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Tuesday 27th September 2011

Arrived before Wade, he was running errands including picking up a new pipe bend for the lower radiator hose, so finished cleaning the double sided tape off Fleurette's hubcaps in preparation for their return to the car. When Wade arrived he brought with him a 90 degree mild steel pipe bend from Tony, didn't have a stainless steel bend. Cut the pipe to size and gave the bend a coat of quick drying paint and left the bend to dry. Then it was Emily's water pumps turn. The pump housing had been left overnight, with the backing plate bolted to it, for the silicone sealant to cure. Took out the 4 temporary bolts and nuts from the bottom of the housing. The 2 upper bolts and nuts were left as is because they aren't used in securing the water pump to the block, only the 4 lower bolts perform this function. And who should join us at this juncture? Why Noel, that's who! But he wasn't there to clean Fleurette's bottom, as he'd promised, that's going to be tomorrow. Instead he'd dropped in after picking up the window garnish mouldings for Peter Packard's '37 Super 8 Coupe which TonyW had re-woodgrained. Should have included the windshield garnish moulding too but quality control at TonyW's pulled it up just as it was going out the door. Apparently there was a very slight imperfection, only noticed when being loaded into Noel's car, but that was enough for it to hauled back for re-woodgraining again!

After Noel left it was into re-installing Emily's water pump in earnest, again! Silicone sealant used for the block to water pump housing gasket with the 4 mounting bolts likewise treated. Great stuff that silicone, but bloody messy! Then it was the lower radiator pipe and hoses turn. Both new rubber hose lengths were affixed to the metal pipe bend then the lower rubber hose was installed to the bottom radiator outlet, easy. The upper rubber hose however, was another matter. Because the new hoses are fairly stiff getting it onto the inlet for the water pump proved impossible. So out came the pipe hose combo and about 3/8" was trimmed from the bottom end of the lower rubber hose. Just what was needed, went in much easier for the upper end, and there was more than enough hose for a good sealing surface with the clamps in place. At this juncture, rather than fit the fan(did I mention yesterday it's a real PITA to do?), the radiator was re-filled with water and left to sit as a static leak test. Gave it plenty of time, and while it was doing that Wade went onto a couple of foreign orders while I went to the hardware store for some double sided tape to secure Fleurette's hubcaps to Fleurette's wheels. Noel, hubcaps are secured now but, it appears I was somewhat overzealous in scraping the left rear wheel, there are now a number of marks discernible on the wheel next to the hubcap!

Hubcaps aside it was time to turn back to Emily. No leaks, so fan back on, fan belt re-tensioned and start her up. Still no leaks, good. Air cleaner back on and another start up, this time for fine tuning of idle speed and mixture controls. Then it was out of the workshop for a bigger test, a test run. Usual course, stopping half way to lift bonnet(hood) and checked again for leaks. None! And the attention given to the throttle linkages certainly worked, up to 50mph, no troubles! This is in contrast to when Emily came into the workshop with Wade having foot flat to floor and about 35mph, with a tail wind, the best that could be achieved.

Back at the workshop topped up the radiator with hot water, given that any air bubbles would have had a chance to work themselves out of the cooling system in the course of the test run. Then swapped Emily out to the carpark with Big Red coming into the workshop because Wade's taking Emily home tonight. The runs through peak hour traffic this evening and tomorrow morning should be a good test for the waterpump rebuild.

Couple of little asides.

1) Wade told me a story today of when he and Barry Smith were at Hershey one year. I'm sure Wade won't mind me repeating it here, but if he does this'll be a blank space tomorrow! Seems that Wade and Barry were admiring a very nice '34 Packard and the owner invited them to sit in the back seat. With Barry in the car and Wade half way in another voice asked "Where are you guys from"? To which Barry responded "Tamworth in Australia". Which brought the reply "You must be Barry Smith then". The voice in question belonging to noted Packard Guru Jim Pearsall(Gunnison)!

& 2) Received an email from Bill B, who had wanted info on owners of 2279's in the US, see this thread. Edited extracts from Bill's email ".....Quick note to let you know that I found the answers to all my questions about my 2279 today. Went to visit MacH and his lovely wife Ruth Ann in Cleburn,TX about 60 miles south of our hotel in Dallas today. Mac has a completely original convertible he has owned since 1977 and he was quite happy for me to pull things off his car to check things I needed to know about it.....So lots of photo's of things I need to know about mine. Thanks again for the Directory, without it we would never have met such a charming and generous couple with whom we spent a most enjoyable and relaxing 7 hours". Glad Bill now has the answers he needed.

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Wednesday 28th September 2011

Wade was decanting oil when I arrived this morning. He'd ordered more Penrite engine, trans and diff oil as well as wheel bearing grease. The engine oil wasn't a problem, a 20 litre drum, but the trans and diff oils came in 1 litre bottles which Wade decanted into 5 litre bottles for easier bulk storage. The wheel bearing grease? Instead of a large tub of that he received a small container of water pump grease which said it was excellent for water pumps! But obviously no good for wheel bearings! That'll be exchanged in the near future. Decanting done, Fleurette's diff was filled. a lot easier to do in a much more civilised manner standing up using an oil pump. Next thing needing to be done was cleaning Fleurette's "bottom" but as Noel had volunteered to do that, Fleurette remained aloft awaiting her masters arrival.

In the meantime I suggested we could turn to The Fossil(I'm used to thinking of Eleanor by that title so I'll continue that usage, at least for now). Wade wants to start mounting the front mudguards(fenders) but part of the process of doing so is mounting the front frame cover panels. That's OK but some of the mounting hardware for that has gone missing in that it never returned from the panelbeater and spray painter. The fitting in question is a steel spacer that fits between the frame rail and the frame rail cover to raise it up for clearance purposes. Wade does have one spacer, he had a spare, but one is required for each side so another is required. Wade had showed me the piece in question before but until today when he demonstrated it's application I didn't really get what it was for. Armed with that information I started rummaging through a bucket of washers and spacers I'd contributed to the cause a year ago in the hope there could be something there that might, with some imagination and skill be made to work. Didn't really find anything but it set Wade to thinking again as I blurted out suggestions only to be shot down on each occassion. What that led to was Wade again approaching his "magic" shelves and pulling out a box of fuel pumps and
fuel pump parts. In there he found a fuel pump with a similar nut to the one that had been leaking on Big Red last week. Then he found two loose nuts the same. Went with one of the loose nuts and a large nut from another donated bucket of nuts of mine(no pun intended). A combination of the fuel pump nut, the other nut, drilling, tapping, more drilling, cutting, grinding and finally gluing and Wade could have the spacer he needs. Not exactly a "correct" Packard part but, besides the people who read these pages, nobody will know!

But before we could start on the fabrication process for the spacer, Noel arrived. With Noel set up under Fleurette treating her to a long overdue bottom wipe the spacer fabrication started. First a hole was drilled though the fuel pump nut then tapped for a 1/4" 28tpi NF thread. Next the large nut was drilled at one end to achieve a countersunk end ala the spacer. The shank of the spacer was then sawn off and was counter bored from that end, having to fit around a "captive thread spigot", for want of a better term. The flats on the large hex head of the fuel pump nut were then ground down to the same size as those on the "correct" spacer. Needs to be that size to fit in the sheet metal slots of the lower radiator splash panel which also shares the horns of the frame rails with the mudguards(fenders) and frame rail covers. An application of superglue to affix the countersunk nut to the fuel pump nut and there you had it! A WFI(Wade Fabrication Industries) '34 Packard front frame spacer!

By this time Noel had finished his under Fleurette exercise and, to give the WFI spacer time to set, a test run in Fleurette was in order. This would have been done last week but lack of diff oil prevented such. Besides, it's the first time an owner has been present for such an occasion so worked out well. The usual test route was taken with Wade at the controls, Noel beside him and yours truly in the back seat. Only trouble is it's pretty suburban so an excursion onto Victoria Road at the end of our lap was used to better test OD engagement and kick down in a better environment. All went well with a driver changeover also occurring so Noel could get a feel of how it now is and give his thoughts on how things felt. Back at the workshop a cursory inspection revealed all appeared well. Noel took his farewell but before doing so showed us the bonnet(hood) catches and trim pieces for his '41 160 Club Coupe(name not known) which TonyW was in the midst of chrome painting, yes painting, but the results for this process aren't all that flash. So Noel is taking them with him when he visits Peter Packard on the weekend for Peter's chrome plater to plate. At the sound of that Wade's ears pricked up because he has some small pieces for The Fossil requiring plating. Was going to use another plater but Noel's sales job convinced him that Peter's plater was a better bet. Noel's also returning the R6 OD that Peter sent up in case spares were needed by Wade. They weren't so the R6 can return. Oh, and when we returned I remounted the right front mudguard(fender) stay on Fleurette. Earlier I'd removed, cleaned and painted it because the paint was peeling off it and it was lightly rusting. This at Noel's request, he likes his cars to be as blemish free as possible. But after putting the right side stay back on I took off the left side stay because it too was peeling. That stay is currently hanging over the workbench drying together with the painted "correct" and WFI spacers. But after Noel had left and Fleurette was again on the hoist the issue of oil under her bottom again raised its head. After head scratching, running while on the hoist, more head scratching it's thought it might be emanating from the pinion seal. To further test this theory Wade will drive Fleurette home tonight, the third different Packard he's driven home in three days mind you!

Fleurette was then driven out. parked and replaced on the hoist by Emily. Wade had been wanting to get Emily up in the air to conduct an undercar inspection and to check oil levels and to grease the suspension. And lo and behold, it appears Emily is suffering similarly to Fleurette with oil from a leaking pinion seal. That aside, the diff level was checked, a little low. The trans, very low and dirty, so was drained. The engine oil was also drained and will be left to drip out overnight. All the grease fittings were cleaned and re-greased except for the small fittings in the front and rear universal joints because the grease gun wouldn't fit!

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Mal, it's great to see that you are prepared to put your nuts on the line to restore a Packard!

OK - I know it was obvious, but someone had to say it!

Quote:Matt,

Better that, than this!

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Friday 30th September 2011

First up re-installed the left front mudguard(fender) stay on Fleurette. Oh-oh! The stay is upside down in the pic I took! Will fix it Noel, not to worry. Wade had taken Fleurette home on Wednesday night and confirmed yesterday, after returning to the workshop and putting her on the hoist, that it is the pinion seal leaking. Noel, looks like another under car cleaning job is in your future. However, because Noel is going to use Fleurette next week, that repair will have to wait. And last night Wade had taken Emily home after refilling the engine and trans and topping up the diff. Emily is going well, although the fan belt was squealing when he arrived this morning. After checking the brake fluid level the fan belt squeal was attended to by that age old trick of applying soap. It's very effective, in fact my '41 120 sometimes exhibits the same symptom and I've taken to keeping a cake of soap in the glovebox so it can be addressed quickly if it occurs.

With nothing more that could be done on Fleurette or Emily at this stage, what to do? After some maintenance on Wade's mechanics creeper, a wheel was loose, turned to The Fossil.

Wade had tried fitting the right frame rail cover yesterday but struck a snag. After spending hours on Wednesday fabricating what was termed a spacer, to replicate the "correct" one Wade had, it appears that it probably does not go on top of the frame rail as first appeared. In doing it that way the frame rail cover sits far to far off the front frame horn in an obvious state of misalignment. The front of the frame rail cover is some 3" to 4" off the frame and to apply force to bend it to fit would kink the cover. It appears, and can anybody with a '34('33 is probably the same) confirm that the spacer is in fact a fastener? It could be a fastener affixing to the lower end of a stud screwed into the frame rail cover which is then held to the frame rail by the fastener which actually fits under the top of the frame rail and sits inside the below radiator valance panel. Can anybody confirm or deny this hypothesis? If so it would be greatly appreciated. Also learned today the frame rail cover must be in place before the mudguards(fenders) are mounted so the solution here will permit further progress. I've also created this thread in the Pre-War Forum linked back to this post to gain a wider audience.

Snookered on that front, what else needed to be done of The Fossil? Quite a lot, but what could be done now? For some things, Wade wants to wait until The Fossil is hoisted skyward courtesy of his latest workshop toy. For others it's because of impediments needing to be overcome in order to progress. One of these impediments was the hole in the left "firewall support bracket". The original wiring harness passed through this hole but the new harness wont! Why is this? Because the new harness contains extra wires for, amongst other things, turn signals and driving lights. Once the harness can be routed through this hole installation and wiring of the dash and instruments can then be attended to. To enlarge the hole, a very large drill bit would be required but because of space limitations wasn't practical. However a rotary file or rasp in an air tool would work. Only trouble was the rotary files/rasps had been borrowed the previous evening by one of John's mates and weren't back. Fortunately John was going to ABC Bearings and the guy in question lived close by and he was able to pick them up. When John returned it didn't take long to rotary file/rasp away sufficient metal for the new harness to fit.

During the time John was away another minor fix was started. This involved the upper edge of the front window frames and its visibility. When I say the window frame, it is the upper edge of the channel/frame the window sits in, and with the front windows wound up this edge is noticeably visible. The rear windows, when wound up, don't suffer from this. To correct this it was decided to pack the window channel a little at the top and sides so that when fully up the window sits a little lower. We were partway through doing this on the left window when PeterL arrived. Peter was there, not for Packard purposes, although there was an element of that as well. The Packard part? In returning home after the funeral last week Peter noticed engine temp on his '38 Eight was up from "normal". Conducted a test the next day and found the radiator shutters were only partially opening. Need a new shutter thermostat and who should have one "on the shelf", Wade! Peter was there primarily because he was picking up a Mazda RX7 engine and trans in a deal brokered by John. Peter is in the midst of getting a Mazda RX4 back on the road and was going to rebuild its current engine. But this deal came up for a recently rebuilt engine, a deal too good to pass up. As part of the deal he also picked up an RX7 5 speed trans. Plus John was able to guide and advise Peter on what he needed to do to put the RX7 engine and trans in the RX4 because of his vast background and experience with Mazda Rotaries. Peter was able to stay on after the engine and trans were loaded in his trailer, joining us for lunch at the Eastwood Rugby Club.

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Monday 3rd October 2011

Public holiday here today so no Packard workshop activity. But, while at my desk this morning, noticed the plaque pictured below. It was amongst the "junk" in a pocket change dish I keep on the desk, which has become a receptacle for all sorts of stuff when pockets are emptied out at days end. The plaque came out of the glovebox of my '41 Coupe when it was in the workshop in 2008 and it's obviously been awarded for participation at a car show. But what did Star Mule Days mean? When it came to answering this puzzling question, Google was my friend. Found out what a Mule Day is, and that Star is a town about 20 miles west of Boise Idaho. Made sense, because I bought the Coupe, back in 2007, from a guy in Middleton which is about another 5 miles west of Star. The plaque is too delicate to go on the Badge Bar, so it'll probably go inside the glovebox lid because it has a peel off adhesive pad on it's back for mounting purposes.

Speaking of no workshop activity that'll also be the case tomorrow when we join the OASIS(Old And Seriously Into Speed) Club for their monthly run. The run is to the Australian Aviation Museum at Bankstown Airport. Should be a good day for the boys to look at some big toys followed by a pleasant lunch. This afternoon the Coupe will receive a wash and vacuum together with fluid level checks to prepare it for the run.

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Hi Mal,
And to all, hope you had a wonderful day today - and enjoy your run to Bankstown Airport!

Mal, i see Peter is holding a Radiator thermostat,for the front grill would you know where he got it from? as i would like to buy one for the 120,

Thank you for all your input, And the rest of packard info, I really would'nt know what to do if it was'nt for all you guys out there!!
Bill.

Bill,

Thermostat is from Max Merritt, Part #223131. And as an old Aussie TV ad used to say, "Bring your money with you".

Quote:
Good run today with Wade and I having the only Packards amongst the Morris & Mini Minors, an MGB, an Austin Freeway, Austin A40 Devon and others. See my pic's in this Picasa Album.

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Wednesday 5th October 2011

Quote:Fixed that, re-re-installed the left front mudguard(fender) stay on Fleurette, but the right way up this time. Then spent a fair amount of time replacing the pinion seal on Fleurette. Pity all the fresh oil in the diff had to be drained out, but looked on that as a sort of positive of flushing the diff out.

After that moved on to The Fossil and installed the front frame rail covers. Able to do that with confidence now that PackardBarry confirmed positioning of the nut on the underside of the top frame rail. But there's still something of a nagging question to answer, why is that nut shaped like it is? Anyone? Now when I say installed I really meant the right side was installed twice while the left side was installed only once. Something about learning from your mistakes? The first install on the right side went well until I reminded Wade at the end of doing so that he had wanted to install tape over the heads of two groups of rivets on the top of the frame rail. I'd forgotten until that point of time that Wade had wanted to do that. The tape was being installed to prevent squeaks once the covers are installed. So off the cover came, on went the tape and back on went the cover. And although PackardBarry had said ".....Its hard to get to; socket - elbow - extension - ratchet...." Wade found that it was relatively easily accessible from under the frame rail, so wasn't a problem. Then started on installing the new the radiator shell webbing. But struck a minor hiccup, the fasteners to hold the webbing to the radiator shell needed to be cleaned and painted. They are now painted but will have to wait for tomorrow at least until dry to be installed.

During the course of Fleurette's pinion seal replacement Wade received a phone call from Noel. Apparently the R6 OD that went back with Noel to Peter Packard created a little confusion. What had happened was that Wade had received two lots of parts for the OD rebuild. A complete unit from PeterL and a set of internal parts from Peter Packard. Wade used the internals from PeterL's R6 and didn't use any of Peter Packard's parts. And at the end of the job had assembled a complete R6 using PeterL's housing and Peter Packard's internals. All clear now, or as clear as mud?

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