the location involved, but once on it worked as it should. The whole procedure was then reversed, vibration damper, crankshaft pulley, pulley bolt and washers, fan belt, fan and lastly generator. Only trouble is, it can't be tested until tomorrow when the head goes back on.

Quote:
Terry and Dave, I remembered today, the length of the body of the muffler on The Fossil is 4'.

And Noel, concerning your query about the OneTwenty emblems on the '41, see the attached pics.

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Quote:

You? Never!
Mal, that could be the right moment to again mention the "c-clamp" method, which affording a firm grip and ergonomic handle even for three hands if necessary.

Wednesday 9th March 2011

Arrived at the workshop a bit later than usual to find Wade standing around, waiting. In the time he was in he'd cleaned up the block surface, checked the distributor over including dressing the points and set the timing with No 1 at TDC. All that was needed now, was a head gasket! But rather than stand around, waiting for Noel to arrive with head gasket, I suggested turning our attention to The Fossil. Wade however was reluctant to do so not wanting to leave unfinished any job started while in waiting mode. Instead he suggested I return home and bring down the '41 to see if the source of my noise could be located and fixed. Didn't need to be asked twice so went home and returned with the '41 and drove it into the workshop and onto Rick's hoist which was vacant. And while I had been swapping cars, Noel had been and gone with his new head gasket. Turns out it doesn't fit, must be for the 356 in his '41 160 Coupe. Instead he took the old gasket over to LesF who thought he had a new genuine Packard gasket laid away. When Noel returned it was found to be used, although looking better than Wade's blown one. A much better gasket in materials and finishing but because of it's previous usage Wade didn't want to take the risk in re-using it. Accordingly the spare gasket Wade had was pressed into service with closer examination of it showing it was better than the blown gasket but still a lesser product than the original. With all the pieces of the puzzle now available it was time to put Big Red back together. The new gasket was cleaned, both surfaces coated with a copper based gasket spray, wriggled gently onto the studs and the head manouvered onto the studs where its inherent weight providing the means to press the gasket to the block surface. Head nuts on, sparkplugs in after cleaning and re-gapping, upper radiator hose back on, temp gauge sending unit re-installed, heater hose re-connected, distributor back on, distributor cap and leads re-connected. Note, when I said head nuts on this meant torqueing down the nuts in increments and sequence a number of times before the recommended torque setting was reached. As Wade was about to re-fill the cooling system I asked if he'd re-tightened the cock opened to drain the fluid out yesterday. He hadn't, so chalk one up for Mal, it's not often, like almost never, that I'm ahead of Wade. Then start up, couple of turns and away she went, no leaks and running smoothly. Next test, after circulating oil and temp coming up, was to bring revs up to check for the mid range vibration. It was still evident although not as pronounced as it had previously been. So, it's still a source of frustration and worry to Wade. With the engine well warmed up it was then time to re-torque the head nuts. Because of the distributor and coil position they both need to be removed so all head nuts are accessible for the re-torqueing process. Done and started up again, still running smoothly except for the mid range vibration. Turned off again, distributor and coils again removed, for another head nut tightening sequence, but not until tomorrow morning. After which the engine will be run again, thoroughly warmed up and the head nuts re-torqued. Again!

That was Big Red. Previously the '41 was up on Rick's hoist where Wade watched and listened below while I started and ran the engine. Nothing apparent but Wade suggested tightening the exhaust manifold to engine pipe connection, seemed to help a bit so it suggests the doughnut type gasket there might be failing. I'll take the '41 to Tony at Quick-Fit Mufflers next week so he can cast his expert eyes and ears over it. While the '41 was up on the hoist took the opportunity to tighten the inlet/exhaust manifold to block nuts, as well as the ring of screws on the underside of the fuel pump because it appears there's an oil leak in that vicinity.

Also had a call from David the guy who bought Old Blue. Reason being I'm flying to southern Queensland tomorrow and will celebrate my Dad's 90th birthday with him and other family members on Friday. Because I'm flying up on Thursday I'm also taking the opportunity to visit a number of Packard people while I have the chance. I'll be meeting David at the airport then driving to Murwillumbah to meet a couple of Packard guys. From there to Davids and Old Blue. Then, if he's available, a guy close by to David who has a '37 Convertible Coupe. This visit is currently problematic because he's an undertaker and has a funeral to attend to on the day. We'll liaise with him on the morning to try and meet up and to see his Packard. From there I continue on to Birkdale to see PackardInfo member Bill B and his restored '37 120C Convertible Coupe and his current restoration a '48 Convertible. Will update, when I can, about the people and Packards I meet.

Quote:Gerd,

You know a guy will never accept the easy way if he can help it. There's a good dose of machismo in all of us!

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Friday 11th March 2011

Yesterday I flew to the Gold Coast, south east corner of Queensland bordering New South Wales where I come from, for my Dad's 90th birthday celebrations today. But first, yesterday was a people and their Packards day. Met up with Dave, the guy who bought Old Blue from Wade, outside Coolangatta airport and travelled to see the two John's, JohnP and JohnW(39 Coupe here On PackardInfo) at Murwillumbah which is back in New South Wales. Saw their 3 Packards, but missed out on a '36 Convertible Coupe that JohnP had sold about 6 weeks ago. Then to Dave's place on the Gold Coast to catch up with Old Blue. Last stop was Birkdale near Brisbane with Bill B and his two Packards, had a nice lunch with Bill at his local club and going for a drive in his '37, great car! Because we just plain ran out of time missed out on visiting another Packard guy, Terry with a '38 Super Eight, although I was sent a picture of it, see below. Here's a link to the pictures I took yesterday, the captions will help fill in the days events.

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What a monument of a car!

Against the backdrop of your registry vein and with view to your written pleadings on Packardus Australicus it could be time for a general overview, drawn on the map and showing all the Packards you know in your country.




Even the longest journey begins with a single step. Cheers!

I continue to be amazed at the number of Packards in Australia, and even more so, the parts availability and willingness of the regular and aftermarket vendors to find something that will work if the real thing isn't to be found.

When you consider the distance from the US, interest in a relatively low production fairly expensive 50+ year long defunct foreign orphan car is impressive.

Quote:
Howard,

I doubt it's the numbers. I think there would be more Packards on a per capita basis in the US than in Oz. It's just that when I come across one or some I tend to trumpet it from on high. Maybe my enthusiastic approach is to blame?

The interest in Packards is spread right around the world. I believe Packard's name, image and quality is what is impressive and helps create the interest in this defunct "marque".