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Mal,
Are allowed to say "nice 39 Ford" on this site?

Jim

P.S. I think the Regal looks a lot better in red.

Quote:Jim,

When I started this particular Blog, I prefaced it thus:

Quote:
Deliberately gave myself plenty of room in order to be able to include just about anything that took my fancy! So be my guest and say whatever you like.
the red appeals to me much more than the OTHER COLOUR.

Tuesday 16th March 2010

On the way to the workshop this morning received a message from Wade to say he'd be in late because of problems with Gina's car, a Toyota Celica, and learned later the battery was dead. At the workshop tidied up the parts I painted with POR-15 last week then turned to making some replacement rubber grommet for the '41's front fender support rods, the originals being way past their use by date. During the course of the parts sort with Noel I found one grommet which looked a direct replacement but on closer examination it proved to be too thin. Also returning from one of the parts sorting days I'd called into Grippy rubber and purchased a number of diverse rubber grommets, none of which would fit but each one had some characteristic which looked close to parts of the original grommets. So sat down with the original grommets, there are 2 each side and each of these is different, then began a comparison with the new grommets, for fit, shape, thickness, etc, etc. I also dug out 2 sway bar link grommets, from the extras I'd purchased for the '41, which had the right size collar for the lower grommet for each side. Only trouble was they were too thick but a session with a Stanley knife slicing one in half, very very carefully mind you because I hate the sight of blood especially my own, fixed that. Then slicing one type of Grippy grommet gave me a tapered end for use with the metal retaining end and voila! A replacement lower grommet, albeit in two pieces. I was then part way through trying to craft a replacement upper grommet when Wade arrived. After the pleasantries and catch up talk, and the handing over of a memory stick with 90 of his pic's from the New Zealand Rally which I'll post later in a link in the Shows and Events Forum, it was back to the grommets. It was good to have Wade handy as I was a little stuck and Wade cast a wily eye over the Grippy grommets and said what about that one? And that one did it, together with some more judicious slicing of other Grippy grommets I now had a three layer grommet to replace the old single grommet.

While cleaning up some of the metal end plates for the grommets Noel arrived. Noel had a number of things needing Wade's input, advice or help. First was a box of rear wheel cylinders from PACA "Club Stock" which a new club member might be able to utilise for his '54 Clipper Coupe. He's been working on the brakes and found the rear wheel cylinders were two different sizes, which sounds like a recipe for disaster! Next was a 4.09:1 crown wheel and pinion for another PACA member. Noel's been involved in finding one for some time, which has been quite a saga, and it turns out there's one in the workshop which belongs to still another PACA member! Found PN # 347029 and 45 - 11 stamped on the outside of the crown wheel, so it certainly seems to fit the goods. Wade is going to disassemble the crown wheel and pinion from the pumpkin so they can be shipped to the PACA member. Next was the new wiring harness for Noel's '39, currently resident in Mal's garage. The new harness hasn't arrived yet for Wade to be able to begin the replacement of the old so Wade will follow up the manufacturer. And last was an examination of the front quarter and front window rubbers on Wade's '34. Seems there's a PACA member with 2 '33's, one of which has front windows the same as Wade's, while the other has the original '33 style, one year only, flip out front windows. Irrespective of style they both need new rubbers, the '34's could be available from Steal, while I believe the '33's are unobtainium. If anyone has found anybody making '33 style front window rubbers(US = Gaskets?) or knows of a close fit from another Make/model, any leads would be appreciated.

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Quote:


There is a shop in Southern California that has re-created the window seals. I have not seen these in person, but am hopeful. The 33 seals are indeed "unobtainium" He documented his process in the following:


packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... orum=1&post_id=41119#forumpost41119

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... orum=1&post_id=44587#forumpost44587

Thous NOS packard parts look really nice Mal. Its amazing what some people have stored.
I can say I have seen one 39 Ford in my life,but it didn't look as that good as this one.

Wednesday 17th March 2010

Donated blood this morning then it was off to the workshop. One thing about my blood, it's red! Always thought it would be blue, but obviously born with a plastic spoon in my mouth. Of course it wasn't green, even though it is Saint Patrick's Day.

Noel had been in earlier in the morning to pick up the separated 4.09:1 crown wheel and pinion, so now they'll be on their way to a happy PACA member. At the workshop Wade was in the throes of cleaning up the intake and exhaust manifolds for Big Red. That work was suspended temporarily in favour of a couple of pick ups, in the form of material for a new tappet cover gasket and new nuts, bolts and washers for the manifolds, with mission accomplished. Back at the workshop I was set to making a few smaller gaskets while Wade continued his cleaning task. Also cleaned up a few parts in the blaster cabinet, a water pump housing(from club stock) for Harvey and a hand brake mechanism cover for Wade. This hand brake cover will soon be on it's way to New Zealand. A LHD '34 V12 on the Rally didn't have one and Wade is sending the one off his '34 parts chassis over because it's LHD and won't fit his RHD '34. Interestingly the LHD cover is pressed metal while the RHD one is cast iron. Wade meanwhile was making the new tappet cover gasket and was able to fit that before I left.

Steve, Only some of the NOS parts are "nice", many have suffered a rusty fate but could be useful.
Hobbs, I'll make sure Noel is advised of your advice if he hasn't already read your post. on Noel's behalf and that of the 33s' owner.

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Mal, I am looking at the photo: "The old - left, and the new - right", and wondering if you need the grommet and washer that is under the nut. I seems to me that this bracket and rod arrangement is like used on tube-type shock absorbers. I would think the correct arrangement on the rod would be to have a large washer and grommet on each side of the bracket. Have you tried using shock absorber bushings? There is a similar radiator cradle mounting design on my 47 Custom Clipper, and it is configured this way. The purpose of the rod-bracket-grommet arrangement is to provide some insulation from vibration for the radiator. For what it's worth ...

(o{I}o)

Friday 19th March 2010

Only a couple of hours at the workshop this morning and when I arrived found Wade actually waiting for me so I could provide some of my Packard "expertise". I recovered from the shock of what he said when he explained he wanted me to hold Big Red's exhaust manifold while he tapped new threads for the heat riser valve bushes! Something about From Hero to Zero, all in the space of a few sentences. If that's the limit of my so called expertise then, so be it, at least it's a useful contribution to keeping a Packard on the road! What had happened was that after Wade had cleaned up the intake and exhaust manifolds earlier in the week he did a trial fit before permanently re-installing them in Big Red. While doing the fit he heard a "tinkling" noise which turned out to be the heat riser valve falling apart. Now when I say that, the valve was inoperative but in the closed position. Not wanting to disturb it, Wade had left it alone only for it to break even before it was properly back on Big Red. Should have been easy to fix because Wade had a repair kit on hand but for some reason the two sets of bushings provided in the kit were nothing like the threaded ones currently in the manifold. This necessitated substituting some brass fittings which Stan, the machinist, is suitably modifying to fit. Wade kept muttering something about "one step forward and three steps back". Part of Wade's frustration can also be explained by the amount of time and effort it took to remove the old bushings. New threads tapped successfully, it was on to other tasks.

While Wade again cleaned up the manifold, but this time for painting I set to work fixing something on the '41 I'd found while Wade was in New Zealand. Back in January '09 part of getting the Coupe back on the road involved a front end alignment which necessitated fabrication of a couple of shims for the left torque arm and support arm. Had a couple of shims, well one and a half, to work with in fabricating some new ones but it turned out they were a little too long. In examining the '41's front end found the shims were proud of the top of the torque and support arms and as a consequence were beginning to chew up the rebound rubber. While I had contemplated loosening the front end to remove the shims to bring them back to size, Wade suggested filing the protruding tops off, which I proceeded to do, much easier. That done I did more POR-15 painting of some small parts for both Wade and myself. And Wade's coming in tomorrow to give his manifold a second coat and at the same time he'll give the '41's 120 intake/exhaust manifold a coat too.

Harvey had been over yesterday and picked up the waterpump housing and he'd brought over 16 new tappets locknuts for me. Turned out I didn't need them, different setup on my engine so Wade now has a set on the shelf should he need them. And speaking of yesterday. I'd phoned Peter about the re-Rhinoing of the running boards and he tells me they should be ready Saturday.

Quote:John,

On the '41 120 the rods in question connect to the front of the front crossmember and don't contact the radiator cradle.

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Mal, thanks for the clarification about the rod not being associated with the radiator cradle. I still think, regardless of the purpose of the rod, that the washer and third grommet/bushing on the nut side of the rod are not needed. You need a bushing and their washers on each side of the bracket, or how else are you going to have vibration dampening? Something to think about: Just because this is the way you found it does not mean it is correct.

Who knows what evil lurks in the mind of man?

(o{I}o)

Quote:Wade did as promised and gave the '41 manifolds a coat of paint on Saturday, Wade.

Quote:Monday 22nd March 2010

And the muttering continued today! Besides painting parts Wade also managed to break a tooth on Saturday so as soon as I arrived this morning he was off for emergency dental treatment! While he was out I pottered around firstly rebolting a pair of front stabiliser to front crossmember nuts and bolts that had been painted last week. Then making a pair of rubber pads to go under the feet of the front engine mount. I did this originally last year but the rubber used was too soft and the left pad had chewed up. So a couple of weeks ago, besides the grommets for the fender bar, I purchased a thicker, harder pad of rubber from Grippy. Cut to size and holes made, then couldn't find the nuts and bolts for it! Don't need them right now so hopefully they'll turn up. When Wade returned from his session with the fang farrier, following root canal and other nasty treatment,
he set about assembling Big Red's heat riser valve but encountered more problems. My brother Lindsay and his disabled son David had also arrived about this time to pick up a gift my son Luke and his wife Donna had brought back for David from their recent US trip. Being NBA fans they took in a Cleveland Cavaliers home game and had made the trip to the National Packard Museum at Warren, Ohio from there. Brought back a shirt for Dad and a Packard cap for David,
Luke and Donna. As Lindsay and David were leaving Wade was going up to see Stan the machinist again, because remedial work was required before the heat riser valve could once again be made operative. More mutterings........

BTW - On Saturday and Sunday I captioned the remaining 500+ pic's for PACA's Club Stock Spare Parts. Also started a spreadsheet of the parts found and have worked through 300+ pic's so far for that exercise.

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