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Friday 7th May 2010

When I arrived Wade's Holden ute was inside the workshop, with the back part of the front seat for the '34 sitting in the ute bed. Wade cleared a space on top of the roof of the office and we carried the seat back up there to be stored until required. He'd also picked up some other parts for the '34 yesterday including the right side running board, the boot(trunk) lid hinges and front frame cover pieces. The mudguards(fenders), bonnet(hood), radiator shell and the left running board still remain to be painted.
Peter, I put your advice into effect today with each Palnut tightened about 1/3 of turn past finger tight and all's well........Quote:
Then cleaned up the swinging oil pickup and re-installed it. Next were the rear main bearing seals, liberally coated with gasket sealer and gently tapped into their slots either side of the bearing cap. That left the sump(oil pan) to be re-installed. Cleaned it up again, although I'd given it an initial clean soon after dis-assembly to remove the excess oil and grime, that was for handling purposes only and required a much better clean now. Also straightened the sump bolt hole areas, most had been pulled concave(It's either that or convex! Suffice to say the contact area wasn't flat like it should be.) While doing that, Wade had dug out the new sump gasket and all the bolts, washers and one nut required for the sump's re-installation. He'd didn't only find the bolts and nut taken off but discarded the "funny ones", ie different lengths, different head sizes, one with a stripped thread and replaced them with the correct articles. Gee, what a luxury to have such an accomplished go-fer! Next a final clean of all gasket surfaces, liberal application of gasket sealer to sump, both sides of gaskets and bottom edge of block and the sump was re-united with the block for the first time in about 5 months. Because it's a four piece gasket, careful attention was given to ensuring all the gasket joins fitted properly and sealant reached every surface. Speaking of which, in checking the surfaces prior to starting on the sump, Wade discovered the bottom left side of the front engine plate protruded slightly past the edge of the block and front timing cover. This was probably the source of one of my oil leaks and certainly had the very real potential for one on the rebuilt engine. Solution was to file the protruding piece of metal till it was flat with the block and timing cover surfaces. This was done ensuring no filings reach the inner working areas of the engine by masking off the affected area off and thoroughly cleaning up afterwards.

During all of this Wade was in, out and under Noel's '39 on the re-wiring but this job is now almost on hold waiting for a new switch which PeterL should be able to provide. Wade was also putting the '34's parts away. And we had a visit from Harvey and were able to compare notes on the 120 engine rebuilds he and we are doing.

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Monday 10th May 2010

A late start this morning beginning by following PeterL down the driveway to the workshop, he'd brought along a couple of headlight switches for the re-wiring job on Noel's '39, Noel's switch having "issues". Shortly after Peter left, Noel and his mate Tony arrived. Tony had a look at Noel's right front door lock and the window winding mechanism for the same door both of which have "issues". Tony has been drafted in to solve and fix these "issues". Speaking of door locks, while at Mudgee the previous weekend the right front door lock of Wade's Big Red also became an "issue", by sticking in the locked position. On the way into the workshop this morning Wade stopped at the locksmiths but even he couldn't get it to open, thinks a tiny spring may have broken. So Wade set about tackling it from the inside out, but also without success. Wade does have a NOS lock so tomorrow morning it's off to the locksmith again, maybe he can weave some magic a second time round? Or more likely drill out the old lock and fit the new one. While all this was going on I was cleaning up and painting the sump(oil pan) on the '41's engine, together with some other engine parts, so tomorrow it can be lifted upright to enable more work to be done on it. Lastly, on the way home saw a car I'd never seen before, see pic's.

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Tuesday 11th May 2010

Another later start at the workshop, shouldn't be repeated tomorrow otherwise Wade will ask me for a note. A $50 note, that is! On his way in this morning in Big Red, Wade had called into the locksmith but because of work pressures he wasn't able to look at her. But Big Red is now booked in for Thursday morning 10:00am to undergo treatment for it's broken right front door lock.

At the workshop I had found Wade down on his hands and knees. No, he wasn't praying to the Packard Gods although I wouldn't be surprised if he had been doing that. But looking for a tiny ball which had popped out of the '39's headlight switch when he was dis-assembling it. I joined the search, but to no avail, and then used a soft broom to gently sweep the drop zone. That didn't appear to work either until Wade noticed in his sweeping the pile of dust, dirt and particles I had collected, into a hand pan, did in fact contain the errant ball! Sorry, in the excitement, forget to take a pic of this momentous occasion.

While I was tidying up the engine parts painted yesterday Wade continued his dis-assembly and clean up of the headlight switch. I then manouveured the engine crane between the '39 and '41, just making it, and positioned it near the '41's engine. About this time Noel and Tony arrived. Tony to continue his fix of the right front window of the '39 and Noel to clean up the engine and engine compartment of his '39. Didn't need this before, but the effects of the wiring fire and the extinguisher used left it in a somewhat disheveled state rather than the show condition it was in previously. And Noel came in handy too when we were using the engine crane to right the '41's engine from laying on its side to being upright. Another set of hands is always useful in those types of circumstances. Only trouble was those extra set of hands also insisted in using my camera to turn the tables on this "Packardrazzi". You'll see the results below as I'm on the other end of the camera for a change. I think Noel's term of "Packardrazzi" is probably a good term to describe me when around Packards and Packard people and events.

Engine upright, cleaned up the new welch plugs and block plug holes and with a liberal application of sealer drove the three new plugs into the block. Then under Wade's supervision mounted the harmonic balancer. Next was re-mounting the re-built oil pump. This was a lot more Wade than me with the distributor also involved and #1 piston @ TDC. Had to ensure the driving slot for the distributor was correctly aligned in the drive at the top of the oil pump drive. It's complicated a bit in that in inserting the oil pump because the gear drive, when meshing with the gear on the camshaft, turns about 45 degrees as it goes in. So a little bit of lead in on the oil pump gear compared to the distributor drive is required in inserting the oil pump in the block. First go was a "trial run" which was out by about a tooth, so after the necessary adjustment in lead in, the second attempt worked and aligned perfectly. Out with the oil pump again, very very carefully keeping everything set up, a coating of gasket sealer on surfaces and gaskets, and very very carefully re-inserting the oil pump. And it worked, again, distributor was still aligned on #1!

Noel and Tony had bid their farewells a little earlier and I then turned to cleaning up the block prior to painting it. Partway through this process, PackardInfo member, Snapey arrived. Matt was returning Wade's copy of Robert Neal's book Packards at Speed and to again look at the '34 chassis for which he has visions of creating a Packard speedster/racer from, see this post. Having finished cleaning the '41's block I realised I should be cleaning and preparing the head for painting too. Started on this then found the spark plug recesses had a fair amount of built up paint/dirt/rust which needed cleaning out. Scraped some out but needed a small diameter hand drill mounted wire brush head to effectively give a good clean surface. And surprise, for once Wade didn't have one of these in his box of tricks! Had to drive up to the local hardware store and buy one. Well Wade, you've got one now! And while I was out, Matt pitched in and cleaned most of the top of the head with a hand wire brush,
Matt!

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Wednesday 12th May 2010

Quote:Promises, promises! Didn't keep my end of the bargain, a flimsy excuse about the granddaughters coming over unexpectedly, and no note!

Wade was under the '39 when I finally arrived, continuing the re-wiring work. First up for me was filing the heater inlet pipe flat where it screws into the head between #5 and #6 cylinders. It was snapped off during the machining and only noticed late yesterday afternoon. Filing it flat was to remove any edges which might catch when carefully drilling the broken off portion out. Drilled OK but still couldn't get the remainder out so will take up the running again tomorrow morning. After that re-cleaned the head and parts of the block. mixed up some Packard green paint and hardener and brushed it on the block and head. Thought I'd done a pretty good job until I borrowed the shop light and discovered there was almost more left unpainted than painted! But fixed it all up light in one hand, brush in the other and now it DOES look OK. Or as Wade said "at least it'll look good even if it doesn't go." Not too sure those are the sentiments I wanted to hear.

Wade meanwhile continued with the '39's re-wiring and I was pressed into service on a couple of occasions to hold things where three or more hands were required. Wade ended up re-building the original light switch as the other three available, two from PeterL and another from Noel, were more or less in the same condition. The main harness is now in place and I left Wade to get on his back again to go up under the dash to start re-connecting instruments. And on the way home dropped in to see Stan, the machining man, about borrowing a BSP-T tap to re-cut the heater pipe thread in the head. Took a sample threaded plug from another head with me but Stan tells me it's NOT BSP-T, but among the hundreds if not thousands of taps he has he will have what we want. And he's going to drop it in at the workshop at 10:00am tomorrow so I'd better be there for that because that's the time Wade sees the locksmith about Big Red's right front door lock problem.

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Thursday 13th May 2010

With Wade going to the locksmiths with Big Red on the way in this morning I finally managed to arrive early. In the process of cleaning some surfaces up I had the S#!T scared out of me when Stan arrived. I was so engrossed in what I was doing I didn't hear him until he almost whispered in my ear! True to his word Stan delivered the required tap, not just a taper but a straighter cut one as well. Finished my cleaning, block surface of manifolds, fuel pump, oil filter housing and lines, thermostat housing mounting on head gasket surface and more when Wade arrived. The visit to the locksmith turned out to be a failure, he still couldn't get the lock opened. So now Wade is going to take off the outside cover and very gently and carefully drill out the lock itself.

But for the moment we turned to the '41's head. With the right taps now at hand started with the taper tap but because it was so tapered couldn't get it to "bite". However using the straighter tap it bit and cleared the remnants of the old heater pipe fitting without any dramas. Then we looked at re-uniting the intake/exhaust manifolds with the block. But in checking with a straight edge there were some gaps, small but still a concern, for the intake flanges compared to the exhaust flanges. Rather than have the unit surfaced again, it was done back in 2008 when we pulled the manifold assembly off previously and there's not much metal left to again surface it, it was decided to split the manifold and reposition the two pieces. That was OK except I snapped one of the bolts in doing that. And another of the bolts could only be loosened using a 13mm ring spanner even though they are supposed to be 9/16"! However what we found after they were split was there wasn't a gasket where the two manifolds join at the hot box and there was a leak at that point!

By this time I had to leave for some grandfatherly baby sitting duties in the afternoon but on the way home ran a few Packard errands. First of which was going to Pirtek, a hydraulics business, for fittings for Wade and myself. Only problem was they'd moved about 5 weeks ago and although I'm lost at the best of times I was pretty sure I knew where they were located. Fortunately there was a notice on the door saying they are now at 7 Euston St Rydalmere, almost just around the corner, Wade please take note! next stop was Lee Bros, nuts and bolts, for some replacement bolts for re-joining the manifolds.

And Wade tells me he and Snapey have reached a deal on the '34 Chassis part of which is that Matt is going to build Wade a stand to hold the engine and trans which are not part of the deal. Matt is getting the rolling frame less the engine and trans as the basis for his project. And from what he was saying earlier in the week this should be one exciting Speedster when it is finished. Congratulations Matt, please keep us informed as the Speedster comes together.

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Thank you for the words of support Mal - and also thanks to Wade for parting with the 34. If I thought the negotiations were difficult, they were nothing compared to telling the other half about it. My darling wife is very understanding and tolerant of my 'hobbies', but she has laid down a few stipulations on the 34 coming to live with us. Namely my new shed, that will house the beast, is to be finished and our little off-road hybrid pop-top caravan (which we have just purchased a larger replacement for) is to be tidied up ready for sale before I pick up the new toy. We have already organised the schedule for these events to occur and we won't be approving any new weekend leave passes until it all happens.

I am thinking that now would be a good time to join the Packard Club...

Quote:
Matt,

I second the motion! We'll be happy to have you on board. Send me a PM with your Email address and I'll email the Membership Secretary DavidM, who is also a member here, and he'll forward you the necessary information.

Friday 14th May 2010

Arrived at the workshop to find that Ted and Brian from the Morris Minor Picnic Club had arrived just before me. Wade had proposed that, for the 1st June Oasis Run, the group meet at the workshop, have morning tea, view the Packards, talk cars, tell some lies, before continuing to the lunch venue at Woolwich Pier. Ted and Brian were there as an advance party to "inspect the premises and facilities", probably failed all OH&S requirements and definitely the white glove test, but from the gleam in their eyes and the fact they stayed for over an hour means all is OK. In order to provide morning tea for the numbers envisaged Wade asked if either of the guys had a hot water urn or access to one and Ted did, so I'll pick that up on Monday. The urn will serve double duty, besides being used on 1st of June it will be used next Friday 21st May when PackardInfo member Tas, Phil and his wife Marjory, visit the workshop before continuing up to the Vintage Motor Garage on the Central Coast where their '26 Limo is under restoration. Any PACA or PackardInfo members in the workshop vicinity at 10:30am on Friday May the 21st please feel free to drop in and meet and greet Phil and Marjory.

After Ted and Brian left, it was into '41 stuff for me while Wade continued with the '39's re-wiring. Cleaned up the head surface where paint had run down inside the stud holes. Then turned the head back over and installed the new heater pipe fitting into the now cleared threaded hole. First thing this morning Wade had been able to get the broken bolt out of the inlet manifold. Yesterday it had been liberally sprayed with penetrant and the end hammered to help break the seal between bolt and manifold. After I left yesterday, Wade continued this treatment whenever he passed the offending article so it had received a liberal pre-treatment by the time it was attended to this morning. Wade tells me the stud remover didn't work because there wasn't enough of the shank of the bolt for it to grip so resorted to using John's extra large multigrips which did the trick. Next I cleaned out the bolt holes in the inlet manifold, done with the requisite tap, so the new bolts fitted easily. It's hard enough to get these things together without fighting stubborn threads as well! Cleaned up the hot box in the intake manifold, and was there ever a lot of compacted carbon it there! Also cleaned up the hot box face of the exhaust manifold. Because of the couple of times recently that Wade has found holes blown through hot boxes a "leak test" was also conducted. The "leak test" was very simple, inverting the manifold then filling the hot box with water and leaving it to sit for about 1/2 an hour. And......no leaks! Bolted both manifolds to the block and also bolted them snugly together and checked for fit to the block surface and......no gaps. But by this time Rick and John were getting anxious to go to lunch, as evidenced by lights being turned off and the roller door being closed. Taking the hint we downed tools, leaving things as they were, but with a quick tidy up and will again pick up the running next week. I did mention that Wade's still working on the '39's re-wiring, didn't I? Well the re-wiring work is still progressing, but with Wade's assistance to me required on an irregular and sometimes constant basis, it is somewhat slow, but it is getting closer to completion you'll be pleased to know Noel.


PS - Wade and I have joined OASIS, membership is just $2.00, see copy of receipt below.

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Monday 17th May 2010

Didn't go to the workshop today because Wade had an appointment elsewhere. Instead picked up the hot water urn from Ted who visited us last Friday. Saw Ted's recent acquisition when picking up the urn, a Peugeot 404 Station Wagon, which had been re-built for and completed the l'aventure 2007.

From there is was over to see Harvey who's putting the re-built engine back into Vince's '39 120 Convertible Coupe. Yesterday our Packard club had participated in a run and in convoying from one point to the next Harvey got lost due to that most insidious of convoy wreckers, traffic lights. And where did Harvey end up? Why in Packard Avenue, not that helped him in the slightest. Last night I used Harveys misfortune as a theme in the report I wrote about the run for our club magazine. Little did I know I'd get my come-uppance for casting Harvey in that light, even though it was meant as good light-hearted fun! But I did, got lost trying to find Vince's house where Harvey was working on the '39. I've been there at least three times before but this time I came from the opposite direction and although I was in the vicinity couldn't find the house. A phonecall to Harvey and I discovered I was literally just around the corner from where I needed to be!

Reason I was at Vince's to help Harvey with the engine re-install? Answer, last week Harvey had put the engine back in with Vince's help but had forgotten to bolt the clutch fork back inside the bellhousing before the doing so. Probably the fact that Vince was there added to the pressure of the situation resulting in this "little" oversight. Be that as it may, Vince is away this week so Harvey needed a hand with the engine. Harvey also enlisted the services of his mate Ross as three are better than two, plus Ross is also a GENUINE OLD TIME MECHANIC! Just as well, Ross and his know how and experience proved invaluable. First to get the clutch properly aligned, then under the '39 guiding the engine in and positioning the clutch throw-out bearing, finally to get everything bolted back up.
Ross!

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Tuesday 18th May 2010

First up this morning was going round to Repco, local auto parts store, and picking up a tube of Stag Jointing Paste in preparation for re-assembling and re-installing the intake and exhaust manifolds. The Stag was used to coat the gasket surfaces to obtain a leak free joint. For this I did all the "dirty" work in the form of applying the Stag by hand, actually by finger, to the gaskets. First for the intake/exhaust heat box joint, which was loosely tightened by Wade while I went onto the inlet/exhaust manifold gasket surfaces with the substance being liberally applied. The manifold assembly was then bolted and tightened to the block, followed by tightening the hot box joint bolts. Now, it's hard enough to access the nuts onto and off the manifold studs while the engine is out of the car, it must be almost impossible when the engine is in situ. That done the fuel pump and fuel pump heat shield were re-united with the engine. Fortunately Harvey had returned the heat shield on Sunday on our Packard club run.

Next we turned to the transmission and overdrive unit which has been sitting on the shop floor since early December. During that time I'd cleaned the unit up externally. While at one stage Wade kicked it over and because the top was off precipitated an oil spill, not of the same magnitude as that currently being experienced in the Gulf of Mexico, but impressive for what it was. The trans won't be pulled apart as it was functioning well, with no noises when pulled from the '41. One of the dramas with the unit is oil leaks. These are being addressed by installing a new front gasket and a new rear seal for the O/D. With the Solenoid and Governor mountings still to be addressed also being a source of leaks. Fortunately there don't appear to be any leaks between the trans and the O/D so the unit doesn't need to be split apart. Last task, because I had to leave early for granddaughter sitting duties, was remounting the the trans and O/D unit to the engine. But before doing that the engines direction on its table needed to be reversed. Fortunately this was easy, still being attached to the engine crane, so up a bit, remove the wooden blocks its standing on, rotate 180 degrees, then lower back onto the re-positioned blocks. Next was the struggle to remount the trans to the bellhousing. And for this Wade enlisted Graham's muscle. While Wade positioned the throw out bearing Graham and I lifted the trans from the bench and tried to position and line it up. Failed on the first two attempts then third time lucky! Slid into the throw out bearing easily then, with Wade manipulating the u-joint, the spigot shaft engaged the clutch plate and through to the spigot bearing followed by bolting the unit to the bellhousing.

Left for home after that but no sooner was I through the door then Wade was on the phone advising that the Penrite running in oil and motor oil, we'd talked about earlier in the day, and he was ordering for me couldn't be delivered because the guy was on vacation. But......if I could get over to Wetherill Park tomorrow I'd be able to pick it up. And of course I will, so tomorrow that is my assigned Packard task.

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