Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Wednesday 9th December 2009

After some extra curricular activity this morning caught up with Wade, and to my surprise Wade's wife Gina, when I arrived at the workshop. Gina had dropped in, but it was more of a surprise when I arrived because at the time I strangely looked like Santa Claus! My extra curricular activity had been playing Santa to the kids of my daughters mothers group. So still clad in full Santa regalia I arrived at the workshop. This elicited those there sitting on Santa's knee and having their photos taken.

After the festive photo's were done it was into Packard work or should I say into John's '39 110 to chase some parts. First stop was Lee Bros for some needed hardware then to Hare & Forbes for a large drill bit. That done I suggested to Wade we drop into see the '40 110 Sedan for sale on Parramatta Road. Did that, the car yard guy was pleased to let us look it over and of course I took some pic's. Their main line of business is Aussie and US muscle cars and 50's/60's Chevs. The '40 is LHD, no OD, no Radio, has had a recent quick paint job, upholstery is reasonable but some tatty corners, engine has new plugs and leads, new starter solenoid, but many wires with partly missing insulation and came from Oklahoma. The asking price is AU$39,900 but as my '38 Eight sold for AU$23,000 in much better mechanical condition, good body but old paint and good interior with radio I can't see them getting that price.

That done, back to the workshop and into the '34. This time installed the left rear upper bailey channel to the wooden door frame. First trimmed the previously bent channel to size, then secured it to the door frame with the result looking real good. More tomorrow as the right rear is bent up and installed then the front windows.

Attach file:

---

  (36.68 KB)


  (31.53 KB)


  (29.42 KB)


  (34.36 KB)


  (30.78 KB)


  (35.25 KB)


  (33.17 KB)


  (20.53 KB)


  (15.58 KB)

Thursday 10th December 2009

Today was work on the '34 day, a rare occurrence. Yesterday new bailey channel had been installed in the left rear door. This morning a piece of channel was cut to working length, bent to shape then installed in the right rear door in much less time taken for the other side. And that left us plenty of time for the next phase, the front windows, and wasn't it needed. Started on the right front quarter window which had been re-chromed and new glass fitted. Wade had previously re-furbished the frame for the window and equipped it with Steele Rubber rubber and bailey channel for the front runner of the main window. It's a matter of just putting all together and installing it in the car, right? In theory yes, but with a 75yo Packard which has suffered the ravages of time it's no! After numerous assemblies and dis-assemblies to get parts to fit properly, necessitating minor adjustments to the frame, bolts, the quarter window opening gearbox, you name it! And we adjusted it, again, and again, and again! Finally it's mounted in the '34! Halleluljah! Next it was the left front quarter window, and......same again! This time even more so, assembly, disassembly, adjustment, assembly, disassembly, adjustment, assembly, disassembly, adjustment, assembly, disassembly, adjustment, you get the picture? Just wouldn't work right. After all reasonable adjustments had been made a much more careful examination of the quarter window frame itself revealed it wasn't the right shape! The bottom edge, although appearing flat, is not flat! The right side has a very gentle rise from the pivot point to the front of the window while the left side didn't. It appears that it may have been straightened recently, possibly when the new glass was fitted. What to do? Why, remove the glass and put back the slightly curving rise as it should be! This necessitated unscrewing the rear u channel from the frame, separating it from the "gorilla snot" sealant, not an easy task in itself, then doing the same for the roughly D shaped remainder of the frame. Comparison with a spare quarter window frame confirmed that the re-chromed frame was out of whack. This necessitated some forceful treatment till it assumed the shape it is meant to be. Then some more assembly and fitment to the left front door. Finally, after some further minor adjustment this time to both quarter windows, mission accomplished. Doesn't sound like a great deal of work but, be assured, all this took the best part of the working day to achieve. Going through all this, it is now plain where all the time goes in a restoration to get things right.

But enough of that. Early this morning, 4:30am Sydney time, I phoned Willysreplacementparts to order Harvey's '40 Willys grill. And during the course of the day Noel had phoned from up north, where he was on his way to Newcastle, to pick up his re-chromed parts before he heads to the US to spend Christmas with the Flackmaster. And I also received some pic's from Santa of his visit yesterday of the guys at the workshop and their Christmas gift requests to the old bearded gent!

Attach file:

---

  (19.16 KB)


  (23.17 KB)


  (22.15 KB)


  (20.11 KB)


  (29.49 KB)


  (30.31 KB)


  (33.96 KB)


  (33.88 KB)

Monday 14th December 2009

Arrived at the workshop to find PeterL there with Wade, they were tackling the steering shaft that Noel had found for Peter because the bearing surfaces on either end of the worm on Peter's '38 120 were badly worn. However it turns out the shaft that Noel found has been modified with what look to be transmission ball bearings used in lieu of the stock roller bearings! The upper bearing came off the replacement shaft easily but the lower bearing resisted all attempts to press the shaft off.

After Peter left we jumped into John's '39 110 and then off to pick up the paperwork needed to present to the Roads and Traffic Authority(RTA) to enable the car's registration details to be changed because of installing the re-built engine in place of the original. Should be easy, but it wasn't. Because Wade wasn't John the RTA wouldn't allow him to present the paperwork even though he had everything there including the current registration papers. But that's a bureaucracy for you, and the RTA is one of the best!

Back at the workshop turned again to the '34, first up measured, cut, bent and installed the new bailey channel for the left front window. What next, because there's still some necessary rubber coming from the US, expected to arrive next week, couldn't do more with the front windows. Same with the rears, although more bailey channel needs to be cut and fitted to the lower sections of both rear doors but these too are stymied waiting for other parts to enable installation in the right sequence.

So turned to the next job which was the window winding and interior door opening mechanisms. Like everything Wade had these in the shelving bays allocated to each door. So bay by bar, door by door each mechanism was unscrewed from it's wooden frame, cleaned, checked for operation, lubricated and re-installed in the woodwork. All of these are now located within the '34's body ready for installation after the channels, rubbers and glass are finally in place.

After that we just sat down for a good half hour or so and discussed various things including returning John's '39 to him tomorrow. However the highlight of the discussions, well for me at least, was bringing in my '41 Coupe to start working on it's engine re-build. What this also means, although it's hard to do it, is store Noel's award winning '39 120 Sedan in my garage so there's space in the workshop for the '41, but I'll have to keep a stiff upper lip and suffer it! Jokes aside, I'm only too happy to have Noel's '39 in residency. Although if the odometer shows a fair few more miles when you get back from the US Noel, it's only because I had to keep things like the bearings and brakes working rather than leave them to develop the kind of problems encountered and fixed recently.

Attach file:

---

  (26.22 KB)


  (21.33 KB)


  (20.11 KB)


  (23.20 KB)


  (21.54 KB)


  (32.18 KB)


  (23.38 KB)


  (26.80 KB)


  (32.84 KB)


  (31.25 KB)

Mal,

Were you having a problem with the motor in the '41, or does is it just in need of a refresh?

Kev,

It's just "old and tired", like me and uses, and leaks, a lot of oil. Saying that - it runs very quietly, doesn't overheat even on the hottest of days but it does tend to run out of puff going up looong hills which I think is exacerbated when the plugs get oiled up. With our 2010 National Rally at Kangaroo Island in October, about a 900 mile trip, I want to have the engine re-built well before then. And will give it a good long distance test in June when the club has a week-end run to Tamworth, a 250 mile trip.

Makes sense. I was just wondering as I didnt see you post anything about a problem. Do you want to unlock your project thread to cover the rebuild?

BTW, do you know if anyone from OZ is traveling this way for the PI Meet at the end of January? I want to make sure I keep an eye out for them.

Thanks!

Kev,
but I'll leave the 41 Coupe thread locked as it served it's purpose admirably. The re-build will be covered within this thread of "Wade's Workshop" along with what else happens there.

As to the PI Meet, I haven't heard of anyone going but if I do I'll let you know. Good of you to think of us Aussies.

Quote:

Mal, as a dear friend once said to me about people reaching a certain age: "What hasn't dried up, leaks." I guess this applies to old Packards too. Take care.

Tuesday 15th November December 2009

EDIT - Thanks to JD my senior moment, above, is now rectified.

The big day, drove the '41 down to the workshop and, for a change, beat Wade in. Program today was to take Noel's '39 out of it's slot in the workshop and replace it with the '41. Then to start dis-assembling the '41 for removal of the engine, trans and overdrive. In preparation for that, and waiting on Wade's arrival, I sat down to read the manual to see what it says about engine removal. The short answer is nothing! OK, then the waiting game begun. Wade finally arrived about an hour later with some lame excuse about having an appointment this morning he'd forgot to tell me about. No worries, I wasn't going anywhere. But with Wade's arrival in John's '39 110 came a problem. On the way home last night the top radiator tank had developed a leak! This necessitated a change of plans to accommodate fixing this latest problem. This necessitated moving Old Blue out of the workshop and John's '39 in, in it's place. Then came the planned shuffle of Noel's '39 and my '41 taking it's place.

Then, while I set about operating on the '41 by removing it's bonnet(hood) and starting removal of engine accessories prior to engine removal, Wade drove over in Old Blue to see John about the '39. Reason Wade drove was to 1) give Old Blue a run, it had been a while, 2) to obtain John's authority for Wade to act on his behalf in dealing with the RTA about the engine change, and 3) to advise John on this latest development! And the way Wade prepared John was to ask "How's your sense of humour?" Must have been good, because Wade returned with the authority signed and otherwise intact.

Back at the workshop it was the '39 110's turn to be operated on, so to speak. Rather than remove the front clip, Wade was of the opinion that by removing the bonnet(hood), the cowl to radiator rods, the fan and the waterpump the radiator could be lifted out without too much trouble. Wade had to do his usual trick under the dash to undo the nuts holding the rear bolts holding the bonnet(hood) while I held the bolts on the outside. The bonnet(hood) was then removed and placed on a frame but returned to the '39 later, so it wasn't an obstacle in the workshop. The rest of the dis-assembly, cowl to radiator rods, thermostat housing from head, radiator hoses, fan, waterpump and radiator bolts including the big lower nut/bolt, etc, etc went well. Lifting the radiator out of a 110 is comparatively easy because it's light compared to the larger Packards. Radiator into Wade's ute and it was off to see Dave at JJ Smiths at Marrickville. There Dave looked it over and said it should be ready tomorrow but before that he commented weren't we there to pick up a radiator for a '52, were we? Realised he was talking about JeffC, who'd phoned Wade a little while ago to get JJ Smiths details. Jeff has had overheating problems in his '52 for almost 3 years now and is having JJ Smiths build him a radiator to overcome his problem. Seems he's got a manual trans radiator in his ultramatic '52 even though everything else has been done such as flushing and cleaning, distribution tube, head gasket/s, water pump, radiator hose filter, everything except a new radiator. Well by the look of the new core he'll have plenty of cooling available with four rows of tubes. If this doesn't fix it, Jeff, probably nothing will!

Attach file:

---

  (35.00 KB)


  (50.43 KB)


  (51.92 KB)


  (52.49 KB)


  (43.73 KB)


  (43.45 KB)


  (33.42 KB)


  (41.17 KB)


  (29.03 KB)


  (48.53 KB)


  (30.67 KB)


  (38.84 KB)


  (30.94 KB)


  (28.62 KB)


  (42.82 KB)


  (23.83 KB)


  (23.23 KB)


  (26.44 KB)


  (27.77 KB)


  (51.65 KB)


  (27.47 KB)


  (51.98 KB)


  (55.45 KB)


  (46.46 KB)


  (51.00 KB)

Wednesday 16th December 2009

After successfully removing the radiator from John's '39 110 yesterday, without needing to take off the front clip, it was felt that this could be the way to go with the '41. Wrong move, although we did get the radiator out without removing the front clip, had to also remove both front inner mudguard(fender) panels and the right rear inner panel, as well as the fan, pulley and waterpump to do so. However when trying to access the accessories on the engine to remove them they were very awkward to reach, so the bullet was bit and the clip came off. Prior to all this though we did a compression test, I know it's a bit late but I wanted to know and, to be able to answer Dave and John who suggested this but a whole lot earlier in the piece. Results were: Cylinder and Pressure 1 - 105, 2 - 120, 3 - 110, 4 - 110, 5 - 110, 6 - 100, 7 - 95 & 8 -90. Not too bad, but not too good either. Excluding 1 they decrease in pressure from 2 to 8. Then it was "off with it's head", relatively straight-forward except for the difficulty in breaking it free from the block. Tried shifting it just using compression, and that worked much, much better after putting the plugs back in! Loosened it a bit but the rear still held strong but finally, after some "persuasion", the grip was relaxed and off it came. Next it was checking the head, a quick look over doesn't reveal anything untoward except for being well carboned up. Then the bores and pistons. The bores have a fairly substantial ridge on the left side of the block and this was explained by the pistons. Scraping the top of #1, looking for size marking, ie Std, 010, or 0x0, instead found the numbers "795", but more tellingly the marking "FRONT->". Only trouble with this, it was pointing to the rear of the engine! Checked another piston top, #3, same again "795" and "FRONT->" and pointing to the rear also. Didn't check more piston tops, at this time, but this helps explain the bore wear. Because, as I understand the talk in the shop today, piston pins are slightly offset to compensate for "thrust" purposes and being around the wrong way this exacerbates rather than compensates the thrust aspect. Hope that wasn't too technical? So at the moment the '41 is up on jackstands at the front, front clip off, front wheels off, radiator out, head off, waterpump off, carb off, generator off, starter off, horns off, distributor off, fuel pump off and oil filter off. During all this Wade had a call from Dave at JJ Smith's advising John's 110 radiator was fixed, tested and ready to be picked up. Also rang Harvey to tell him 1) he can borrow the fuel pump heat shield off the '41, and 2) I've ordered his '40 Willy's grill. Regarding the fuel pump heat shield, neither of the '39's that Harvey is working on for his boss have one and he'll use mine as a pattern to make a couple.

Attach file:

---

  (43.98 KB)


  (28.93 KB)


  (38.39 KB)


  (39.59 KB)


  (27.80 KB)


  (31.48 KB)


  (29.06 KB)


  (56.20 KB)


  (44.48 KB)


  (30.12 KB)


  (38.27 KB)


  (41.08 KB)