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Wednesday 14th September 2011

After I left yesterday some "fine tuning" work was done on the hoist. So this morning, after Emily was pushed out of the way, Fleurette was pushed into place and aligned for lifting. The hoists lifting arms were positioned under the frame, with the under running board radio aerial acting as a minor obstacle but that didn't last long(Noel, you may have to invest in a regular aerial! - Just joking), and Fleurette enjoyed the pleasure of undertaking the maiden lift on Wade's new hoist.

Once in the air, and satisfied Fleurette was secure and well balanced, work started on returning the trans and OD from whence it came. With the trans and OD out of the car, the back of the engine was being supported by a Special Packard Tool, aka a piece of angle iron. The angle iron was replaced by Rick's transmission lift using wooden blocks to support the rear of the engine under the sump(oil pan). With some of the weight taken off the front of the hoist by this manoeuvre John's adjustable post was placed under the diff to counteract any tendency Fleurette may have wanted to tilt back. It really wasn't that delicate, but better to be safe than sorry. Then onto John's transmission lift went the trans/OD unit, chained down, then trundled into approximate position for lifting to start. After a quick tutorial from Wade on how the trans lift works, one pedal to pump it up, the other pedal to lower it we went to work. Wade was at the left front of the trans to guide the spigot shaft into position and to ensure the clutch release bearing also positioned correctly. I was at the rear slightly to the right, pedaling as required, and ensuring the right side containing the trans shifter arms(RHD) and OD lockout arm cleared the X member. Took a number of attempts before everything finally and literally clicked into place. In fact it was a fair number of attempts, the unfamiliarity of this method, ie using modern techniques seemed foreign for the Packard it was intended to benefit, plus the operators inexperience at working standing up obviously didn't help either. But to cut a long story short, we got there. Bolted the trans to the bell-housing, clutch release bearing spring installed, bottom of bell-housing installed and trans cross-member re-installed. Those were the direct and major parts back in place, then came the rest. First came the tailshaft, twice! First time, Wade noticed the front and rear uni-joints weren't aligned. So out came the tailshaft, the front yoke slid off it's splines and refitted so that both uni-joints now aligned. After that the clutch linkage, gear linkages and OD lockout linkage, exhaust pipe bracket and solenoid wires were re-connected. Standing around looking smug, no parts left over, then realised the DAF snubber, associated bracket and mount weren't back on! Phew, couldn't leave off that important part! Then Fleurette was lowered back to earth, so the first full working cycle of Wade's new hoist was accomplished without mishap. But there is a hydraulic oil weep from the hose or fitting at the bottom of the static post. Calling it the static post to differentiate it from the post the motor, hydraulic oil reservoir and controls are mounted on, and which could be referred to as the active post.

During the course of the day had a couple of visitors, First being TonyW, back already, with the stretched front seat top cover for Big Red in it's raw form. He'd added a couple of inches to the middle of the cover and flattened it. Needed a trial fit to ensure it does fit and it does. Still needs plenty of finishing work but it looks good even in it's present state. The other was PACA member EdK. Ed has a very nice '37 120 Touring Sedan but is currently experiencing wiper motor problems. Wade has a spare motor on the shelf and Ed wanted to familiarise himself with one before tackling his in situ. And following from Sunday's Packard run Wade has another "customer" for the workshop. John(Appin) on his return trip had tried to lock out the OD on his '40 110 Touring Sedan only to experience a loud bang and a broken uni-joint. Don't know if it's just the uni-joint, the OD, the Diff or some combination thereof. Won't know for a little while because the '40 can't come in until Fleurette and Emily have vacated the premises.

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That's NOT a 37-120 wiper motor. Might be 33...

A man and his hoist. I'm laughing, overcome with envy.
Joe

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Yeah, it looks that Wade went with his gut when buying such a powerful hoist, model BulletPro.

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John, thanks for sharing.

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Quote: David. That will explain it then because Ed said it didn't look like the one in his '37 120. And Wade was unsure because, when Old Blue was bought by Wade 20+ years ago, it came equipped with a VW wiper motor and remained like that. I'll contact Ed and let him know.

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Hmmm, looks like someone needs to go on a diet!

Friday 16th September 2011

Arrived at the workshop to find Noel's '39 still on the hoist, but that was expected. What was unexpected was that the front brake drums and shoes were off! Using the hoist, the '39's undersides are now much more accessible, and yesterday Wade found grease leaking from the bottom of the front brakes. With the drums removed it seems the seals aren't doing their job and/or the grease used isn't up to scratch, another job added to the list! So last night Wade ordered new seals from Max as well as a new 1937-1942 #367197 FUEL PUMP INLET HOSE-ALL MODELS for my Coupe. Only trouble is, I'd also ordered a 1937-1942 #367197 FUEL PUMP INLET HOSE-ALL MODELS from Max myself a couple of days ago but had forgotten to note that in these pages! Looks like we now have a spare for Wade's wonderful shelf.

Wade was in the throes of fitting the heater hoses to the '39 and once that was done the upper radiator hose was re-installed and water added. No apparent leaks, good, so start the '39 and see how it is after warming up. Didn't work, but after re-connecting the battery it did! Ran it for a fair while, still no leaks, and testing of the heater revealed warm/hot air was being generated, good, no more cold feet for Noel. That still left the demisters to be connected. Now I know that the conduit/tubing for this purpose is available in the US but not here, so we improvised. Used blue, actually bright blue, swimming pool hose which I'd purchased a couple of weeks ago. Glad I bought a little extra, 1.2M instead of 1.0M, because of what followed. Turned out the swimming pool hose is 38mm ID(1.5") while the heater and demister outlets are about 41mm OD(1.625"). Hmmm, won't fit. Used boiling water to soften the hose but still wouldn't fit. Had a hotter heat source, a heat gun, but what to use as a means to expand the hose? Wade remembered that John has a tool he uses to expand the rubber covers to fit over CV joints, maybe that would help/work? Turns out using the ultimate colonoscopy tool did work. The rectal rummager operating at 120psi, uses air pressure to open a set of fingers that stretch the CV joint cover, and proved very effective for the task at hand. However, there's a very fine line between stretching hot plastic tubing and having it collapse with too much heat, or tear from too much pressure. A couple of, what will now be termed, trial runs proved the feasibility of this process. The tubing was heated a little and stretched, then heated a little more and stretched again. This proved very effective, resulting in a pair of effective demister tubes for the '39.

Had also experienced some difficulty, initially, with the gear linkage hanging up. Pulling the trans and OD had obviously disturbed the previously well working linkage setup. I imagine this will be further reviewed and adjusted once road testing takes place. Another problem encountered was the OD lockout didn't seem to be working. Ahhh, the beauty, and the ease of having the car on the hoist, finger tip operation and up she goes. Undercar removed the clevis and adjusted the reach and fitment of the cable relative to the lever from the side of the OD. The '39 was again lowered so the rear wheels were on the floor and the handbrake applied. Lugnuts were then properly tightened and the axle nuts torqued up and split-pinned. Finally I cleaned the double sided tape off the rear wheels and hubcaps so new tape could be affixed to prevent hubcap separation while the vehicle is in motion. And Noel, here's my Mea culpa. I snapped off the end of one of the hubcap retaining clips from one of your wheels. Also need more double sided tape to do this job, looks like a lot more now!

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Tuesday 20th September 2011

Last week Helen, wife of MaxH, passed away and her funeral took place yesterday at Palmdale about 40 miles north. Seven Packards were able to make the trip for the funeral service, five from Sydney, one from the Central Coast and one from Tamworth. A lovely service and eulogies for a very fine lady. After the service, Max was inspected some of the Packards present. I think I knew this before, but Max was a former owner of Eleanor aka The Fossil, while Helen is a former owner of Emily. Terry, one of the guys I visited on the Gold Coast a couple of weeks ago said this of Helen, "She was one of life's beautiful Ladies. She always named their cars, the photo is the 38 super eight which was the first Packard I ever worked on for Max named by Helen as "Albert" followed by the car that started my passion "Eleanor". When I asked Helen why she named every car, she said it was her way of recognizing them and they deserved to be named."

Today at the workshop, while Wade was cleaning up Fleurette's front brakes I was tasked with cleaning out a capacitor body for the radio rebuild. Wade likes to keep appearances "stock", not that you'd know because it's inside the radio cabinet, which means digging out the old capacitor and replacing it with modern components. Seemed simple, instructions were to use lots of very hot boiled water and soak the capacitor in it then start digging. Literally tried digging it out with little progress until Wade said he uses long nose pliers to pull the compacted wax/paper/whatever mixture out in clumps. Worked better but still slow progress until about half way down the body then whatever was remaining came out in a large lump. Or so I thought. Turns out there were still pieces of paper/wax clinging on necessitating more mining and excavation until it was cleared. Took quite some time and by which time Wade had finished his brake cleanup work.

What to do next? Wade was waiting for a call about Emily's throttle linkage, the water pump being ready, but one pickup trip was more appealing than two. In the meantime turned to Big Red which had a leak from a large nut on top of the fuel pump. Was able to be fixed with a new washer under the nut. By this time received word that the linkage was ready except for drilling of one hole which they wanted to check the orientation on. So into Big Red, what a great parts chasing car, and we were off with we me in the back seat, ala Gina. Why? More of that later. At Anglade Engineering we were introduced to Brian who, after discussions and trial fitments, was able to drill the final hole.

From Anglade we went to Award Diffs, this is why the back seat ride occurred. Yesterday, after the funeral service, the complete pumpkin out of Barry Smiths '38 Twelve was transferred from the boot(trunk) of Barry's '51 Convertible to the boot(trunk) of Big Red. And a set of high speed gears for the '38's pumpkin was transferred to the front seat floor of Big Red. Because the box, the pumpkin was in, occupied most of the available boot(trunk) space of Big Red all the accoutrements for Packard runs, fold up chairs and table and such also ended up in the front seat. Not wishing to disturb these arrangements meant my relegation to the back seat. Actually it's very comfortable, the phrase lounge chair comfort springs to mind, and now I understand Gina's preference for travelling there. Anyway, enough of the Packard saleman pitch, back to Award diffs. There the pumpkin and high speed gears were unloaded and Wade discussed Barry's requirements with Terry. As usual Terry had all the answers even before Wade could ask the questions or point out certain matters to be attended to. And there is a story behind the high speed gears too. Barry had bought two sets some years ago, one set of which he installed in an early '30s Packard(Wade or Barry, don't be afraid to jump to positively identify it!). The other set ended up with a guy in South Australia, JohnW, who installed them in his early '30s Packard(Wade or Barry, same deal on the identification). However John removed the gear set because performance wasn't as expected. Barry remembered this, and with the Twelve "getting busy" at highway speeds, the second set returned from whence it came.

Back at the workshop Emily's throttle linkage was re-assembled, well that part of the linkage which bolts on the firewall connecting the accelerator pedal to the first linkage rod from the firewall mount to the bellcrank on the intake manifold. This is a RHD car so will differ in that it doesn't cross the engine, or run behind it, to operate the carburettor. Wade had been looking for a new cross shaft to replace the worn one while making use of the present levers at either end of the shaft. Besides the new shaft and installing brass bushes at either end of the cross shaft bracket, Anglade also made a new brass lever for the accelerator pedal link. However the brass bushes, because they are in a thinnish bracket were fabricated so that they each have a shoulder on the inside of the bracket for shaft support. Didn't matter for the accelerator pedal side but for the carburettor linkage side this created a problem in re-installing the cross shaft spring in that the hole for the retaining pin was now "out". Solution, drill a new hole in the cross shaft, easy? I had heard of V-blocks but never seen one in operation. Turns out this is the way to do it. And it was "easy", but only because Wade knew what he was doing and did it in measured steps to ensure the required outcome was achieved. All then put together and now ready to go back in Emily tomorrow.

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Wednesday 21st September 2011

Seemed we were going to be working on Emily today because the front seals for Fleurette were yet to arrive. First was to get the cross shaft bracket mounted back on the firewall. Although a bit tedious went back in without too much drama save it had to come out after the first attempt. Why? Because the rod mounted to the accelerator pedal lever was the wrong way round. You can only put it in two ways so of course the first way chosen was the wrong way! That sorted, the bracket was remounted. Next was the bell crank mounting pin in the intake manifold. The old pin was worn and also loose in the manifold so Wade had Anglade make up a new one. Trouble was they got it completely wrong, rattling around in the manifold. To cut a very, very long story short, a discarded 8mm bolt of John's was used with the thread recut to 7mm, threaded end shortened, head cut off, hole drilled(ala V block) and square head ground on the open end. The mounting hole in the manifold body was tapped to 7mm and the new pin, together with the bell crank fitted.

During the course of this the package from Max arrived containing the new front seals and a flexible fuel hose fitting. The fuel hose won't be going on the shelf as I speculated previously but is expected to be used on Big Red. Rather than continue with Emily, Wade turned to Fleurette and putting the front brakes back on. Remounted the shoes and springs for both sides then repacked the wheel bearings one side at a time. Fitted the inner bearing installed the new seal, brake drum on car, outer bearing fitted and nuts, lock washer and split pin installed. Adjusted brakes and remounted wheels. Fleurette is ready to return to the shop floor, probably Friday because Wade is attending another funeral his fourth in four weeks, so won't be in tomorrow.

And speaking of packages from Max, on my return home found that mine had been delivered too!

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Hi Mal,

Just wanted to confirm that I will be dropping by tomorrow (prob late morning) with the 34 gearbox for Wade... that is if I am able to lift it into the car... and to pick up those rear leaf packs.

Might see what is happening for lunch?

Cheers

Snapey