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As with everything you’ve done, the engine is a work of art! Just beautiful.

Don, thank you for your words of appreciation for my work and I am happy that I still get to read a comment every now and then.

Water Pump and Cooling System


After I bought the “Sport”, the previous owner wanted to bring it to me on his own wheels. However, this journey only lasted a few kilometers. Then the radiator burst due to engine overheating and the coolant almost completely ran out. The car made its last journey with the engine and on its own wheels after it was unloaded from the trailer into my workshop. When the individual components of the vehicle and the engine were dismantled, the reasons for the overheating became clear.
The cooling water cycle could not take place for 3 main reasons. The water pump was only partially functional because the impeller could hardly build up pressure in its cage. On the one hand, the distance between the housing wall and the impeller was too large. On the other hand, parts of the rotation cage, in which the pressure or water transport is to be generated, were so rusted that individual parts were no longer in their place. A “restorer” had the brilliant idea of gluing them in place with sanitary silicone and then using the same silicone to place and glue the water pump into the engine block. After removal, the individual parts of the wing cage fell apart.
Secondly, the cylinders of the engine/cast block were covered with a layer of rust on the outside, which severely restricted cooling in the most important area. (Rust layers act like insulation layers here)
And thirdly... and this was the main reason for the entire cooling problem... the cooling fins of the radiator were about half blocked by deposits in the upper area and almost completely blocked in the lower area. In addition, an unprofessional repair had been carried out on the radiator by... instead of removing the completely dilapidated lower water tank and making and installing a new one... some hobbyist had probably made a second tank out of thin brass sheet and soldered it over the rotten original lower water tank.
To repair the water pump, I rebuilt the rusted and broken parts of the impeller cage out of 4mm flat steel, built them true to the original and welded them in, and soldered in other parts with silver solder. The blades of the brass impeller were worn in the heavily used areas. I filled these again with silver solder and thus optimized the distance to the cover surfaces.

The axle shaft was heavily worn and corroded in the area of the sealing surfaces. I restored a Ford Model A water pump some time ago and installed the repair kit offered by Ford. I thought of this when I saw the shaft of my "Sport" and was looking for the old Ford water pump shaft. I never throw away such parts... because of the quality of the steel, they are easy to convert into tools. To my surprise, the Ford shaft had exactly the same diameter as the shaft in the Packard. And what was even better: The Ford shaft was so much longer that I could easily convert the Ford shaft into the Packard shaft. The repair kit for the Ford shaft also included the improved seal with two shaft seals. In the rear part of the water pump housing, I made a new bearing bushing out of sintered bronze. This gave the shaft a new bearing bushing at the front and behind it the precisely fitting holder for the two shaft seals, which can be seen in photo ...769... top right next to the new bearing bushing.
To press and seal the shaft between the shaft seals and the newly manufactured brass union nut, I made the small component that can be seen on the right in the same photo. I filled the space between the shaft seals with a special shaft grease, as is used in water pumps in the seawater sector/boat building.
In order to give the engine compartment a true-to-original look, I searched for a long time for the link chain V-belt that was used at the time. I even corresponded with a man in the USA who was involved in the production of these belts many years ago. But even he no longer knew where belts of this size were still produced. I then found this belt at a company in England. It looks exactly like the original. However, it no longer consists of 3mm thick leather parts, but of several layers of fabric that are embedded in a Coutchouc-Rubber Mixture, which makes it significantly more durable.

Karl

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The Engine Timing Parts

The timing chain gears were in good condition. However, the timing chain itself had reached the end of its life. The chain was so long that it could no longer be tensioned. It was replaced with a post-production version.

The camshaft appeared to be worn, but a measurement by a company that specializes exclusively in camshaft reconditioning showed that the camshaft was in good, workable condition.

This was surprising given the condition of the rocker arms. These were in a pitiful condition. The engine or these rocker arms must have been without sufficient oil supply for a long period of time.
My search for rocker arm replacement parts revealed that only one supplier in the United States could offer a "good used" set for the Series 1 engine for $50 each. But I didn’t just want to install “good used” engines into my rebuilt engine. And then have them overtaken. So for 16x50$ = $800 plus shipping and duty/tax I would have paid about $1200. That makes absolutely no sense if I only had to pay around 800 euros to refurbish my own rocker arms, which would then have to be paid in addition to the used ones delivered from the USA.

I showed my rocker arms to a company that I have known for 40 years and that had already molded the crankshaft bearing journals and rear axle quick-release axles back to their original dimensions for me.
This company has specialized, among other things, in re-spraying all types of storage surfaces with the appropriate metal using plasma spraying and thus returning them to their original dimensions. For example, the original ball bearing sizes could be reinstalled or worn surfaces could be resealed with new shaft seals
The company also worked for the German Federal Railroad and used this process to repair the axles of older transport wagons that were uneconomical to manufacture new. At that time, Deutsche Bahn had the strictest material testing procedures and rules here in Germany in almost all areas.

There is therefore no doubt about the suitability of this company for this work.
The company looked at my rocker arms, checked the material/metal and assured me that the treads could be refinished.
When I first described this restoration process here at PI, the question was whether the sprayed overlay would adhere tightly enough to the existing metal and possibly not come loose.
Specifically to this question, the company explained to me that the sprayed layer cannot come off in all stress situations applicable to this component and beyond.

After sandblasting the application surfaces, the rocker arms were flame sprayed with chrome-molybdenum metal at a sufficient height. A chrome-molybdenum wire is liquefied in a pointed gun and sprayed onto the work surface under high pressure at a speed of around 800 meters per second. The result can be seen in the photos.
The machine shop that worked on the engine then ground and polished the side surfaces and rocker arm races on an existing machine to the original ½-inch radius.

Karl

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I once had a crankshaft rod journal metal sprayed on a 1940 Packard 110 engine and it still looks like new today. Good job on recovering the original rockers!

Hello Packard Friends,
I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. In the last 2 months, urgent other work and a long-term eye infection have not allowed me to continue working on "Sport" or write another post. In addition, the repaired electric motor for my defective lathe finally came back from Poland at the end of November. Why “Poland”??? ...well, this motor is a three-phase motor with 2 windings. Purchasing a new machine for my lathe was way beyond my budget. It was also beyond my budget to have this repair work (.. new windings...) carried out here in Germany, as the costs were close to the new price. A friend of mine who works here in Germany but lives in Poland took it to Poland for me and had it repackaged there. This saved me about $750. Unfortunately, the money didn't stay in my cash register for long because my electroplater called after 3 months of waiting and said that the last parts to be nickel-plated were now ready. The price for it had risen outrageously again since the last work. At least the result was acceptable.
Now the work on the exhaust pipes will continue in the new year, provided the temperatures in my workshop allow it. Alternatively, I will continue the upholstery work on the front seat.

Happy New Year
to all Packard Freaks and Friends here in PI.
Karl

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Very nice looking!