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John, gives great satisfaction when a DIY project turns out this good. Well done!

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Kev, this is the second request I have had for patterns. I threw out the old mats as they were so soiled and worn. I reused the old panels (fenders and rear seat) by covering them with the new carpet material. I would love to help, but reluctant to remove the pieces to trace patterns. I wish I would have had the foresight to make patterns when I was doing the job. Sorry.

(o{I}o)

JW,

No worries. You could have had a good side business selling precut ready to assemble kits!

Hello All,

Having had success with the trunk, I turned my attention to the interior in the last garage sessions. I had previously removed the seats for cleaning and rejuvenation. This left me with a much better view of the worn and misshapen carpet. I removed the door sills in order to get the carpet out. The carpet was badly deteriorated and the padding had been wet and was showing rust on its bottom side.

This caused me some alarm and concern, but as I investigated further it appeared that it was only surface rust and that the floorboards and surrounding areas were in sound shape. I removed the accelerator pedal, the floorboard plate for the clutch and brake pedals (the Clipper has a standard transmission and standard brakes). This area also looked good.

I cleaned and scraped, wire brushed, and vacuumed the floorboards to remove the loose sprayed-on sound deadening material that had been under the carpet padding.

I then posed a question on the General Discussion forum about dealing with surface rust. I received a few kind replies recommending rust encapsulation products. They are sold under many different names, but are basically phosphoric acid. As I understand the process, the phosphoric acid interacts with rusted metal and changes the rust to a material that can then be safely primed and painted.

I bought a bottle of the Jasco product at Lowe's and proceeded to brush it on the whole floorboard surface. The directions say that it will turn the rusted metal into a gray looking surface, and that it takes 24 hours for the interaction to work.

The following day I had a most pleasant surprise. What I thought was a large amount of surface rust was the red oxide colored body primer. There were several gray areas and most of them were not large. This was most encouraging. The next day I washed down the floorboards with water and a rag to get rid of the phosphoric acid residue. After drying, I applied a coat of primer paint on the gray ares to protect them from the humid air.

Next step is to try applying some spray on undercoating to replace the material that I scrapped off and then to repaint the entire floorboard area with a good oil based enamel.

The next garage session will probably not take place for about another week. We have two birthdays to celebrate this weekend. The birthday boys are my son and son-in-law. my son and grandson coming in this weekend and my brother is coming down from the Dallas area for a visit. We should have some nice family time together; albeit, in the 105F temperatures.

Brother, son, and grandson want to visit the Circuit of the Americas construction site, the venue for the next United States Formula One Grand Prix in 2012. We'll probably do this when son and grandson get picked-up at the airport on Friday as the race track location is nearby.

Take care.

(o{I}o)

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Hello All,

Not much Packarding going on these days with family visits and constant extreme temperatures in the 105F or higher level.

We visited the construction site of the Circuit of Americas during visit of son, grandson, and brother last week. This venue is to be the ten-year home of the US Formula One Grand Prix starting in 2012. Much work has been done in moving dirt for the track layout since I first visited the site in April. That visit was just prior to a big press conference where the facility's name was announced and much ballyhoo about sponsors and other events. It is also going to be the site of Moto GP motorcycle races starting in 2013, and the Australian Super Car series will race here too. Mal, are you reading this? The first photo is the sign that marked the site just before the naming. The second photo shows the current signs marking the property.

My efforts have been concentrated on the interior after success fashioning new mats and panels for the trunk. The interior work is a work in progress and more will be posted here (hopefully) soon.

I did one job on the Fifty-five Clipper in a garage session before the trunk refurbishing. I installed a tachometer. Browsing eBay parts for sale I noticed a vintage Sun Tach being offered. It was NOS, in its box, and had never been installed. I guessed the tach was a late-1970s or early-1980s model. I opted for a Sun tach as this company had a reputation for making the best (and probably most expensive) automotive diagnostic and test equipment. Also, back in the day, a Sun tach perched on your instrument panel or mounted on the steering column was the mark of a discriminating driver. I thought the tach would go nicely with the Clipper, adding an aftermarket accessory that would have been installed when the car was newer. I won the bidding on the tach. Did you notice the price on the original tag? Needless to say, I paid a bit more than that amount.

The installation was straightforward. I easily followed a nicely written instruction sheet detailing the installation of the well-designed and engineered instrument. All parts except for wire was furnished. The most difficult part was finding an instrument light wire to tap into. It is reassuring to know that I can still work under the instrument panel for long periods of time lying on my back. The problem is getting out from under the panel. One of these days I fear I will get down there and not be able to get out. This should make for an interesting situation.

I chose to mount the tach on the steering column using the bracket and clamp supplied with the kit. The clamp is a stainless steel aircraft type, which may be replaced when I can find a more attractive clamp. But then, this is what was used in the day. I positioned the tach so that no gauges are completely blocked. The tach can be removed at anytime in the future and leave no trace of it being on the car. But, right now I will enjoy watching the needle move as the engine speed varies.

Next time I hope to be posting more on the interior work. Thanks for taking time to read through this.

Take care

(o{}o)

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Quote:John,

I'm here!

V8 Supercars Australia is a 2 make(Ford V Holden, local GM brand) sedan road racing series originally Australian based but now having races in New Zealand, China and Abu Dhabi. Next stop Texas!

Nice acquisition, that tach, and a very useful accessory with a manual trans. Interested to know what shift points work best! Motor on!

You do realize that I will be visiting yearly for Packard fun before each F1 race???? Oh yes yes I will

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Henry, look forward to the visits. Make your reservations early. The Lawrence Inn is already booked-up for the 2012 race. Looks like it will be held in November instead of the June date that was first announced. This revised date couples the US GP with Brazil. It will be the next to last race. Good move, November is a great time around here.

(o{}o)

yeah....i better get me a hotel now. LOL!

p.s. i wasn't implying i required staying at your house, i wouldn't invite myself LOL :0) just wanted to come see Packards.