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'34 Muffler bracket parts mailed this morning and soon will be winging their way "home" across the Pacific to the US.

Mal - Would you please post the bearing and seal interchange numbers before they boxes are tossed.
Thank you.

One thing that strikes me interesting in so many of Mal's posts is the phenomenal luck getting parts.

Who would have thought in a country 10K miles away, where an old out of production foreign car is a rare sight that you could pop over to a local bearing supply house or repair shop or whatever you need shop and find a part or someone who even knows what you are talking about--let alone those who know how to work on an old item on a routine basis--speedometer cable or shocks for example. I don't think we can even do that here in 99% of the country.

Did you guys buy up and corner the market on 75 year old parts and that's why we can't find things?

The Aussie's can do it because they think outside the "box", so to speak.

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David, I'll get and enter cross-references for the bearings and seals. Although for one, the upper steering box seal, it may not be possible because it's already been installed. But if the Invoice Wade has shows the part number for this I'll be able to include it.

Howard, It's funny you raise this because when Wade and I were walking back from Sam and Ivan's machine shop yesterday Wade said how good it was that there was a "network" of guys and businesses who could be turned to for parts or expertise.

Regarding the brake and speedo cables, these were made by General Instruments. They have the equipment and materials available and this is their regular work, it's just that we give them Packard parts to replicate. Plus it certainly helps that the guys there are definitely "car" guys who speak our language.

Wade has been using ABC Bearings for years and I think he might have got onto them through John at the workshop. Wade's built up a relationship with ABC whereby Dennis is prepared to seek out bearings and seals required. Wade usually takes over the old bearing/seal, or part which requires these, and from the numbers on the bearings/seals or measurement of the fit required a replacement item or an off the shelf equivalent can often be found. Sometimes more extensive searching is required to locate the items and Wade leaves that to Dennis who'll come back with usually good news but sometimes comes up empty handed.

Tony "Shocks" is an old spanish guy who has worked on shocks all his life, he's retired but has continued rebuilding old shocks for guys in the hobby over the years. Unfortunately he lost his wife last year and this has affected him greatly and it's likely his irreplaceable experience and expertise could be lost to the hobby.

All that being said, Wade also is getting parts from Kanters and MaxM as part of the rebuilding process. Wade has a good network of contacts, suppliers and specialists which has been built up over the years he's had his Packards. It helps that we have an active Packard club with many members prepared to help each other and similarly for other car clubs. It also helps that Sydney is a city of 4 million with most of the various mechanical and engineering facilities available.
And NO! We haven't cornered the market in old car parts.

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Monday 11th May 2009

Half day only at the workshop this afternoon and while waiting for Wade took pic's of the bearing numbers and their boxes picked up last week from ABC bearings in response to "the flackmasters" exhortation. Have to think, could be difficult as I haven't done that for a long time, how I'm going to present the info gleaned.

That aside, then cleaned more parts till Wade arrived. He'd brought the old valve radio with him that Harvey had dropped in some weeks ago to be repaired. Wade had to transpose two valves, replace some components and dodgy wiring and install a missing component among other things, no wonder it wouldn't work!

Then it was into turning Big Red's engine on it's side so the sump("pan" for you US guys) could be removed. Needed John's help to do it, using the engine crane to lift the engine with John and me pulling and positioning the engine while Wade operated the hydraulic pump. No dramas, except for the obligatory oil loss. It's surprising how much oil they hold and how much doesn't drain when you empty it.

Pan off, again no dramas, except for a "washer" which fell out of the sump when it came off the crankcase. Later when Wade was cleaning up the crankcase surface another "washer" fell out of the crankcase. And this is deja vu all over again as you'll see by the post below from last year!
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Accordingly there was much head scratching, muttering and cursing. Where are these things coming from? Are there any more? What's going on? Questions, questions, questions but no answers so far. Detailed inspected of crankcase internals revealed......nothing! Looked at some spare roller rockers to determine if they could have come from there......doesn't look like it! A remote "possibility" came from the fuel pump mounting which has the rear stud hole badly cracked! In fact it didn't have a stud in it but a long bolt. Wade thought that maybe, just maybe, because the bolt went all the way through into the oil filler shaft and maybe it was originally secured by a nut there(the one found last year). But the washers which fell out today are much too big for the bolt used so who knows???????? The other things presenting a query are the two "plugs" for want of a better term, found in the countersunk rear main bearing shafts. Are these "correct"? My terminology is very lacking here so please refer to the pic's attached will may be a better guide.

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Mal,

Those 'washers' sure look like seals to me, like the ones under the end caps for the rocker shaft assembly. Unfortunately, I have no idea where they would have come from.

Tom

Don't think they look like washers either. Are they thin steel stampings? What diameter? Have seen things very similar on later but wouldn't think used then. If not type seals as 34Packard suggests, then another remote idea. Any ball or roller bearings or pressed in grease seals in that engine? If thin stamped pieces, those look very much like grease retainers used on sides of bearings--have seen more than one come loose from wear and old age.

Tuesday 12th May 2009

When I arrived at the workshop Wade was trying to press the new modern oil seal into the timing cover housing, but without success. There are three little "pimples" around the edge of the recess into which the seal fits and for old style seals this isn't a problem while for the modern seals they present an obstacle which leaves the seal sitting crookedly. Not preferred, so the seal was taken out, to be thought over and returned to another day.

Next, turned to the loose "washers" issue. Wade decided to look at the cam follower setup but that was on the side of the engine lying on the worktable, so first the engine had to be set upright again. After putting the sump back on, but only held by a few nuts this was accomplished together with more oil spillage, it must be running low now! The rocker covers were then removed and the rockers removed and there they were! Or rather there they weren't! A number of the roller cam followers were missing the collar from the outside ends of the shaft they rotate on. And that wasn't all, two of the rollers were stuck or frozen and one was pitted. Breakdown of the roller misfortunes - #1 Intake, missing collar, #1 Exhaust, missing collar, #3 Intake, roller pitted, #4 Exhaust, roller frozen, #5 Intake, roller frozen, #7 Intake, missing collar, #8 Exhaust, missing collar #8 Intake, missing collar. Found another loose collar but that only accounts for 3 of the 5, so what about the other 2? Probably drained out during an oil change at some stage is the most likely answer. Altogether what Wade didn't want to find but much better now rather than have a catastrophic failure at a later date. And now more parts are needed to wing their way across the Pacific to assist in Big Red's rehabilitation. Tom, are these what you were talking about in your post?
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Next, an easier task, re-mounting the rear housing on the trans. Walked around to see Ivan and Sam and the rear housing was ready after being machined to slightly re-size to fit the new seal. Back at the workshop a new gasket was made, the new rear seal pressed into the housing, liberal amounts of gasket sealer applied, the universal yoke inserted and all bolted back together. Then the bell-housing breather was re-installed, this is a small vented plate on the bottom of the bell-housing. And although not a big achievement I'm quite proud of what I achieved in bringing it back from it's former bedraggled state. After cleaning it by soaking it the mesh holding the metal gauze in place had to be refastened under the retaining edge for this on the breather. So armed with a small screwdriver and a hammer pushed the gauze back in. Then pressing in the mesh and holding the vent with one hand hammered the rim back into shape with the other. Unfortunately didn't take any before or after pic's, or maybe it is fortunate otherwise they'd figure very prominently below. While doing that Wade was digging out a couple of flat headed screws with vee'd shoulders to replace the missing two. The 2 replacements both proved a little long so after some hacksaw and bench grinder treatment were then "fit for purpose".

Next was the diff housing or correctly the bearing cones still in the housing needing to be removed. Wade fired up the oxy and heated up the outside of the housing around where the cones was located. Not too hot but hopefully hot enough to permit the cones to be removed. No luck with this, still wouldn't budge. So turned to plan B, welding bars but in this case cut-off bolts to the cones and using those to pull them out. Round to see Ivan and Sam again, this time in Wade's Ute as it's a long way to carry a diff housing. Sam, being the man, dropped everything, welded in the cut-off bolts and to top it off knocked out the cones and also tagged the shims from each side.John, I think this answers your query.
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Back at the workshop we next turned to the right front lower suspension arm assembly which still needed the pin assembly to be pressed out. Although Wade has done this a number of times previously including the '41's last year he couldn't remember what he'd used to push them out and couldn't find something to suit. There was a failed attempt which resulted in the eye and one end of the pin being crushed and bent in the hydraulic press. So that left one end available to work on. After a false start using a large rattle gun socket of John's which started to move the pin but bound up a "tool" was found by John. Although some would call them, because there were 3 of them, Mazda parts John assured us they were a "Special Packard Tool" and who were we to argue especially since they did the job so well. They have now been assigned a special place in Wade's tool chest awaiting their next "Special Packard Tool" assignment.

That's where we left things for the day. Tomorrow there won't be any workshop activity but Wade in his travels will 1) pick up his rebuilt shocks from Tony "Shocks", 2) drop in Big Red's radiator to Dennis at JJ Smith's for another clean and check, 3) pick up the '34 grill and other parts from All Metal Bumpers and 4) visit David at Antique Tyre Supplies for some cowl beading to replace that taken off when the holes were filled. I'll find out all about it on Thursday when I'm down there again.

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Mal,

Yes. I did not explain it very well, but those are what I was talking about.

Tom