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O_D, just as I thought. Guess the next step is to address the question to Wade to see how he's going to handle it both physically and mentally!

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YES, no doubt many others would too!

Wednesday 2nd November 2011

Alas, alack, oh woe is me! Soon after I arrived at the workshop these cries of anguish resulted because my camera wouldn't work! As Wade said to Harvey, who phoned while I was trying to coax the camera into action, I looked quite lost. At times Wade is amused about me and the camera, except when an unexpected flash goes off in his face. Recently I wrote an article about a recent PACA run which included this: "Many a time Wade has joked, at least I thought it was a joke but now I'm not so sure, that my camera is welded to my hand. The day before the run there was an advertising brochure in the daily paper which showed a wrist strap to which portable electronic devices can be attached. Wade seemed to think this apparatus would be right up my alley and presented me with the advertising brochure!"

That aside, looks like my plan of attack to bring the camera back to life is:
1) Try a different memory card and fresh batteries, then if that fails,
2) Read the instructions for a solution, then if that fails,
3) Buy a new camera. In fact, on the way home popped in and perused the digital camera range available in my price bracket, cheap!
Gerd, this is one way to reduce the number of pic's I post. In fact, because of no pic's today, I'm going into withdrawal!

Aside from the photography famine, progress was made on The Fossils firewall hardware installation. Yesterday Wade had POR-15'd the various pipes, Bijur bottle fittings and some other parts. Firstly, some trial fittings of pipes to the already installed through the firewall fittings for the oil pressure gauge and the vacuum wipers. Only trouble was, they wouldn't fit! One is a male fitting, the other a female fitting and somewhere along the line they'd been swapped over. Easily fixed by refitting them to the correct sides of the firewall. Then after a MBM gasket the Bijur reservoir bottle was fitted and the pump apparatus and bottle top installed. Next was figuring out which pipes went where. This was much helped by a pic Wade has in his Restoration Folder of that side of the firewall of the replacement body before being dis-assembled some years ago. Wasn't helped though by the various extra kinks the pipes had acquired over the years, although they all fitted together in the end. Last job for the day was drilling and mounting the "wavy" retainer plate near the base of the firewall which positively locates the Bijur oil line and two vacuum lines. My biggest disappointment was that I couldn't take pic's because I'd hoped to post pic's of the process in this thread!

And last night, Wade did speak to John about Juniors engine woes. John is biting the bullet and treating Junior to an engine rebuild so Junior wont be leaving the workshop any time soon.

Lastly, this afternoon Gina takes to the skies and is travelling to the Kingdom of Bhutan for a couple of weeks holiday.

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Mal, what would it be like if you would reduce the number of pic's? There are certain moments in life when "too much" is dead right!


Cardboard cone filled with tons of sweets, given to children on their first school day in Germany.


[picture source: www.op-online.de]

Thursday 3rd November 2011

Instead of "Alas, alack, oh woe is me" it was cheer and goods spirits today. Well, at least it was in my little corner of the world. The camera works! First tried a different memory card, worked but blurry pic's. Old card in again still no go with error message of "card locked". Reference to the manual was useless so turned to Google. Typed in "memory card locked Canon powershot" and lo and behold an answer of: "...it's because the little white lock tab on the memory card has slid into the locked position...". Never knew that a tiny little card had a tiny little switch on it's side. A flick of the switch later and I'm back in business, almost. Pic's still blurry. In all my efforts to fix the problem I'd upset my camera settings, More operation of buttons and finally fully functioning again. Phew!

At the workshop there was a change of pace to start out with, Wade gave Gina's Celica a logbook service. First needed to put Big Red out in the rain, Junior into the slot vacated by Big Red and the Celica onto the hoist. Basically it was drain the engine oil and auto trans fluid, replace the oil filter and refill with fresh oil and ATF. Along with visual checks of other fluid levels, all OK, except the windscreen washer reservoir required a minor top up. Other visual checks included the brake pads, tyres and CV joint covers. Wade was going to change the timimg belt until John advised because it has VVT it doesn't have a belt but a chain. At the same time Wade was going to replace an engine mount which had deteriorated but, because a spare wasn't available, that will now be done another day along with a new accessories drive belt. Major part of the process is removing the plastic covers from atop and below the engine compartment.

That done, turned to Junior and returned him to his position on the hoist. Although John has "authorised" an engine rebuild, rather than dive straight into that, Wade has adopted a more measured approach. First the head came off to check whether there was something obvious, like a stuck valve that could explain the compression readings, especially the 0 from #3. Nothing obvious at first glance, turning the engine over by hand showed all valves opening and closing and the head gasket appeared to be intact. Turned to the bottom end next. Removed the sump(pan), again nothing obvious. Then #3 big end cap removed and the piston and rod knocked out. Big end journal is in the vicinity of 0.040" undersize, slightly ovoid and the journal surface appears "scratchie". Cleaned up #3 piston top which is stamped as 0.040" oversize but haven't yet checked the bore for size and taper.

And last night I received an email from pepepackard advising "...have a good range of junior parts for an engine rebuild if John needs any...". This from a guy who found he had 5 Six/110 engines when he moved house a year or so ago, he thought he only had a couple!
Fred.

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Stop the presses!

On my way to a Packard Club meeting tonight I saw the car pictured below parked in a suburban street!

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Jay Leno has one of those same Electric Cars. I believe it has a "tiller" steering system.

Mal, imagine that you would have been without camera ... Phew!

That's a very nice item to be just parked on a street. On purpose -- or did it run out of battery would be the next question. I would hope Australia is enough different than the US in one regard but if not, I would also hope the owner is nearby with a large caliber anti theft prevention device.

I saw one recently at the Concorso de Santa Fe. It has a tiller steering as Kev said. The driver sits in the seat that is far back in the cab. Two passenger capacity, I believe, but with lots of leg room. Large glass area, good visability. Lead-Acid batteries in front and back compartments.

(o[]o)

Monday 7th November 2011

While Mal was away Wade wasn't at play but working hard on Junior last Friday and Saturday. Arrived at the workshop to find Junior denuded, well at least as far as the front clip goes. Up on the hoist, engine at waist height with all accessories removed and linkages disconnected, front wheels off and Wade struggling to get the legs on the engine crane pinned in place. If you're lucky you might be able to do it alone but it's really a two man job even though all the second man does is just provide slight leverage so the pin's can be inserted when the legs are laid out flat. And this time around Wade had a nifty little pick up device which can be wound back and forth for the centre of balance in the lifting process. And it worked well too, with Mal operating the crane, up a bit, down a bit, pull back, slide in, etc, the engine and trans combo came out very easily.

Next the trans/OD unit was removed from the bellhousing and laid on the floor. Good, except it tipped left spilling oil from the OD, filler plug or governor? To fix, tipped to the right but an even worse result, oil from solenoid or speedo drive this time. Fixed when the clutch throw out bearing was used as a wedge to maintain the trans/OD in an upright stance. Clutch fork, pressure and clutch plate then removed but first pressure plate and flywheel marked for future reference. With those off this allows access to the flywheel bolts but first more marking between crankshaft and flywheel followed by prising out the ears of the retaining tabs on the flywheel bolts. Then the bellhousing bolts became accessible and were removed. Turned then to the front of the engine and the front engine mount removed, rubber looks OK but will probably be replaced anyway. Harmonic balancer off then the timing case cover revealing a very slack timing chain. Unbolting the large nut on the cam gear required more tabs to be bent back and it then had to be gradually levered off the cam snout. The teeth on both timing gears are in sad shape with the cam gear worse than the crank gear. Additionally the back of the front crankshaft oil seal was "chewed up" where the crankshaft gear, the timing chain or a combination thereof had been having their way with it.

Back and front done, next was the turn of the internal components. Valve spring compresser and a magnet were the tools used with the magnet picking out the little slide in retainers, then the valves followed by the valve springs. And it appears that almost all exhaust valves weren't seating. Down then to the bottom end, the big ends unbolted and piston and rod assemblies pushed out. Although last week #3 big end had shown signs of wear and scoring, #2 being first out today was down to the copper. As were #4, #1, #5 and #6 in order of removal. Additionally, the top ring on #6 was broken and from a cursory examination all the top rings seemed "looser" than the second rings. The camshaft was then slipped out after it's front retaining plate was removed. Tappets out and placed in numbered series for re-installation at a later date. Main bearing caps removed, first marking #2 and #3 which didn't have any visible marking although later a faint 3 was found on #3. All main bearing have pieces missing and/or other damage to them. Would have only been a matter of time before something dramatic happened.

The ancillary fittings were next with the various oil pipe fitting first photographed by the Packardarazzi(moi!) and then removed. Aren't digital cameras wonderful? Next were the two screw topped oil gallery fittings. These required a shockhammer screwdriver to break them loose from the block but were relatively easy to remove. The last oil gallery items were the end plugs for the oil galleries. One at the rear of the main gallery, another at the front of it and a third below the front cam bearing. Each of these is a grub screw with a square female fitting and these are flush or below block surface level. These, together with some very stubborn welch plugs and a very embedded in block water distribution tube, were still in situ when I left, for some time with the grand-daughters.

Once everything is removed, some measuring and assessment undertaken by Wilkins Engineering of block, crank, etc, and a frank and fearless discussion with John will take place. Depending on the outcomes things can then be set underway to order parts, dip blocks, do machining required leading to a new source of power for Junior.

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