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Hi Mal, this is Ernie in Arizona following your adventures with your new 23 series with great interest. I wonder how much junk came out of your engine and radiator, in your opinion? Thanks for keeping us all up to date. Ernie

Ernie in Arizona,

When I put together the story about the process there'll be an illustration of some of the "junk". Hold tight, because there's a fair bit of other stuff going on at the moment, may not be able to do the process story until next week.

Thursday 31st May, 2018

Promised Allan that today I'd get pricing for shipping the RHD clutch and brake pedals and bits and pieces to Norway. But first thought I'd better clean up the parts. They weren't too dirty but had some build up of petrified grease and dirt as well as surface rust. Removed the build up with a combination of scraping, degreaser, brake cleaner and wire brushing. Far from pristine but a lot more presentable. Boxed them, then off to the Post Office for shipping costs.

Package is about 10 kilograms = 22 lbs with these shipping options available:

AUD$104.83(Norwegian Kroner 648.26)(USD$79.25) By seamail, NO Tracking. Delivery - 30plus days.

AUD$151.84(NKR 938.96)(USD$114.79) By air, with tracking. Delivery - 7 days.

AUD$156.84(NKR 969.88)(USD$118.57) By express air, with tracking. Delivery - 5 days.

Waiting to hear back from Allan as to what shipping method is required.

Took further pics after the cleanup, see below.

Also a few photos of Peters new garage. Has 7 cars(5 Packard & 2 RR's) in residence and 2 motorcycles.

Lastly, a surprise!

But wait, there's more coming soon. I've almost finished a write up of yesterdays radiator and engine cooling system flushing.

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Mal,

The pulley for the clutch looks the same as the one used for Electromatic but with a different mounting bracket so perhaps a good one could be found and bolted to the bracket.

"The pulley for the clutch looks the same as the one used for Electromatic but with a different mounting bracket so perhaps a good one could be found and bolted to the bracket."

Brian, for the tip, could help us RHD 22nd & 23rd Series manul trans owners. But got me wondering if there are any other Series Packards with this set-up?

And BUGGER! again. I have an eight page PDF to attach here about the cooling system cleanout but just realised it exceeds the 5,000K limit so I'll have to put it on a diet! Stay tuned.

Still unable to attach a document so have copied and pasted the text and added photo, including some additional ones.

Thar she blows!

Yesterday I drove the Packard down to see Peter Packard in Canberra, about a 160km trip. Reason being the car appears to run hot. Accordingly, I took advantage of Peters expertise in cleaning out crap and crud build ups in a vehicles cooling system. The method used by Peter is simple utilising nothing more than, a source of pressure, plain water and some "plumbing" to link the pressure source with the cooling system of the car. Peter has been using this method for many years after an old time mechanic did it on his car which was overheating on a trip.

First the pressure source - This is another vehicle of sufficient engine size and provides pressure courtesy of its exhaust system. In Peters case, yesterday it was a 2.4 litre Nissan van.

Second, the plumbing - In Peters case this is a mix of small lengths of pipe/exhaust pipe coupled with radiator hoses. The lengths of pipe hold the plumbing reasonably rigid while the radiator hoses allow some degree of flexibility between the pressure source and the vehicle whose radiator and engine are to be cleaned out. The plumbing that Peter uses had a radiator hose of Packard size at one end while the other end has a piece of hose of sufficient diameter to fit the Nissan Van mentioned above.

Third, water - Nothing more than a hose of sufficient length equipped with a trigger nozzle.

Otherwise only simple hand tools are all that's required, being a couple of sockets and a screwdriver.
The method entails first positioning the vehicle to be treated about 2 metres behind the vehicle providing the pressure source.

Next, drain most of the water out of the block and radiator. In this instance the plug towards the rear on the left side of the block was removed and replaced once sufficient water had drained out.

Next the Thermostat housing was unbolted from the head, the thermostat removed and the upper radiator hose clip loosened on the radiator inlet end only. This allowed the thermostat housing and radiator hose to be swivelled and angled so that it was pointing out over the left fender of the Packard. Note, positioning will depend on make/model of vehicle.

Next the upper section of the lower radiator hose was completely removed.

Next the plumbing was connected to the outlet side of the lower radiator "hose" pipe section.

Next was connecting the plumbing to the Nissan.

Next, the radiator and block should have been filled with water but Peter got a little ahead of himself and started the Nissan and blipped the throttle. Result being dirty water expunged from the rerouted thermostat housing and radiator hose as well as the radiator filler. Caught me by surprise as I wasn't ready to take photos of that auspicious occasion! Instead had to be content with a few photos of the aftermath. The most interesting of those being the pretty sizable lumps of crud left on the sheet covering the left front fender!

I'd taken some photos earlier down the throat of the radiator filler, to show the blocked tubes in the radiator. But only 1 reasonable photo came through, see below. Anyway, we did an earlier visual inspection and it was apparent that approximately 20->30% of the tubes were blocked. As I understand it only the top portion of the radiator gets blocked, usually about 2 to 3 inches. Hence the reason that the plumbing is connected blowing up through the radiator from the bottom to the top.

Next, Peter did fill the radiator and block! Then started the Nissan and blipped the throttle a number of times until the water was exhausted and exhaust gasses/smoke was seen to be exiting in lieu.

This procedure was repeated a number of times until radiator was clear of crap and crud. Inspected the upper radiator tank and tubes to confirm.

Next, remove thermostat housing and upper radiator hose and return them to their "normal" position. Note -the thermostat remains out of the housing. This provides an unobstructed path for the water and the crud to be expelled in the next phase which is blowing out the block and head.

The path the water and the crud now takes is through the lower radiator hose, through the radiator, through the head and block exiting via the water pump and water pump inlet. PS - don't forget to install the radiator cap in the radiator filler neck, Peter didn't! Result being that all the water in the radiator exited the filler neck and nothing more happened. But, installing the cap result in this gush of crappy water. Peter blips the throttle about 4 to 5 times before exhausting the water in the cooling system. Will depend on the size of the pusher engine as well as the capacity of the cooling system. Allow a few seconds between blips so that sufficient pressure has built up.

The procedure was repeated a number of times, probably 4 or 5, until clean water was all that was being pushed through the system. Like this.

After that it was a matter of putting everything back where it came from. Rislone Head Gasket fix was added to the head through the thermostat housing mount on the head and also to the radiator and a little water added in both areas. Reason being there were bubbles in the radiator when the engine was running. Supposed to be "magic". Better be, for what it cost! The thermostat(wax pellet type) reinstalled in the thermostat housing. Thermostat housing and upper radiator hose then buttoned up. Upper lower radiator hose reinstalled, you know what I mean! Then completely filled the radiator and cooling system with water. The engine was then started and run for 15 minutes, as per the Rislone instructions, with NO bubbles evident! Another product added was Water Wetter.

No supermodels were harmed in the taking of the product photos, were they Peter!

Did I mention the hose had a trigger nozzle? Yes, I do believe I did. Well in Peters hands, or rather just out of them it's dangerous! When Peter had finished filling the Packards radiator he discarded the hose behind him or to one side. Only trouble was half the time, when the hose hit the ground, the hose came alive most times squirting in my direction. Maybe Peter thought I needed a shower? Well Peter I can assure you I bathed before coming to visit you.

Can't fault Peters hospitality though. On arrival a wonderful cup of tea, Peter is apparently a master brewmaker. Then, besides working on my Packard, Peter cooked me lunch and also made me another cup of tea. Lunch was the pi?ce de r?sistance being a marvellous Egg and Bacon Roll with the roll fantastically toasted. Best I've ever tasted. Now that secret is out Peter, be ready for an influx of Packard people seeking to satisfy their taste buds as I did mine.

After drafting this, I ran it past Peter since he features so heavily. Here's his response:

"The van is a 400,000 km Mitsubishi 2.4 EFI, well worn but still functional. Very good for blowing out radiators. Any vehicle of about 2-5 litres petrol only, single exhaust outlet only would work fine. Just make sure that the donor engine is warmed up so you are not stressing it too much. To blow the radiator out you should start the engine and at the same time floor the throttle for a few seconds to generate a reasonable exhaust pressure, probably around 8 to 10 PSI, but with considerable volume of gasses. give it a few throttle blips at each blowout to avoid detonating the donor engine. you are probably getting to around 4,500 rpm each time. Don't use a diesel as you will soot everything up in and around the vehicles. I used a diesel once and cleaned the radiator out in 10 minutes but it took 3 hours to clean up the vehicles and the side of our house."

Phew - Now off to watch Game 1 of GSW Vs Cavs, think I missed 1st quarter!

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Just for the sake of recognition, Peter is the Radiator Geyser World Record Holder. Period.

David,

Yes undoubtably. I've seen Peter do this four times, twice on my Packards and twice on others. Beside the '50 this week, Peter did my '38 Eight Sedan back in 2007. The other two were a '35 120 Sedan and a 1919 Twin Six Tourer at the 2009 Packard National Rally at Mittagong. Since 2007, as you'll see, Peter has changed the direction of flow for the engine clean out part of the process. For mostly Aussie readers who do you recognise in the Mittagong pic's? US readers may also spot a familiar face or two.

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Nice informative write up Mal. Does he have any trouble with the hose wanting to melt on the end of the exhaust pipe?

John

Good Day Mal...This is most impressive...never seen anything like it. Someplace, I believe that you stated that the engine did seem to be much happier after Peter gave it an automotive enema! Ernie in Arizona