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Thursday 17th November 2011

Just a few hours at the workshop this afternoon. Wade had been in Tuesday morning and taken the spare Six crank over to Graham Wilkins. Graham miked it up and found both the big-ends and mains to be Standard, but all journals will be ground 0.010" under to clean them up. This morning Wade had removed the water distribution tube from Juniors block but not without a fight. Not to worry, on the magic shelf Wade had another one! This afternoon, while I started cleaning parts, Wade was tackling the front oil gallery grub screw which was proving quite recalcitrant. Still hadn't removed the remains of it when I left but it looks like it'll be drilled out and tapped to the next larger size together with a hex head grub screw instead of the square one at present. Also mounted The Fossil's speaker box on the firewall.

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Tuesday 22nd November 2011

On the weekend the Flackmaster requested some pic's "....of the routing of the overdrive cable to the overdrive lever, the precise location of the overdrive relay and frankly most other pictures of the real world install pictures as opposed to service manual diagrams...." Because ".... There is a guy local to me who is going to install an overdrive trans into a 41-120...." Took the in-car, firewall and topside routing shots on Sunday and teed it up with Wade to put the Coupe up on the hoist today to take the under-car pic's. So that was the first task, shuffling Big Red out and the Coupe in and putting it up on the hoist. Still pretty clean underneath. Although there is a minor rear main seal leak, a leak from the OD lock out lever and a leak from the vicinity of the fuel pump. More of leaks a little later. Took the under-car pic's and these will be emailed to the Flackmaster after I've finished this post, sorry David. With the Coupe up in the air also gave the undersides a good checkover and cleaned the grime, mostly from the old exhaust system before it was replaced by the stainless setup about 18 months ago, from the tailshaft, diff housing and fuel tank. After the fuel tank surfaces were cleaned a small puddle was noticed under it on the floor which was first thought to be from the cleaning. Closer examination showed it to be petrol and that it was likely coming from the area of the top of the tank. But, because I'd recently filled the fuel tank, it was decided to examine it further when the tank is closer to empty. I'd also had thoughts of replacing the flexible fuel line from the fuel pump to the rigid line on the front frame but the full fuel tank also precluded doing that. Discovered too that the rear springs are different side to side. Also tightened the U-bolt nuts, after Juniors experience, just wanted to be sure. In cleaning the tailshaft found the uni-joints have some play so will procure a pair to replace them. So the next time the Coupes on the hoist there'll be a bit of work done and not just the grease and oil change I was expecting

While I was puttering around under the Coupe, Wade was removing sparkplugs and other plugs and fittings from Juniors cylinder head. Tomorrow the cylinder head together with the block will be taken to be tanked. Yesterday Wade had also rodded out the two block length oil galleries, this is a must before sending the block out to be cleaned. The lower gallery was relatively clean but the upper one was full of thick sludge, so Wade rodded this one out again today. Yesterday Wade had also drilled out the three gallery screw in plugs, retapped the holes and purchased new plugs from Lee Bros.

Re-shuffled the Coupe out and Big Red back in then turned to The Fossil. First the mounting nuts for the radio speaker were replaced by dome nuts, being on the engine side of the firewall. Then a length of hose was going to be installed at the rear of the engine between the pipe running from the intake manifold to the pipe running to the regulator on the firewall. Only trouble was the clamps for the hose were too big, because the original vacuum hose was a larger outside diameter than the modern hose available. Not the magic shelf this time but the magic bucket full of old hose clips/clamps came to the rescue. Four were found, one of which turned out to be brass after blasting off dirt, rust and old paint. Because these needed to be painted Wade also took the opportunity to paint some other parts including part of the hand throttle linkage, some other clamps and the body and back cover of the STARTIX unit. Then, while I was painting Wade was fitting another hose to another part of the vacuum system and also re-routing an oil line which impeded the operation of the accelerator linkage. All the bits being put on lately have been in, around or near the firewall. They have to be sequenced, to prevent impeding other items which need to be installed. But there appears to be light at the end of this tunnel with Wade talking about it getting close to the time the foot plate and the dash panel can be installed.

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Mal, I don't appear to have the thief-proof # from the 34 in my listing. Any chance you could forward that to me along with the vehicle number? The numbers above 185000 are beginning to be of special interest as it appears that the majority of them are RHD and at the high extreme of the #s for 1934.

Wednesday 23rd November 2011

First up today Junior's block and head were taken to Redi-strip for chemical cleaning. Should be ready for pick up early to mid next week.

Back at the workshop turned again to The Fossil. The parts painted yesterday were ready but the body of the STARTIX unit will need to be done again. The hose for the vacuum line at rear of the engine block was connected up and clamped with the freshly painted hose clips. Next the Ride Control assembly and bracket was mounted to the firewall and connected to the lever inside the left frame rail. The vacuum pipe connecting the vacuum regulator to the wipers was also hooked up. It too was painted yesterday and had been hanging free waiting for just that occasion. The two drain pipes from the upper cowl vent were then connected to the Y junctioned pipe that runs inside the firewall and exits at the base of the engine block. The radio box was the next to be addressed with it being mounted on the inside of the firewall. Lastly the oil pressure line from the rear of the block to the flexible line on the firewall was installed.

Lots of "little" things done but there's still a whole lot more to do. Surprising how long each one takes, always seems to be some problem, big or small, to contend with. Slow progress but progress nevertheless.

Quote:Dave,

Thought I'd already posted those details but instead of trying to backtrack that, will PM you the info.

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Monday 28th November 2011

All of an afternoon spent with three things accomplished, it's amazing how much time is spent putting things back together, think I've said that before. The three were 1) mounting the fuse block on the firewall, 2) installing the dash, and 3) mounting the steering column brace/bracket.

Fuse block was straight forward just needed to be mounted somewhere the wires from the new wiring harness would reach. Wade had worried about it but now the radio is in place a nice spot was available above the radio speaker. Wade said he didn't know where he was going to find fuses to fit the fuse block but it turned out fuses used by the rice racer boom box boys are perfect!

The dash, well that was an altogether different story. Wade said it was a fight to get it out of the car originally and it proved to be quite a fight to get it back in. With the radio box and speaker in place there was no room to manouver and at one stage, in fact for quite a while, the unspoken thought was they'd have to come out. However perseverance is a great attribute, Wade having plenty of it, and it finally slipped into place. Fortunately too, there are a couple of indents in the bracing of the left interior of the cowl which facilitates the process. That actually turned out to be the easy part, getting the screws in which fasten it to the rear of the top rear bracing of the cowl was more difficult. Wade's back is not the best and after spending most of the afternoon on it under the cowl sure won't help. But with the dash now in, The Fossil is looking much better.

The steering column brace/bracket also proved to be a difficult fit. Part of this and also the foregoing dash episode are probably attributable to the fact that the body was LHD originally and is now set up for RHD. The holes which bolt the brace/bracket to the bottom of the dash panel were out by a fair bit necessitating some un-Packardlike attention to one of the holes in the dash panel so everything fitted. But now it's all together and looks good!

Expect Wade will be having a few drinks after todays effort 1) in celebration, and 2) to ease the aches in his back!

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Mal, thanks for sharing more of the adventures at Wade's. I have seen turn signal switches fitted to pre-war automobiles where the body of the switch and mounting bracket have been painted the same color as the steering column. They look like they belong in the color. Just a suggestion.

(o[]o)

Tuesday 29th November 2011

Arrived at the workshop to find Wade working on a '97 Lexus! It was John's but he's sold it and had said to the guy he'd fix the radio. Only trouble was it took most of yesterday, part of today, consultations from Rick and Wade and finally a different radio to fix the problem!

That aside, turned again to The Fossil and the rebuilt instruments in the instrument panel. The panel and instruments look great. Then there was a reading of the wiring list supplied by Vintage Wiring Harness and locating and identifying the various wires hanging out of the harness. Identification was reasonably easy with each wire identified by a number or a letter. That is except for 30 and 31 which appear to be cross-numbered in the list. Speaking of the harness, Wade had additional wires included for turn indicators, driving lights and an electric fuel pump(heresy!).

First The ignition switch together with its armoured cable were connected to the harness, then the cable slotted through the round hole in the centre of the firewall and the bezel fitted to it. The map light was then fitted to the upper centre of the cowl, under the overhang, just above the dash.

Next a temporary bench was set up, on the front floor of The Fossil, comprising two large plastic buckets, some smaller plastic buckets to give additional height and a length of board between these pinnacles of plastic as the bench top. Reason for the bench was to lay the instrument panel, which was already fitted with its rebuilt instruments, face down so the backs of the instruments were in close proximity to the wires in the harness so they could be connected together. As in many other operations this all took time to ensure the correct connections were being made. The number 30 and 31 mix up didn't help, but using a multimeter the right wires were identified. Near the end of this process, which also necessitated wiring two switches which protrude through the bottom edge of the instrument panel, a snag developed. A feature of '34 Packards, and no doubt other years, is that at the press of a button you can toggle between fuel and engine oil levels but the switch concerned was defective. Turned out the insulating block in the switch was bent and necessitated some gentle persuasion to return it back to the straight and level. The other switch is a toggle switch for the lights(I think). Once all wired up, getting the instrument panel into it's position on the dash proved somewhat challenging. Needed to thread the temperature gauge's bourdon tube through the firewall hole, slip the 8 day clock winder over the lower edge of dash opening and it should have slotted in. Except it didn't, and each time the panel came back for inspection so did the bourdon tube, meant that for each additional attempt I had to go round to the engine side of the firewall to help the bourdon tube through the hole again. Finally it just slipped into place, why it didn't do that at the first, second, etc attempts I don't know. Then Wade like yesterday spent a long time on his back securing the washers and nuts that hold the panel to the dash, it's awkward. The two switches were then mounted and a little live test to check we were heading in the right direction. Battery re-connected, brake pedal pushed and the ammeter registered a discharge, looking good. Then another struggle for Wade, connecting the oil pressure gauge tube, Fitting on the back of the gauge was easy not so the other end of the pipe on the firewall fitting. Thankfully it was already on the fitting, but only finger tight necessitating some unusual contortions on Wade's part from either side of the cabin but he finally tightened it up. Finished up with another test, this time with the ignition key in. Looked pretty good with tail lights, brake lights, instrument lights working but the fuel gauge was not. Even kicked the engine over very briefly on the starter button.

Tomorrow, will be heading out to Redi-strip to pick up Juniors block and head after their chemical cleaning.

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The other switch is a toggle switch for the lights....

Mal, the "other" switch, under the edge of the dash near the oil/gas select switch, should be a 3-position switch, switching between the instrument lights and the map light (the one under the rotating metal cover at the top of the dash).

PS - looking at the photos, one thing I've found curious about these 11th series RHD cars is that, given the symmetry of the dash, they didn't swap the positions of the clock and the speedo to keep the speedo in front of the driver. Also, that wood grain pattern is pretty unique, can't say I've seen that grain pattern on a 34 dash, mine and other closed cars I've seen have a dark burl grain.

PS - Photo is from my Eight (703).

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Dave,

In response to your comments

....the "other" switch, under the edge of the dash near the oil/gas select switch, should be a 3-position switch, switching between the instrument lights and the map light (the one under the rotating metal cover at the top of the dash). - Yes, that's it, it works too as was demonstrated in the last testing phase.

PS - looking at the photos, one thing I've found curious about these 11th series RHD cars is that, given the symmetry of the dash, they didn't swap the positions of the clock and the speedo to keep the speedo in front of the driver. - The new wiring harness was made to suit the instruments "as is". Yesterday I was also looking at that aspect and thought they could have been swapped. Maybe some of the other instruments could have been transposed as well?

Also, that wood grain pattern is pretty unique, can't say I've seen that grain pattern on a 34 dash, mine and other closed cars I've seen have a dark burl grain. - The re-woodgraining was done some years ago early in the restoration by a guy in Newcastle(about 100 miles north of Sydney) who probably didn't have access to original patterns.

PS - Photo is from my Eight (703) - Thanks for the pic, looks great.

Thanks, Mal. The "fossil" is going to be one outstanding car when finished. I've enjoyed all of your coverage of it, in part because it's allowed me to see details that I haven't ever seen on my own car, despite all the years I've had it.