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Wednesday 5th June 2013

Late last Friday picked up the Coupe after the front seat was reupholstered and new carpet fitted. Today, took some pic's of the new seat, carpet, door sill and......the new Packard crested floor mats courtesy of one tabletennissport. Had to drop into the workshop this morning to pick up the floor mats, which were in Fleurette's boot(trunk). As well picked up the door handles which were on Fleurette's rear floor for PAC052, courtesy of one DAF(I think). It was only on returning home did I see an email, received after I'd left, asking me to also pick up a PACA Name Badge in the glovebox. Lucky I'm going back down tomorrow anyway, have to clear PACA's PO Box, so all is not lost. Also, in preparation for the PACA run to Eden on the weekend, filled the Coupe with 91 Unleaded. Took 67.17 Litres(Liters) = 14.76 Imperial Gallons or 17.17 US Gallons, certainly needed it. Will clean and pack the car tomorrow in preparation for an early morning start on Friday, picking up Noel on the way seeing Fleurette is still inconvenienced.

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Mal, your '41 One-twenty just keeps getting better and better. Very nice job on the interior. I like the floor mats. Can you still get full throttle with the new and thicker carpeting?

(o{}o)

John,

Don't know yet, driving the Coupe home last Friday and then again yesterday didn't present any full throttle challenges! But I don't expect any problems in that respect. Before the new carpet there was a larger than necessary hole through the old carpet for the accelerator pedal rod which I'd "bushed" with a rubber pad to keep out the draft. Although I have a lead foot, this is a Packard and expects to be driven in a reasonably sedate manner. But with well over 1,000kms of driving coming up on the weekend I'm sure there'll be moments when full throttle is called for.

Has this been the end of "Wade's Workshop"???????????

Tuesday 25th June 2013

Lyndon,

No, at least, not yet! Since the PACA run to Eden neither Wade nor I have been to the workshop. That is until yesterday when Wade called me to let me know he was there and would be until Wednesday. Unfortunately I was still tied up with other things although I did arrange to borrow a compression gauge for a side project which was done today. Then missed Wade by about 2 minutes when I dropped in to pick up the gauge. Wade did tell me that his now close neighbour PeterL had lent him a starter motor which he was going to try on Fleurette, but I don't know how that turned out.

Back to today and the side project. This actually grew out of the Eden run and a local Packard on our first stop of the trip to Eden. A small group arranged to meet at Fairy Meadow, about 90kms into the trip. There we were met by local resident and PACA member Eleanor who with her husband Phillip have a '22 126 Tourer. But because Phillip is now in a nursing home the '22 is going up for sale in the near future. Eleanor had previously contacted PACA for ideas on value at which the '22 could be offered. Also learnt the '22, a mostly original survivor in great condition, had been parked about 9 years and not driven since. Arranged with Eleanor to visit her and the '22 on our return journey from Eden so we could see and photograph the car. But, unbeknownst to Eleanor, during the Eden run I approached DavidM, himself the owner of a '22 Sport Tourer, with a request "would he consider looking at Eleanor's '22 with a view to getting it running?" And he would! After all a car is a lot more saleable and valuable if it's running, rather than if it's not. Was able to inform Eleanor of this, that is if she'd like to do that, and she would. All that remained then was to tee-up a date and time for this to happen.

And so it came to pass, yesterday was the appointed day for the '22 to return to life. In preparation I'd purchased 10 litres, about 10 quarts, of oil in case an oil change was required. While David provided tools, also a spare starter motor(just in case), and the skill and experience required for a Packard of this vintage. A factor in David's availability was that he and wife Veronique had an appointment close by in Wollongong on the day which certainly was fortuitous. David and I also provided numerous empty containers 1) in case they were needed for the oil change, and 2) to drain the old fuel into from the '22. As it turned out an oil change wasn't needed, the oil having been changed just before the '22 went into hibernation. But the containers certainly were required for the fuel tank drain which, fortunately, only had about 10/15 litres of rotten, stinking fuel in it.

But before we got that far, the old battery was replaced temporarily by an Optima battery David had pulled out of one of his Packards. David also filled the vacuum tank with fresh fuel, and after replacing a section of perished flexible fuel line(the '22 is also equipped with an electric pump plumbed into the fuel delivery system) a start attempt was made. I should also mention that we'd been joined in this venture by another local PACA member Geoff shortly after we'd arrived at Eleanors. So there were 3 direct witnesses when the '22 sprang to life, but not for long, after not too much cranking! Ran well, no misses, but ran too fast, it wouldn't idle. Turned out the hand throttle was stuck causing that glitch. But the main reason why David shut down the '22 down was oil pressure, or rather the lack of it!

At that point David and Veronique left to attend to their appointment while Geoff and I attended to some minor matters awaiting their return. During their absence the plan was to pull the plugs, drain and refill the sump and drain the fuel tank. Plugs were pulled, all looked good. But before their re-installation, in light of the apparent oil pressure problem, David was going to turn the motor over to at least get oil circulated. But it turned out the oil didn't need changing. Phillip's comprehensive notes showed the oil had just been changed before the '22 went into hibernation. But we learned something about '22's, they don't have a dipstick! Instead, there's a petcock on the side of the sump which you open to determine if the oil level is sufficient. If oil comes out, it is. If oil doesn't come out, it's either right at the level or is too low! Later David said it was the first '22 he's seen where the rod to operate the petcock was still present! After all it is a very original car! However I did check the oil level in a more traditional way by threading a straightened coat-hanger down through the oil filler tube and past crankshaft and rods, it came up with lovely golden oil on it! Draining the fuel tank was a breeze, which we could have used some of to dissipate the foul smell from the oil smell when it drained. Also poured in some new fuel and allowed it to drain out, to flush the tank somewhat, before replacing the drain plug and pouring in the new fuel which Geoff had procured while David and Veronique were out.

Soon after David and Veronique returned, Eleanor provided us with lunch then it was back to the '22. Cranking the '22 over showed some movement on the oil pressure gauge so the plugs went back in. However before starting again David tried to adjust the hand throttle linkage without success so disconnected it instead so at least it wouldn't run too fast too early. Started up again but a problem arose, the water pump wasn't turning! Instead the fan belt was burning up as it passed over the pulley, this explained the burning smell from the first start up! David tried loosening off the gland nut but to no avail, the water pump still didn't turn. David was reluctant to take the pump off the car because by now time was running out. And, after discussions with Eleanor, it was decided a local car club member familiar with these things be contacted to determine whether he would be able to attend to that and he could but not until next week. David feels the packing is too tight and has bound up on the shaft, preventing it from turning. And here's where Phillip's note books again came in handy as one of the last jobs done on the '22 was the waterpump, so there could be a cause and effect there.

We left Eleanor with the knowledge that the '22 runs. Again credit must go to Phillip who obviously maintained the car very well because really all it needed to run was a fresh battery and fresh fuel. While I had congratulated David for his work, when it first started up, I changed that to thanking Phillip after a little reflection on the "ease" in which starting up was accomplished. On returning to David's saw the broken fan from his '29 Roadster, a blade had broken off after about an hour into the run to Eden. David and Veronique had then returned home and changed from the Roadster to the '29 7 passenger Sedan and restarted the run, but that's another story. Also saw a number of other projects being worked on in David's shed but I'll leave those for an update later when I'll also attach some pic's because I'm running out of time now. I'm off for babysitting duties, which have been our paramount activity since returning from Eden.

Good to hear the Packard adventures continue! I was just concerned that with Wade's move north may have spelled the end.

The '22 sounds interesting.

Cheers
Lyndon

Do you have enthanol "enriched" fuel in Australia?

Wednesday 26th June 2013

Late this afternoon dropped into the workshop to drop off a couple of things for Ross,give Misty a bone and who should be there, Wade! Wade is now returning North tomorrow after Fleurette is finished. Yes, finished! Apparently on Tuesday the starter motor had been replaced with PeterL's and it works well, but that's temporary until Fleurette's starter is repaired. The temp gauge sending unit leak problem has also been fixed, the sending unit was bottoming out against the inside of the head and rectified with an O ring to space it out. Notice the heater tube is still off but forgot to ask Wade what was happening there. Wade started the rebuilt engine up and, in the modern vernacular, it's "sweeeet"! Although there is a squeak! Yes a squeak, seems to be coming from the horn mounts! Wade had fixed it, but it came back after re-torquing the head.

Last post I promised pic's of yesterdays activities, these are below as well as one of Fleurette from today.

And yes Saffron, unfortunately we have E10 here.

Lyndon, Wades Workshop will continue for a little while yet, but it is drawing to a close. Then I'm thinking of creating another Blog, maybe Mal's Meanderings?

For a brief outline of the Eden run, see this thread on the PACA Websites Forums. They include links to the 5 albums I took over the course of the event.

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Hi, great site, does anyone have a set of the running board delete panels, really would love to have them for the 42 convertible I'm working on, I would trade my running boards plus cash if anyone has any interest

G'day Mike,
Although you're a loooooong time PackardInfo member see it's your first post so

Can't help with your request but would advise to post it in the For Sale, Wanted, Trade Forum where it would be better placed.

And seeing you've raised your head, I invite you to include your '42 Convertible in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo!