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Friday 10th June 2011

Pic from Gina's iPhone titled "The old blokes lunch stop at ST.Arnaud." Don't know whether Gina is referring to Harvey, left, and Wade OR the Packards OR the People AND the Packards! After all, they are all much about the same age!

Pic was sent about 1:00pm and St Arnaud is about 45 miles north east of Stawell, their destination, so they are close.

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Sunday 12th June 2011

Talked with Harvey this evening, he tells me so far they've covered about 820 miles on the Border Run. All is going well except for Big Red having a cracked exhaust manifold at the rear most stud. Manifolds and water pumps seem to be coming up frequently at the workshop lately.

Wednesday 15th June 2011

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Received an email today from DavidM during the course of his European travels, seems the scenery and such isn't fully occupying David's thoughts while there. Asked if I could follow up on the diff with Award because he wants to take the Maxwell to Melbourne "to the man who has the engine so we can fit the engine then get it running properly. Obviously I will need the diff to mobilize the car." Spoke to Terry at Award Diffs and passed on David's message. Also didn't know the Maxwell engine hadn't come back with David when he returned from Tasmania last month. And, with Melbourne being over 500 miles south, as I said to David in my email reply "Isn't it a long way to go for a tune up?"

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Thursday 16th June 2011

Received another email from DavidM, here's some of it ".....I appreciate your amusement that we should travel with the car.....for a tune up but there is a bit more to it. When I took the engine down on the way to Tasmania it was in pieces and in need of some machining work and it will now be back together. I could not get it back into the Packard in this way......so we have to go back.....taking the Maxwell so we can refit the engine and prove it is the way to go. Just so you don't think I am totally crazy!!....." All I'll say David, that's your story and you stick with it!

On a slightly more serious note, Gina sent some pic's of the Border Run, being "The line up of cars in date order". A great way to park 20 Packards, but depends on numbers, the space to do it, someone to organise it and the willing participation of all concerned. Well done!

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Monday 20th June 2011

Wade's back and when I saw Big Red in the workshop this morning thought he was going to remove the manifolds to attend to the cracked exhaust manifold. But no, instead, he was re-torquing the head nuts. Because.....the head gasket had blown on the Echuca to Wagga Wagga leg returning from the Border Run. On arriving at Wagga Wagga, in the motel carpark, Wade and Harvey had replaced the head gasket with a new Olsen one Wade was carrying. Startied at 4:00pm and finished by 5:45pm, I think they would have easily bettered the head gasket change time on packard34, Mat's, '34 when it was done during the Concours at Kangaroo Island last year. Of course, at that time Wade was only giving "technical advice" and not getting his hands dirty! He did say today, it wasn't pleasant working on Big Red's engine with 200+ miles of heat build-up. So this morning all the head nuts were re-torqued to spec. The opportunity was also taken to check the distributor, seeing it was out of the car, spark plugs cleaned and the gaps checked. Then using a timing light the timing was checked and reset. Concerning the cracked exhaust manifold, Wade's strategy is along these lines. First option, Wade heard on the Border Run that a club member, many years ago, had imported a manifold from the US and then not used it because manifolds for LHD cars differ from those for RHD cars. If it can be tracked down, is serviceable and available it will be utilised. Failing that, option two is to remove the offending cracked manifold and repair. Saying that, it will depend on how bad the crack is and finding someone with the expertise to repair it. And the fallback, import a manifold from the US. Still another possibility is using a RHD manifold, if one can be found, but going this way means a new engine pipe for the exhaust system because of the different shape of the manifold to clear the steering box on RHD Packards.

Big Red done, next was a road trip to Ralph Moore Autoglass at Mascot. Before Wade had left on the Border Run we'd marked out a cardboard template for the rear window glass for The Fossil. This followed the glass Ralph Moore cut using the rear window glass that came with The Fossil as a pattern NOT fitting properly! Wade had taken the original recut glass and the cardboard template to Ralph Moores where Greg cut a new glass piece while the Border Run was in progress. Greg explained today there were problems found with the windows rubber gasket(from Steele) and that the cardboard template had a "dip" in the top edge. Despite these hurdles he'd cut a new glass which fits the gasket at least "reasonably" well in the circumstances. Picked up the new glass, gasket, metal trim piece and cardboard template and returned to the workshop. Intention was to trial fit the glass/gasket combination to The Fossil to determine it's suitability. And it looks like it will do the job although I left Wade in the back of The Fossil with hammer and punch working down imperfections in the rear window opening so the glass/gasket combination fits properly. Once Wade finishes that he'll call Greg to talk things over to make sure that all's well. All going well the glass and gasket will return to Ralph Moores to be sealed together. Once that is done then arrangements can then be made for Greg to come over to the workshop for professional fitment of the combination to the rear window opening.

Also on the return trip from Mascot we stopped off at Godfrey Engraving where Wade dropped off a re-pro '34 ID Plate to be engraved with the type and body number together with the Packard Dealer delivery details and date. You'll see from the pic of the original ID Plate it contains the type and body number but no other details. This is very common on Australian delivered Packards, apparently the Dealers here weren't fastidious about stamping the other details on the plate. Probably because East Grand Boulevarde didn't come calling down-under too often. Or, and this is probably more relevant, there weren't many Packard dealers and not that many Packards sold either so all Packards would be known to the dealer. Speaking of Packard Dealers, the Melbourne Dealer was Kellow Faulkner and packard34, Mat, has most of the shipping records of the Packards sold by them. How he acquired these I don't know, but it's certainly a great resource because Mat was able to provide Wade with the details to complete the new ID Plate. Hope I didn't let the cat out of the bag Mat? But wait there's more, Godfrey Engraving was often used by Wade to make name and other plates when he was in business, so todays visit was a reunion of sorts for Wade and Michael there.

And then, on the way back to the workshop from Godfrey Engraving, I said there's a red boat-tail roadster/speedster in front of the car in front of us! Not often(ever?) you see a boat-tail of any description on the road! Fortunately for me anyway, my camera clicking finger was itching mightily, it was stopped by the traffic lights and we stopped behind it. I jumped out, giving Wade instructions to take the lights if they changed and I'd walk back to the workshop being only about a 1/4 mile away. Fortunately I was able to take a few pic's, quickly talk to the driver who was amused by my antics but did convey to me it's a '28 12/50 Alvis, then jump back into Wade's Ute before the lights changed. Pic's below, I like it. Back at the workshop found out that Noel had missed us by 5 minutes when we departed for Ralph Moores earlier. I'd rung Noel this morning to let him know I'd be at the workshop but omitted to then let him know we'd be out on the road. But that's typical and, as Noel is so fond of saying, "it's all Mal's fault". Noel picked up the 1941 Super 8 Sales Catalog,
I scanned on his behalf for PackardInfo, as well as the Jim Hollingsworth 1940 Packard book and a 1941 Accessories Brochure. The Accessories Brochure has just been scanned too so, when #1 son next comes over, PackardInfo should have it on-site soon thereafter. It was a pity we missed Noel, because Wade wanted to pass on to Noel the dash and window trim pieces he'd brought back from RobT for Tony, Noel's mate, to re-woodgrain.

But back to the Border Run. Wade tells me, apart from the cold brrrrrr, all had a great time with good accommodation, good runs, interesting stops and great sightseeing and historic sites. Also that Mrs pepepackard was the organising force behind the 20 Packards being arrayed in year order at one of the stops. Well done Pam! Wade also gave a couple of tasks, one being to take some pics of the Packard emblems on the bonnet(hood) sides of my '41 Coupe. These are for one of the guys on The Border Run, RobertW, because his aren't too good I believe. Well, let me tell you, after taking some close up pic's of mine, neither are mine! The other task, well it's going to be putting the ball, or more accurately Packard parts, in Hobbs court. Hobbs, I'll email you separately because I have to research this a little and get my thoughts together, but you have been warned!

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Wednesday 22nd June 2011

After giving Misty, John's dog, what was left of last weeks leg of lamb proceeded to Packard Corner. At Packard Corner first thing I did was trip over a '34 Exhaust manifold on the floor. This made me fall almost face first into a '37 Super 8 Exhaust manifold on the bench! Didn't expect "First option, Wade heard.....that a club member, many years ago, had imported a manifold from the US and then not used it because manifolds for LHD cars differ from those for RHD cars. If it can be tracked down, is serviceable and available it will be utilised......" this to happen so quickly. Best of all the '37 LHD is NOS! In fact it wasn't even drilled for the air cleaner mounting bracket on the front of the manifold or for the hot box heat riser valve mechanism! Not bad, to come across a brand new part like that 74 years after the fact.

Then the work began, disconnecting linkages and lines, removing the carb, disconnecting the exhaust pipe, taking off the intake manifold and finally the exhaust manifold. It was only then that the severity of the problem became apparent. It wasn't just a crack, the complete rearmost manifold flange had broken off. Wade has suspicions that because the two rear manifold studs were leaking coolant this could have been a contributing factor to the break. These two studs as well as one other that came out with its nut plus any others looking like "likely suspects" will be replaced using plenty of sealant on the threads.

Because the manifold lacked various mounting points, work was required before it could be utilised. The front mounting bracket from the broken manifold was used with holes marked on the NOS manifold, drilled, tapped and the old studs re-used. The heat riser valve wasn't an issue because a copper plate is already in use to separate the intake and exhaust manifolds on Big Red and this plate will be retained. Probably the only '37 Packard Super 8 in the world to lack any sort of heat riser valve! The other piece of manifold hardware requiring attention was the automatic choke mechanism. Over the years, before Wade's ownership of Big Red, the screws holding the choke mechanism to the housing cast into the manifold had been replaced by much larger bolts. Took a bit of ferreting around in various "junk boxes" but Wade was able to come up with screws of the appropriate length and thread size to suit the NOS manifold. Also, after referencing the manual, re-set the choke to spec. Before this, the pointer inside the mechanism was way off.

All that done, cleaning of manifolds and block and head surfaces were the next tasks undertaken. The NOS manifold was first wire-brushed then prepped for painting with high temp manifold paint, one coat today, another later this week. Manifold surfaces on the block and head cleaned up relatively easily as did the surfaces on the intake manifold. Oh oh! Just remembered, I was so busy patting myself on the back for doing such a good job on the block and manifold surfaces that I forgot about the engine pipe flange! Sorry Wade.

During the course of all this Harvey arrived with his spare Super 8 exhaust manifold. Fortunately because Wade now had the NOS manifold he didn't need to avail himself of Harvey's. Because Harveys is RHD it would have required a new engine pipe to accommodate the forward sweep of the manifold outlet. It also had a lug broken off the manifold outlet flange. So Harvey was able to leave, still with his manifold, but also with a gift from Wade he can utilise on his '37 Super 8. And no it wasn't a bonnet(hood) louvre to replace the broken one! Harvey had asked me a couple of weeks ago to see if I could find him a louvre to replace the broken one on his '37. To that end I'd placed want ads here and on the PAC and AACA Sites which brought this response: Quote: Harvey told me today that he'd like one of The Flackmasters re-pro's and to that end Harvey will now liaise with Noel to complete the process. But I digress! What I wanted to say was that Wade gave Harvey a "bail" type '34 radiator cap. The cap isn't in great condition, it was the one that came with the replacement '34 Wade bought from the US, but it'll do the job for Harvey when he needs to replace the gold plated Cormorant on his '37 when parked or left unattended!

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Thursday 23rd June 2011

No workshop today, just grandchildren.

Wanted to note that on Tuesday Wade had trial fitted, measured, adjusted and contemplated The Fossil's rear window and then taken the glass and the rubber gasket back over to Ralph Moore Autoglass. There he discussed what he'd observed, found and measured with Greg who is now going to seal the gasket to the glass, this will probably involve a small amount of trimming to the base of the gasket. Once the glass is sealed to the gasket, arrangements will then be made for Greg to come to the workshop to fit the window to The Fossil. Don't know why I forgot to mention this yesterday. Maybe because I keep growing older, not younger?

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Older? You? I don't think so. It is the price for woolgathering.

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Friday 24th June 2011

After donating blood plasma, a quick pit-stop at the workshop late this morning. Wade had given his new exhaust manifold a second coat of high temp paint as well as giving Noel's replacement oil filter housing and bracketry a coating of POR-15. Noel needs to replace the filter on his '39 because of leaks and dropped off a spare filter and fittings about 3 weeks ago to be tidied up as a replacement. Called in to pick up the old filter cartridge to take to Mr Filter to source a replacement. They didn't have a cartridge in stock but did have one at the warehouse and which arrived while I was typing this, so I'll pick it up tomorrow morning so all is ready to go first thing Monday morning. Have also ordered another three filter cartridges, a spare for Noel and a couple for myself. And speaking of Monday morning, EdK is bringing his '37 120 Touring Sedan in for Wade to check and adjust the brakes.

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Saturday 25th June 2011

Another pit-stop at the workshop this morning, just dropped off the new filter cartridge for Noel's oil filter.

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