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Monday 14th March 2011

Wade was in the front seat of a windscreenless Big Red, when I arrived at the workshop. He was scraping out the old gasket and many and various sealing attempts which weren't working. What had happened was that Wade was caught in a downpour last week in Big Red resulting in significant water ingress from around the windscreen. And because Wade and Gina are participating in a Packard Rally around Tasmania, in about 6 weeks time, because Tasmania has a somewhat damper climate, Wade decided it was appropriate to fix this problem now rather than suffer from wet knees, legs and feet over the course of the Rally. Wade had already cleaned up and prepped the interior retaining strip for the inside of the windscreen, took him all day Saturday to do it! So, while Wade continued on the body opening clean-up, I POR-15'd the retaining strip. Then Wade POR-15'd the windscreen body opening. Ralph Moore Autoglass will cut a new windscreen using the old one as a template, the old windscreen is de-laminating and also cracked when the gasket and sealants were being removed, and will mount the new gasket and outer bright strip when they are dropped off tomorrow. He's also taking over the left front quarter window for The Fossil which was found to be "bent" when it was being re-installed some months ago, really many months ago. Wade doesn't know if the lower edge was bent originally but now it has been straightened and fits, we tested it, the glass needs to reset in the chrome frame. Then while Wade loaded up glass, gasket, frames into his ute I loaded the tow bar off JohnM's '39 TJ Richards bodied Six Sedan into my car. The tow bar is heading north next week to JohnW, 39 Coupe, at Murwillumbah, when I drive there with Kath my wife this time, she won't fly, so lucky you John. JohnW is one of the guys I visited last week and he's going to use the tow bar on his '39 Six Coupe.

And I'm also going to bring back the hub/pulley/damper from Old Blue when I return. They are currently sitting in a box on my brothers kitchen bench being too heavy to take as carry-on luggage on my return flight to Sydney last week. I'd picked up the pieces last week from Dave, Old Blue's new owner, and there's a story to tell because of it. Dave and Shelley and some of Dave's grand-kids had traveled in Old Blue dressed in period clothing the 65 miles to The Channon Craft Market and suffered vibration damper failure on the return trip. Dave managed to get the damper back on the hub by levering it on with a stick. Lasted about another 10 miles like that before again failing, this time more so having now worn away the rubber between the two pieces. This time, after pushing the damper back on as best as could be done, again used a stick, in fact the same stick as before, and wedged it between the damper and the front cross-member. This arrangement worked out well and got them the rest of the way home. From the old pulley Wade sent up to Dave a couple of weeks ago, his mechanic used the damper and the hub from Old Blue to assemble a working unit. Wade is taking the remnants returned over to Ross, the guy who built the new vibration damper for Big Red, for an autopsy and advice. Dave had noticed that Old Blue had a diff leak and, although Wade had advised Dave about upsetting the pre-load on the pinion shaft, Dave's mechanic wanted to tackle the problem. Result is that Old Blue now has a diff whine, leak still there but not so pronounced. Mechanic thinks leak is the result of oil seeping down slightly worn splines on the pinion shaft. Apart from that Old Blue is being well taken care of, living in a climate controlled cocoon because Dave lives close to the coast and a salt laden atmosphere. Dave opened the garage to reveal Big Red in, for wont of a better term, a humid-i-crib. It's actually a large plastic enclosed structure into which Old Blue is driven, it's entrance is then sealed and two pumps maintain a constant flow of filtered air. Never received that sort of treatment in the workshop. Dave also wants to repair the rust-through in the panel below the boot(trunk) lid then respray the panel and the boot(trunk) lid because the paint on that is like crazy paving.

Meanwhile Barry Smith at Tamworth mentioned in an email he was about to put the engine back in his '38 Twelve. Whereupon I asked if he could take pic's of this event, which he did and which I'll share with you. I believe Noel was going to come and pick up his '39 today to take it to have the right front mudguard(fender) panel beaten and resprayed. Noel had clipped his garage, while his attention was diverted, during his struggles finding gears before Wade fixed his clutch problem. It's going to the same guy who has just repaired the roof and other panels on his '41 160 Coupe body. But plans were changed with TonyW, Noel's mate picking up the workshop car trailer instead to transport the Coupe body to Tony's property at Mudgee where Tony will be able to do all the rust repairs to floor, sills, etc. Also had a call from Noel while I was away to say my contact details had been referred to one of the local TV networks because they were after a Pre-War Packard Coupe for a show they're doing. Still waiting for a phone call.

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Tuesday 15th March 2011

Wade went to Ralph Moore Autoglass with the various bits from Big Red and The Fossil this morning so I caught up with him at the workshop about midday. Wasn't much happening, Wade was waiting for Noal and his mate TonyW to return the workshops car trailer which they used to take Noal's '41 Coupe body to Tony's property at Mudgee today. In the meantime used the time to clean about 3/4 of the floor area of Wade's corner of the workshop. Wade drove Noal's '39 outside and parked it then drove Big Red forward. With the floor area clear Wade then swept the area of excess dirt, dust and bit and pieces. And after I'd untangled the old fashioned bucket mop, was able to mop the floor in sections. Floor is now the cleanest it's been, well at least since I first took the '41 down there Dec '07, although I wouldn't recommend eating a meal off it. That done, then went for a final test drive in Noal's '39 which checked out fine.

When Noal and Tony arrived Noal told us he's very pleased with the job done, the roof of the Coupe was fixed and undercoated by the panelbeater, and as well the interior of the body being etch primed. Tony is going to do all the remaining rust repairs on the body and floor and expects to take about 6 weeks to do so on a part time basis. Noal was able to pick up his '39 and is taking it over to the same panel beater tomorrow for a quote on the repair work required on the right front mudguard(fender) as well as fixing some scratches and other blemishes it's picked up since it was restored some years ago. Glad the trailer worked out well for Noal and Tony with the payment for it's use being cartons of beer, just like in this video. Makes perfect sense, everyone's happy, however beer of choice at the workshop is Hahn Superdry.

Looks like John has finally fixed the timing problem on the Daimler V12 of KevinA, the Daimler has been in the workshop for well over 3 years now, and it'll probably go in the next few days now. I'll be sad to see it go although I'm sure John wont! Wade was grinding out the mounting holes in The Fossil for the side mount stays which anchor through the cowl when Noal and Tony arrived back with the car trailer. Wade started this up again when they departed with the right side now done and the rubber grommet fits fine. Left Wade about to tackle the left side.

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Wednesday 16th March 2011

Drove the '41 down to the workshop, backed it into the spare space in Packard corner, with help from Wade because I'm still not comfortable doing this by myself. Although John did say he thought I'd done well, so I'll take that as a positive. Wade had removed the badge bar from Big Red because someone (moi?) had noticed he had 2 PACA badges on the front, one on the bar and one on top of the number plate holder. Was in the midst of replacing the extra PACA badge with a Toowoomba Top of the Range PACA Rally 2007 badge. Had to file out the holes on the bar and drill out the holes on the badge. Back on Big Red, now no badge doubling up.

Then turned to the '41 and the windscreen wiper motor. Nothing was happening when the electric wipers are turned on although you can hear the motor running. And yes, '41 110 and 120's do have electric wipers! Although looking at the parts book today it appears 110 and 120 Taxi's and Station Wagons didn't! To access the wiper motor and drive unit the radio was first removed. By the way, the electrical connections were disconnected and the battery switched off before starting so there wouldn't be any nasty shocks. The off/low/high knob on top of the dash was removed as well as one nut on a long bolt. At the time Wade was unscrewing the bolt, from under the dash where else, he commented it seemed about 3 feet in length because it was taking so long to unscrew. And that's as far as things went. From his "vantage point" under the dash, if you could call it such lying contorted on your back, Wade couldn't see any other points where the wiper motor and drive unit might be affixed to the under dash structure. Peering in through the slot formerly occupied by the radio I could see 3 screw heads on top of what looked like a bracket on top of the drive unit, but how to access them. Wade had a 90 degree offset headed screwdriver but it couldn't be applied to the nearest screw head let alone the two further away. Then a small screwdriver headed 1/4" bit together with a small spanner(wrench) were taped together but this too was ineffective. Next I conducted what can only be described as a "gynecological examination" whereby I did a search around the drive unit by feel alone. This "examination" found a screw head on the front of the drive unit so Wade was back under the dash again. And again the screw could only just be accessed by the cobbled together driver head and spanner(wrench). And again the same result, not enough force can be exerted on the screw to allow it to be unscrewed. We had also examined the '35 - '41 Parts Book and the '41 Owners Manual but the illustrations in those although interesting were not enlightening. So there we were, going nowhere fast. So what to do? Why, pack it away and don't let the frustrations continue to build, and seek guidance from a higher authority. But what higher authority? Why, PackardInfo of course! Our thoughts were to seek advice from the experienced, learned and knowledgeable people on PackardInfo by asking for YOUR advice. BUT......On logging onto PackardInfo I noticed in the Literature and Manuals section under Service, Shop & Training Manuals , this - STEWART-WARNER ELECTRIC WINDSHIELD WIPER SERVICE INSTRUCTIONS. Downloading and reviewing these instructions shows that the motor, drive unit and linkage arms all come out as a unit. What we hadn't done was disconnect the wiper arm shafts. Seems obvious now, but at the time it wasn't!

But it looks like nothing will be done now, at least until next week at the earliest. Reason being that Wade, John and Rick are going to Adelaide for this weekends Clipsal 500. In fact Rick left yesterday in the advance party, Wade's flying out tomorrow and John will probably follow on Friday. Wade had dropped me at home when we came to a standstill and following his departure won't be back in the workshop till Wednesday of next week. And my wife Kath and I are heading to the Gold Coast next week for my Mum's 88th birthday. So our paths won't cross again until Monday week at the earliest, when I expect to be back at the workshop.

During the course of the wiper motor non-removal saga Wade had received a call from George, of George Moore Autoglass, to sort out some details concerning Big Red's windscreen and The Fossil's quarter window. And, depending on the weather, Wade will drive Big Red over Wednesday next week for the windscreen to be fitted and pick up The Fossil's quarter window. Also, speaking of phone calls, I received a call from KevinA whom I had mentioned in yesterdays post. Besides asking how the Daimler was going, I think he knew anyway just being polite, he advised me in my new capacity as Secretary of PACA of a listing in a Oz car magazines that in PACA'S club contact listing our President's name and mailing address hadn't been updated, both being out of date by a number of years! Accordingly, I'll have to get my hands dirty and attend to rectifying these errors, such is the price of fame.

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Monday 28th March 2011

After a break brought about by Wade's absence followed by my own it was back to the workshop today. On arrival, found Big Red in the carpark sporting it's new windscreen. Wade had also picked up the left front quarter window for The Fossil and thats now ready to be installed. Also saw a couple of new jobs that had come in for Wade's attention, a water pump and a distributor, both from BruceD from Wagga Wagga about 460kms south west from Sydney. I added to the bench clutter by bringing back the vibration damper from DaveE, Old Blue's new owner. Wade had also started to re-install the trim piece from the top of the back of Big Red's front seat. He only got as far as removing all the old staples, which took hours because there are lots of them, before he discovered he didn't have the right length staples for the re-installation. Last week Wade had ordered some shorter staples from Salmon Bros, just around the corner, so first job was to jump in Big Red to go and pick them up. But....they hadn't come in, so back to the workshop where later Wade received a phonecall saying Salmon Bros didn't carry these staples now but they did offer the possibility of an alternate source.

Returning to the workshop turned to the '41 and removing the wiper motor, gearbox and linkages. After our failed attempts from a week and a half ago, and after reading the instructions, should be easy now. Just remove the wiper arms, take off the retaining nuts for the wiper towers, take off the large under dash nut and hey presto, out it comes! Except it didn't! There isn't much space up under the dash and anything that could impede the wipers removal did so. Ended up having to take out the inner windscreen moulding because 1) a couple of it's retaining screws provided points of impedence and 2) a couple of the dashboards screws because they too also impeded removal. But finally it all came out. Then, with reference to the STEWART-WARNER ELECTRIC WINDSHIELD WIPER SERVICE INSTRUCTIONS found on PackardInfo in the Manuals and Literature Section, a number of electrical tests were performed to identify the wiring and its functionality, together with a couple of hand drawn diagrams to help with reassembly later. That done the wiper unit was disassembled with the arm actuating mechanism separated from the motor/gear unit. Then the electric motor was removed from the drive unit. That left the drive unit, although the coil unit was now accessible in the body of the drive unit, the gear drive for the arm actuating mechanism was then disassmbled.

The two things that stood out in doing this were 1) the wiring for the wiper, it hadn't been replaced a couple of years ago when the rest of the '41 was re-wired(with hindsight should have been) and 2) the build up of dirt and grease in and around the mechanical side of the mechanism. So while Wade set about re-wiring I undertook cleaning of the mechanical components, these scrubbing up well. One other thing noticed in dis-assembly was a small insulating tab that had broken, so my next task was to make a replica. Wade didn't have anything suitable to use so I called upon Rick, who with his mate Thomas, was able to provide a plastic component from a PC from which I was able to cut out a piece to suit. Seemed simple enough, and encouraged by the past success of MBM gaskets, made an insulating tab, and another, and another, and another and finally one that would work! Looks like MBM doesn't extend to insulating tabs. With an acceptable tab now to hand re-assembly commenced. Following the Stewart Warner instructions, the gearbox body was mounted in the vice and components carefully added including ensuring all alignment requirements were followed. Just as well we had four hands, would have proved a lot more difficult otherwise. We now had the gear and crank mounted back on the gearbox as well as the electric motor. Next Wade connected up the new wiring he'd made earler. All went together well then a test to see how it functioned with power. Some success, being able to be turned on and off but only operated at low speed. Further examination revealed that the two wires soldered in underneath the rectifier needed replacement as well. So out again with the soldering iron and following de-soldering of the rectifier the two wires concerned were replaced. Another test, but still the same result, turned on and off but only low speed operation. Wade turned to the wiring diagrams and there it was two wires had been hooked up incorrectly. Turn them about and VOILA! We now had wipers that turned on and off and also provided low and high speed operation! Although I should mention that high speed wiper operation for a '41 Packard shouldn't be confused with high speed operation for a modern car!

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One thing I forgot to mention is that there was on eBay a complete wiper motor assembly for a 41/42.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130500086355&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:AU:1123
Auction has now ended, but it looked like it might be a fall back position if our actions didn't work.

What I really want to say, and I've said it before, it's amazing how often the part/s you're after appear on eBay when you need 'em. Seems like the sellers are reading our posts and then put the part/s up for auction!

Tuesday 29th March 2011

Even after catching a train three stops and then walking to the workshop I beat Wade in this morning. Why? So I could drive the '41 home today without having to worry about having 2 cars at the workshop at once. I can only drive one at a time can't I? So, in his absence, started removing the perished rubber gaskets for the windscreen wiper towers from the cowl. During this operation Wade arrived and, while I carried on with the gasket removal, he scrounged up a pair of washers to replace the fibre washers which were also past their use by date. Continuing with the gasket removal and, because the old gaskets had re-paint over their edges, I managed to chip the paint around the edges of the gasket area. Not much but enough. However to compensate, the MBM wiper tower gaskets are about 1/8" wider all round than they should be. Shhhhhh, I won't tell anyone(judges?) if you don't! And had greater success today in making the gaskets than yesterday's efforts with insulating tabs.

With all in readiness for re-installation of the wiper motor and mechanism setup Wade assumed his upside down under a Packard dash position. Passed him the wiper motor and mechanism setup and the fun began. There really wasn't anything I could do but wait for the wiper arm shafts to appear through the holes on the cowl. Lot of struggling, twisting of body, arms, attitude and wiper motor and mechanism setup before the right side wiper arm shaft finally appeared. Even then it wasn't right and had to be drawn back into the car and tried again. Second time round was more successful with both wiper arm shafts popping through almost simultaneously. Then some scurrying by me side-to-side as I installed the MBM gaskets, wiper towers, washers and nuts, with the nuts just finger tight. Wade then bolted the mechanism setup to the body, also finger tight giving him the chance to come up for a breath of air as well as give his contorted and abused body a chance to recover. Then tightened the nuts on the wiper shafts and once again it was "assume the position" for Wade. Tightened up the mounting nut for the mechanism setup, the wires connected to the wiper motor and the wiper switch installed. Before going any further with re-installation Wade re-emerged so it could be put to the test. Didn't work, until it was realised the ignition wasn't on, then it did! Back to re-installation, with the radio going back in and aerial and power cables plugged in, and heater controls re-mounted under the dash edge. Conducted another test to ensure the radio was still working, and it was, I remembered to turn on the ignition this time.

Underdash work complete, the windshield moulding was the next item to be re-installed which was left to me while Wade went about re-mounting the wiper arms and blades. The left wiper arm and blade also weren't fitting together properly, which Wade overcame, only to find the tensioning spring in the base of that arm had lost it's tension and wasn't providing any positive pressure to the blade against the windscreen. Diving into his box of tricks springs, Wade produced a replacement to overcome this problem as well. Meanwhile the moulding re-install continued, coming along slowly but surely, there are a lot of screws involved. Last was affixing the wiper arm/blade units to the wiper shafts ensuring angle of blade when laying on windscreen was correct for the sweep involved. Took a number of attempts to get this right, there's not much margin to play with in doing this, but we got there in the end.

'41 out of the way went with Wade in Big Red up to the hardware store at West Ryde chasing some Arrow T25 staples so the cover piece on the fixed front seat back could be re-affixed. Wade has lots of 3/8" 10mm staples. but was after some a bit smaller, because these tended to stand proud through a couple of layers of upholstery material and into the wood underneath. But, he struck out, they don't carry them either. Back to the workshop and using the 3/8" 10mm staples and very firm pressure most penetrated sufficiently with some requiring a light hammer tap or two to complete the job. That was the cover piece, the edging strip then had to be stapled over the top of that. Too many layers for the stapler to be effective resulting in that job being postponed until Wade comes up with appropriate tacks/nails to finish the job.

Next turned to The Fossil, almost the forgotten occupant of the workshop. After cleaning up the left front window, which accumulated much dust, it and the left front quarter window were installed, fitting in nicely. Then the wooden panel that holds the window winding mechanism and door lock was installed. Biggest problem here was finding the right slotted head wood screws. Most of the originals had been saved and were re-used but there were some missing. Fortunately Wade has a box of miscellaneous wood screws and substitutes were found. However the supply of suitable screws is slowly abating, must remember to bring some in.

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Greetings Mal and Wade! You will (perhaps) be pleased to hear that I have finally cleared the floor in the shed and we are just about ready for a chassis to base the 'Biposto Racing Special' project on. I will have to get in touch with Wade soon to organise a time, but a chance during the week is going to be rather difficult until after Easter with work commitments etc. Also I will need to organise a trailer and do all this at a time when the adult son will be around to help push it up the driveway and into the shed. Hhmmm. Why do these things always grow so far out of proportion?

Wednesday 30th March 2011

Yesterday I said ".....Wade has a box of miscellaneous wood screws.....However the supply of suitable screws is slowly abating, must remember to bring some in." I remembered to bring my loose screws in, although some would suggest I'm the one with a screw loose.


Today the issue of Big Red leaking coolant from the water jacket cover plate and cover plate bolts was addressed. But before starting Wade rang Barry Smith for advice on what he uses to coat threads to provide a seal against coolant leaks and the answer came back Loctite 569 Thread Sealer. So, a leisurely walk around to Repco who didn't have it in stock but advised it could be ordered in from Queensland 500 miles away. Instead Wade, on returning to the workshop, called ABC Bearings who don't stock Loctite products but carry Hernon instead and advised that Hernon 947 Thread Sealant is the same as the Loctite 569. Since then I've found a Loctite to Hernon Conversion Table on line, doesn't exactly equate, but I'd imagine any difference would be minor. Then over to ABC, picked up a bottle of sealer about AU$23, less than 1/2 the cost of the loctite and almost a 1/3rd cheaper when you factor in the freight charge on top of the product cost. Pays to shop around!

Back at the workshop shuffled cars out and backed Big Red in next to The Fossil, drained the cooling system and removed the oil filter. Oil filter removal is necessary because the lower cover plate front bolts where the leaks are present are obscured by the filter. Did the job in increments removing a number of bolts, cleaning bolts, cleaning bolt holes and then applying the Hernon 947 and re-installing the cleaned bolts. A very manual process with Wade removing bolts, me cleaning bolts, Wade cleaning threads and then re-installing the suitably Hernon 947 coated bolts. Then onto the next section and so on. Difficulties were encountered removing and re-installing some of the bolts because of the piping system for the oil filter interfering with access, as well as the oil filler tube. A couple of threads also needed to be heli-coiled, one was OK being easily accessible while the other was behind the fitting and oil pipe at the rear of the oil filter. This necessitated judicious pressure being applied to the pipe to bend it out of the way while tapping and insertion operations were carried out. 22 bolts received the Hernon 947 treatment, 16 along the bottom of the cover plate and 2 at each end. The 16 bolts along the upper edge of the cover plate weren't disturbed because no leaks were apparent there.

That done turned to the oil filter. Wade has one of the replica machined two piece aluminium housing types which encloses a modern spin-on filter cartridge. Because the filter had to come off Wade was taking this as an opportunity to change the filter as well as the oil. My contribution to this was a pair of MBM gaskets for the filter to oil pipe fittings when it goes back together tomorrow. Unfortunately I have to miss that, as well as Noel bringing his '39 in after the body work and re-paint on his mudguard(fender) dings to have the right side mount re-fitted. What's more important than Packards? Answer - Grandchildren. I will catch up with Noel on Sunday however because he's the organiser of April's monthly PACA run. On this run we're going to another PACA members house to see his recently imported '34 Twelve as well as his other cars. That will be followed by a trip to the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, should be a good day!

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Monday 4th April 2011

No Packard action at the workshop today but took the opportunity to catch up with Tony at Quickfit Mufflers @ Gladesville in relation to this earlier post.
Quote:
It wasn't quite next week, but actually next month! Up on the hoist Tony quickly checked the manifold to engine pipe connection, it was good. Then, after some visual inspection, used a length of rubber hose to listen to the manifold to block connections and the hot box. And that's where the problem lies, in or around the hot box! I've heard and seen the stethoscope method used to track down engine noises but hadn't considered this technique when it came to exhaust manifold and pipe issues. Following Tony's pinpointing of the problem area called and discussed the matter with Wade. And I'm now in the process of ordering manifold and hot box gaskets from the US. With the repair to be carried out when the gaskets arrive.

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Wednesday 6th April 2011

In my absence last week Wade had finished Big Red and had done some work on The Fossil. He'd installed some of the new wooden window bottom stops, made by Starliner, thanks Chris, together with rubber cushion blocks glued on top. And today we installed on the left rear window. Some while ago the upper U shaped piece of bailey channel had been installed but the bottom pieces, one either side, hadn't been. Reason was we ran out of bailey channel! Also, to install the window, the glass together with its bottom rail are held in place in the upper inverted U of bailey channel and the two lower side pieces of bailey channel are measured, cut and secured in place. Means, once installed, the window can't be removed until the lower pieces of bailey channel are removed! Then the board holding the winding mechanism was installed. Needed a couple of attempts before everything was right. There were two main problems, 1) the bottom rail of the window was catching on the front bailey channel, and 2) the lock mechanism wouldn't sit properly in the board. 1) was probably because when Ralph Moore Autoglass cut the new window glass and installed and sealed it to it's lower rail it was slightly off from the original. A little judicious use of a grinder and file fixed that. 2) was because Wade had disassembled the lock bodies and mechanisms for re-chroming, replacing broken springs and general cleaning and maintenance. In doing so a rivet was drilled out and replaced by a screw which now bottomed on the mechanism board. Fix was to drill an indent into the board, and Voila! Problem solved. Of course all this meant a number of assembly, dis-assembly, assembly and dis-assembly cycles before everything was settled into place, taking a good couple of hours, time flies when you're having fun!

Next was final body alignment and bolt down. If we thought the number of assembly, dis-assembly, assembly and dis-assembly cycles for the windows was excessive we didn't know how good we'd been until this next step. There was quite a gap at the top of the doors on both sides as well as differences in the gaps between front and rear doors. There had been an initial attempt doing this a month or so back and Barry Smith had lent "technical advice" as well as being hands on the matter when he was last at the workshop, but all to no avail. Barry's advice was along the lines of throw away what you think is logical and do the opposite. In the end that turned out to be good advice, especially after trying, and trying, the logical process over, and over, without success! Started on the closest side which happened to be the right side and went from there. An initial inspection of the body pads revealed a number of different sized pads in place from our previous attempt at body alignment. Then all the body bolts were tightened down revealing a closing of the gaps but still a discrepancy between the front and rear top alignments. Loosening off bolts, jacking up the body at a number of points, installing thinner or thicker body pads on a logical and then on an illogical basis produced some small measures of success but mainly frustration. Finally though we figured out that using a thicker pad on the front body bolt, of course the most awkward one to access, actually lifted the rear of the front door up when that bolt was re-tightened. So things were looking good for the right side, but......the valance panel needed to be installed. Simple? In theory, yes. In practice, no. Getting the valance installed required the rear of the body to be jacked up so the panel could be slid in, over the top of the body pads mind you, while the front of the body was levered up carefully. And of course the valance needed to be in its proper place because it's bolted to the chassis too. Took a number of attempts shuffling it in and out, backwards and forwards before placement was acceptable. Then all the body bolts were re-tightened resulting in what had previously been a good alignment now being a poor one. Scratching of heads didn't help so back into it loosening bolts and placing thinner or thicker pads at strategic points. By strategic points, I mean any one of the five body bolt locations on that side, shouldn't have been too difficult with that few to play with should it? So more illogical thinking, mixed in with some trial and error and we finally came back to an alignment which was "acceptable".

Right side all tightened down turned to the left side. A glaring observation of that side was the fact that when the doors were closed there was a gap at the top of doors you could see through. Fortunately one of the lessons learned from the right side was to use a thinner body pad and then tighten the middle body bolt down. Worked, but again when all bolts were tightened there was a mis-alignment between the front and rear door tops. More different sized pads. more tightening of bolts, more loosening of bolts on it went until finally a reasonable alignment was obtained. Then came the valance panel installation for the that side. Provided a new problem in not aligning like the other side but after a lot of incremental adjustments it was in. Again, after the body bolts were tightened the alignment of the front and rear door tops was out. By now however, although not fully understanding the why, we knew the how of going about correcting this. Loosened off the front three bolts, another pad for the front bolt, re-tightened the bolts and Houston we have alignment! With that returned to the right side performed the same procedure there and what was previously "acceptable" now became much more so.

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