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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.

Quote:Dave,

If there's anything in particular you want a pic of, or in close up, let me know and I'll oblige remembering that as more goes back on the car some things become less accessible.

Wednesday 30th November 2011

First task today was retrieving Juniors block and head from Redi-strip but instead of riding shotgun this time I drove! Reason being Wade had to make some phone calls. One of the calls was to Barry Smith to thank him for a restored rear number plate bracket for The Fossil. Barry had restored a '34, (maybe more than one? Barry?) some years ago and Wade had mentioned he didn't have a number plate bracket whereupon Barry said he did! So another piece of the puzzle falls into place. This led Wade to mention how he obtained the left tail light housing now on The Fossil. Although Wade had two left tail lights, the one from the original Fossil wasn't any good while the one from the LHD replacement was just plain wrong. Turned out Harvey knew a guy who claimed to have some '34 parts and he did, two to be exact, one of which is the left tail light now on The Fossil! Back to Barry Smith, a week or two back he'd picked up from Wade the pumpkin, now fitted with the high speed gears installed by Award Diffs, for his '38 Twelve club sedan. Wade asked how he'd gone re-fitting it to the twelve. Barry's reply was, combined with it's awkwidity(a new word copyrighted by Barry), that it took three men and a guy named Trolley Jack to do the job! And presently the issue of axle end play is being addressed.

Back at the workshop with the newly cleaned block and head a check was performed on the oil galleries running the length of the block. Now clean as a whistle, as evidenced by shining a light through them from one end while Wade observed from the other.

This morning Wade brought in the re-woodgrained windshield moulding as well as the above and below windshield moulding mouldings. Note, that's not a typo or a stutter! After a hand held trial fit of all three pieces, fitted the below windshield moulding with some difficulty, sorry awkwidity, which necessitated Wade again assuming the position. Got there in the end then turned to the windshield moulding itself. Unfortunately we were short of fasteners so, after thumbing through a catalogue and getting the requisite part numbers, tonight Wade will be ordering those required. Although Wade has the fasteners that came off the two '34's they are not acceptable for what will be a show quality vehicle. The above windshield moulding requires the windshield moulding to be fitted first so it too couldn't be mounted at this stage. Also cleaned up the front ashtray ready for painting as well as some other fasteners, which are hidden and need not be quite so particular in appearance.

My reports from the workshop between now and Christmas will be limited to Mondays and Tuesdays because of a casual job I'll be doing till then, see pic below!

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Dear Santa,

I have been a very good boy all year - I promise. Could I please have a set of 60 thou oversize racing pistons and an RO34 supercharger for my 38 282 Packard engine for Christmas?

Also my friend Wade would like a new spinal column made from titanium and my other friend Mal would like a new set of gasket punches and a suit that POR-15 won't stick to.

Thank you Santa. We love you!

Matty

I have a spare head

Quote:

That must come in handy!

And he's not from Tasmania either, he's originally from Texas!