Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Tuesday 13th December 2011

Started this post last night and ran out of puff about quarter way through the first paragraph. This morning finished that paragraph as well as the next three then it was off to the blood bank and this time was able to make a Plasma donation without running dry or leaking. Mid afternoon dropped into the workshop to catch up with Wade who was working on the cable pull problem with the A pillar. More about that, in fact a lot more about that, below. Wade had also finished routing the cable from the B pillar to the rear of the car. Besides that had been working on the waterpump again and pushed out the Hyatt bearing from its snout, more too of the waterpump later. The final piece Wade had worked on was the throttle linkage for Junior. It had arrived with a broken spring but on disassembly Wade found far more wrong with it. The main cross shaft is badly worn where it rubs on the linkage bracket, one end has had an additional hole drilled in it for another pin to secure a linkage arm and the holes in the linkage bracket are worn oval.

That was todays workshop pitstop while yesterday, when I arrived at the workshop, I found Barry Smith, BKSmith, there. Barry was returning Wade's spare trans and also dropping off a 426 waterpump for a rebuild from a mate of his in Tamworth. Mate has a couple of 20's 6 cyl Packards and is having an engine rebuilt for one of them with the guy who rebuilt Barry's Twelve engine doing it. Speaking of whom, there was a thread recently by foxhole, since deleted, chasing information about rebuilding a Twelve. Barry advised that his engine guy has been in contact with foxhole to pass on his experience in rebuilding Barry's Twelve. Barry also showed us a NOS right door lock mechanism he purchased from Joel(Packards1) for his '51 Convertible, very pleased with it. Also said when he asked how much shipping would be to Australia that Joel advised about $15 and if it was less he'd refund the difference. Barry said he's now advised Joel to forget the refund, see pic below. And the reason Barry returned Wade's spare trans was that he had it on hand while the previously rebuilt trans for the Twelve was being worked on because the synchros weren't working. Turned out the new equivalent front bearing used in the rebuild had the circlip retaining groove 1mm from the position on the original bearing. Barry was able to obtain a spacing washer at his local bearing supplier to fix the problem. So with the high speed rear end gears now in and the trans problem overcome the Twelve is back on the road and running beautifully. Barry, in returning home to Tamworth, about 250 miles north of Sydney, is also making a stop to see Max Hood. Max is a Packard elder statesman in the truest sense having owned and restored many Packards over the years, including The Fossil at one stage.

After Barry's departure it was off to Burt Bros with Juniors flywheel, clutch and pressure plate. In his initial examination of the pressure plate the guy at Burt Bros thinks it looks good but it will be gone over nevertheless. The flywheel will be resurfaced while the clutch plate will probably be replaced. Will be done by the end of the week but will be picked up next Monday because Wade and Gina are off to Gil-bloody-gandra late this week. On the way back to the workshop stopped off at Jaycar and Wade picked up some cable, a radio antennae cable, a switch and an in-line fuse holder for The Fossil.

Back at the workshop turned to The Fossil, in which Wade had installed the windscreen moulding last week. Today he was looking to pull through new wiring and the radio antennae cable. The cable for the rear compartment, part way up the B pillar then running through the wooden roof bows was easy. The antennae cable and wiring cable up the right side A pillar was another matter altogether. Previously Wade had fed a pull cable down from the roof end of the pillar, with some difficulty but it was in place for the pull through. To this cable the antennae cable and another cable were affixed with electricians tape covering and smoothing the join. But it would only go so far, in fact not far at all. Wade, in a position normal for him, on his back under the dash, determined that the pull cable wasn't coming through the pillar straight enough because it took a kink type turn part way down. This necessitated cutting off the join, then re-threading part of the pull cable using part of a bent wire coathanger with a small hook at one end to accomplish this task. Straight cable pull path accomplished wire ends were again stripped of insulation, tied together and rebound with electricians tape. Better result, in that the pull extended almost to the top of the pillar then stopped. Withdrew the cables and determined there were chafe marks on the electricians tape so an application of grease to the tape was tried but with no better result obtained. Pulled the cables back, cut off the join and re-affixed the antennae cable only to the pull cable but with the same result. Went almost all the way to the top then stopped. During all this I had been pulling the cable through with Wade feeding the pulled cable/s from below. At this point Wade tried the top end with long nose pliers to obtain a better grip on the pull cable, with no better result, then just brute force. Except at that point the join between the pull cable and the pulled cable gave way. Cut off the join again and looked at other options. There's a rubber bumper block at the top of the door frame and that was taken out, but it's in a metal pocket with no access to the inside of the pillar so a dead end. Then careful examination of the pillar revealed another possible path slightly forward of that tried previously. The pull cable was fed down this path, the antennae cable re-affixed and taped up and another pull commenced. Similar result this time around, went so far then stopped. More under dash on back work by Wade revealed another kink in the pull route. Another join cut, another re-routing, another cable re-join and another pull resulted in another dead run! With things not going at all to plan and with options exhausted the cable join was again cut resulting in further examination of the situation. Outcome of that was to leave this task and think about it some more because there wasn't anything obviously apparent that could be tried. Moving on, the speedo cable had been previously fitted to the trans but the other end hadn't been connected to the speedo, so that was done now.

Between the easy cable pull through and the pull cable debacle DavidM arrived. Seems he and Veronique have completed their filming obligations in the re-make of The Great Gatsby and David being close by today called in. David had been to see Richard, the rivet man and open car top bow maker who lives locally. Reason for the rivets being a rebuild of the first gear band for his '12 Maxwell. David had the Maxwell running a couple of week-ends ago, taken his neighbour for a run, and decided before putting it to bed afterwards to start the engine up again. Being a '12 it's a crank start, but when started it lurched forward but fortunately stalled so no damage was done to David at least. Not so the Maxwell! What had happened was that a nut in the first gear planetary system had come loose, jammed the gears resulting in the car engaging first gear when started. That wasn't so bad, but what was bad was that the errant nut had broken one tooth off a gear and broken a piece out of the planetary housing. Had also caused 3 of the wooden blocks, inside the external contracting band which engages first gear, to dislodge from the band. The wooden blocks are riveted to the band hence the need for the rivets from Richard. David had the first/reverse planetary system and the contracting band in the boot of his car so we were able to see the damage up close. Fortunately David, although having originally pursued having parts made locally to replace those broken, has parts coming from the US so will be able to rebuild the planetary unit and will be using castellated nuts with split pins this time. The previous owner, or maybe it was like this from the factory, not appreciating this feature!

After The Fossil then turned to the 426 waterpump. Being an earlier pump it's a bit different to the ones recently worked on, but like all the pumps needs new bearing as well as a new seal. The replacement seal will be a modern ceramic one, the rear bronze bush is likely to be replaced with a modern sealed bearing while the front Hyatt bearing will probably also be replaced with a modern double row sealed bearing. Hardest parts of the disassembly process were removing the three screws which secure, for want of a better term, the cage over the impeller and loosening the gland packing nut. David had seen the waterpump on the bench and passed a comment that the hot spanner would most likely be needed to loosen the cage retaining screws. Turned out the hot spanner was used, but not for that, instead it was pressed into service to release the gland nut. A bit of heat, broke the seal with a big crescent wrench and it came off relatively easily after that. Then pressed off the impeller, pressed the shaft out of the housing and pressed the bush out of the housing.

And on Sunday had a call from LeeH, Larry51, concerning if he could track the history of his '51 Club Sedan somehow. Complicating this is that the car is missing it's ID plate as well as it's Briggs Body Tag. Larry tells me he became quite excited when he found a tag in a box of parts he got when he bought the car. But it turned out to be from a 2562, so it obviously wasn't from his car. I suggested PACA member SamI who has Ira Berk, Sydney Packard dealer, records. However Lee has already been down that path without reward. I then suggested Mat, packard34, who as I understood things has Kellow Faulkner, Melbourne Packard dealer, records. When mentioning this to Wade yesterday he also advised that Peter, Peter Packard, also has dealer records. So Lee, that could be another avenue for you to pursue.

PS - To all the gents mentioned here, if you have anything to add or correct my lax reporting, feel free to jump in and comment!

Attach file:

---

  (19.69 KB)


  (24.24 KB)


  (28.51 KB)


  (28.22 KB)


  (21.78 KB)


  (29.91 KB)


  (37.14 KB)


  (29.15 KB)


  (28.36 KB)


  (35.36 KB)


  (33.02 KB)


  (21.99 KB)


  (43.58 KB)


  (44.95 KB)


  (45.84 KB)


  (17.54 KB)


  (40.92 KB)


  (18.86 KB)


  (38.26 KB)


  (33.06 KB)

JW and MAL, I posted some extensive information on Startix, but put it in a separate thread, thinking that might make it easier for folks to find in the future. It's from the Standard Auto-Electrician's Manual of 1934, a great resource volume on vintage auto-electric equipment.

O_D, you sure did! Great documentation! Your indepth knowledge, great skill, and long-time experience came to the rescue, once again. This will be invaluable to those who have the STARTIX fitted to their Packards.

(o[]o)

Thank you Dave,

Knew you, if anyone, would be able to come through with the info.

I'm cross referencing between both threads for future reference.

Link to O_D's thread - "Startix" by Eclipse Machine

Guys, thanks for the nice words - always happy to contribute.

The A.E.A. manuals never had the broad distribution that manuals like Motor's, Glenn's, and Chilton had; it's rare to ever come across one, even at the larger flea markets. I've always considered myself fortunate to have this one (covers late 20s thru 1934). If auto electrics interest you and you ever see one that covers your car or even cars of an era of interest to you, try not to let it get away - they are an outstanding source of information.

Wednesday 14th December 2011

Posted a pic on the 28th November of a Signal Stat 900 turn indicator unit. Subsequently bought one, off eBay, which arrived today. See it has a 12V flasher can on it, hope I didn't buy the wrong one! Wade, will leave it on your desk at the workshop on Friday for your return Monday after the trip to Gil-bloody-gandra.

Attach file:

---

  (18.14 KB)


  (24.19 KB)


  (22.34 KB)

Monday 19th December 2011

My late arrival at the workshop allowed Wade to check over the Signal Stat turn indicator unit and confirm it will be fine for The Fossil, determine which wires are what and locate a 6V flasher can to replace the 12V it came with. Other arrivals besides the Signal Stat were a new engine mount for Gina's Celica, the "new" front seat back top for Big Red and a book "The Restoration of Vintage and Thoroughbred Cars". The engine mount finally arrived from Japan after being ordered early in November, usually takes days, not weeks extending into months! The seat back top for Big Red was fabricated by Noel's mate Tony using a spare '34 seat back top. Back on 13th September Tony had picked the seat back top up, returned with it the next day for a trial fit and called in a few times since then for further fitting checks. Besides a section added in the middle, about 4" IIRC, the seat back top needed to be straightened because the '37 seat back has a lot less curvature than a '34. The book, don't know who dropped that off, was appreciated with Wade thinking it good of them even though most of the work has already been done! Wade showed me a number of things he'd been working on last week, mounting of the back up light on the right rear bumper bracket, drilling of holes in the cabin timber framing and running of cable and finally being able to run the radio antennae cable down the A pillar. The last is what I left Wade contemplating when I last saw him. He finally managed to get a pull cable down inside the pillar, connect it to the antennae cable and through it came without any of the dramas associated with trying to pull it up through the pillar. Of course it also meant the plug-in end for the radio was now at the wrong end of the cable and was cut off, but more about that later.

Time for the road trip to pick up Juniors flywheel, clutch and pressure plates from Burt Bros. Only trouble was. it wasn't ready! The pressure plate needed to be re-assembled and wouldn't be available until tomorrow, and Wade was advised to ring first! Funny, because as we were walking into Burt Bros Wade said, maybe he should have phoned first! But it wasn't an entirely wasted trip because on the return journey called into Jaycar and purchased a antennae cable end and a fuse holder for the Signal Stat. Also on the return journey Wade had a call from Barry Smith, answered by moi because Wade was driving, to let Wade know that AndrewO'H, the owner of the '26 426 water pump, was dropping in tomorrow because he was down in Sydney on business.

Back at the workshop turned to The Fossil and while Wade was sorting out screws and things to mount the trunk latch ends I cut down the Back up light mounting bolts to accept dome head nuts and re-mounted the light, after of course getting Wade's approval it was in the right spot. That done I enlarged the holes in the rubber mounting pads for the trunk latch ends, they ware slightly too small and not quite correctly positioned, think they came from Steele's, but....Shhhh! By the time I finished that Wade had all the mounting hardware ready and on they went. Next was the trunk lock, but before going back on a few pieces needed cleaning and painting and will be caught up with tomorrow. Then the connector for the flasher unit was given attention with all the wires and clips first removed, necessitating Wade making a tool by grinding down an old hacksaw blade to fit into the slots to release the clips, worked a treat! The old crimped on wires were then removed from the clips and replaced by larger diameter wires soldered into the opened up jaws of the crimp lugs and slid back into the flasher socket. Next was the replacement antennae cable end which was spliced onto the radio end of the antennae cable. Left things there, but I'll return later this week for a catch up on progress and file a pre-Christmas report.

Attach file:

---

  (30.83 KB)


  (31.37 KB)


  (26.33 KB)


  (35.99 KB)


  (13.17 KB)


  (37.35 KB)


  (21.15 KB)


  (28.94 KB)


  (27.51 KB)


  (26.95 KB)


  (17.75 KB)


  (20.21 KB)


  (29.41 KB)


  (33.37 KB)

Friday 23rd December 2009

Catch up visit with Wade this morning before heading off for Santa duties. Learned that he's spent a couple of days on his back in and under The Fossil fitting the toe board, connecting the Signal Stat turn indicator unit and connecting up the radio. Only wires still loose under there are for the electric fuel pump and the Trippe lights. Reason being the electric pump, to be used for priming only, and the Trippe lights aren't themselves fitted yet. Going back to the toe board, Wade found, with the radio in place, he couldn't fit the toe board but removing the clutch and brake pedal foot pads allowed him to do so. Also found the brake pedal is rubbing on the toe board so more work required there while the turn indicators work as does the radio.

In mentioning the Signal Stat turn indicator unit, I found another one on eBay. This one NOS and cheaper than the one I bought for The Fossil! Have a view to mounting it in the Coupe to replace the flimsy, generic unit presently in use. Also bought a pair of NORS Uni-joints off eBay for the Coupe. When it was up on the hoist about a month ago it was noticed there was some slop in the uni's. Think I was fortunate to find these at $30 each plus $15 shipping. A real bargain when compared to the major vendors prices of $125+ each plus a hefty shipping fee! Will fit the new uni's in the New Year when the Coupe goes up on the hoist for an oil change and grease as part of it's annual inspection for registration renewal.

Whoops! Just about to submit this post when I saw Chris, starliner, has sent me two emails. One of pic's of the current state of the body on his '48 Woodie two door project, the other a quick word about the same topic ".....as you see a little progress has been made , TJ reckons those tail gates are the most difficult panels he's ever made. I think he has faced the challenge and been victorious.....". I'm sorry I missed being able to inspect the progress in person but Santa had to switch his phone off in attending to his "normal" shopping mall duties!

Don't expect to be back at the workshop until January so to all on PackardInfo, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Attach file:

---

  (39.98 KB)


  (30.20 KB)


  (34.29 KB)


  (27.72 KB)


  (119.11 KB)


  (96.49 KB)


  (136.29 KB)


  (76.51 KB)


  (37.62 KB)

Back on 3rd November in this post I identified a Detroit Electric as 1915.

in fact it's a 1916! And will be on display at the NRMA Motorfest on 26th January in Sydney when city streets are closed for car displays as part of Australia Day celebrations.

While this link provides some details of the Detroit's owner and his cars, impressive!

Mal, a year more or less is very important!







[picture source: www.strangebillions.com]