Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

A fairly productive weekend. Modified the front wheel seals to allow them to be driven in flush with the back of the hub. They were .500" and needed to be .440" thick. They were a two piece shell arrangement. I milled pockets making them look like a crown. My buddy John heli-arced the pockets and then cut the points of the crown off. I imagine I have a case of replacement wheel bearings with a .060" wider race. Who knows, not a problem at this point. Got the pinion seal installed and everything torqued up again, and driveshaft installed.

Tackled the fuel line today. My good friend Bob came over in the morning to help tackle the 10' snake. Surprisingly, it came out in one piece relatively unbent. Just like with the 1/4" brake lines, I patterned off the old line. The 5/16 was way tougher to bend and manage. Used the bender where I could and worked my fingers raw on the rest. It turned out really nice. Snaked it back on, and to my complete disbelief it all snapped back in the factory holders and brackets.

Went on to plumbing the new fuel pump that the Flackmaster graciously supplied a core complete with pulse damper chamber, and sent to Terrell machine for a rebuild. They did a very nice job on the rebuild and refinish. The re-plumb part is because I am going to run an electric pump in parallel to the mechanical. Did this on the '39 for priming and back up incase of mechanical failure. Works very well, but requires a number of fittings to pair up the supply and feed lines for both pumps.

Did some work on the horn(s). Tom, the fellow I bought the car from sent a care package that I was able to use with the horn bracket I had with the car. I am pleased to say I was able to piece a pair of hi and low note horns that work. The relay clicked, but didn't conduct on the high-current side. Drilled the spot welds and pulled the cover. Filed the contacts and replaced the cover. All is well. Will put the finishing touches on the assembly and install. The horn button was inop. so I pulled the horn rim and cleaned the copper contactor and rim contacts. Works just fine now.

That's all for this weekend.

Attach file:

---

  (44.84 KB)


  (33.86 KB)

Today was a great day for a Monday. When I got home there was a package from West Peterson with an oil bath air cleaner. Nice piece, thanks West!

While I was in the mood, I decided to install the freshly redone horn assembly and install the air cleaner. Put the horns on, hooked up the wiring and what do you know... Toot Toot! Installed the air cleaner and smiled from ear to ear.

A very visually gratifying evening with major dead space now occupied in the engine bay.

Attach file:

---

  (49.67 KB)


  (30.86 KB)

G'day Jim, What is the bike in the background of the Snake picture? It appears to be a Fifties or Sixties machine. Peter

Peter,
From that back mudguard and shocks I would say its a Triumph. A Bonneville perhaps. Similar to my 54 Tiger 100 but Triumphs did not alter their mudguards much
Terry

Hi Peter and Terry, the old cycle in the background is a '57 Triumph TR-6B Trophybird Scrambler. It has a great bit of history. Bought new from Johnson Motors - Pasadena, California by a fellow named Joe Presley. Joe raced it in many of the famous Southern California races such as the Catalina Grand-pre, Big Bear, and Green Horn races. Joe was AMA number 69 so he did pretty fair. The bike was bought from Joe's widow by Al Baker Sr. and all the street equipment such as generator, instruments, toolbox, head and tail lamp, horn, wiring, and other normally damaged or lost bits were reinstalled in brand new condition. My very dear friend, the late Clyde Earl, former national warranty manager with the Western US Triumph distributor bought the bike from Al Baker. Clyde rode the bike on many of the Southern California vintage Brit bike rides. Clyde sold the bike to the late Chuck Clayton, owner of the very recently defunct weekly motorcycle magazine Cycle News. I bought it from Chuck about 20 years ago. My wife and I have logged about 10,000 miles of riding it over the years. While we don't use it as often as we used to, and it is not as coveted as some of the antique cars, it is my most prized possession because I still love old motorcycles and miss many of the friends from those days that have passed on.

Thanks for asking, I don't have a lot of Brit bike fans to chat with here in the desert Southwest. I will post a picture next time I roll it out.

Quote:

For the Brit bike fans like myself:











I'd love to have one of these babies!

Wow, neat piece! Closest I came to that was a '64 750 TT Interceptor years back. No where near as neat, but a Royal Enfield none the less.

Yeah, you should have seen some of the other vehicles in this gentleman's collection:













And I didn't even get to all the Bentley's and Rolls Royce's!

In preparation for fuel pump installation the heat insulating bushings and washers needed to be created as they consisted of nuts that the flats were ground off of and just steel flat washers with no fiber washers. I had to ponder what to use that would be durable, insulate against heat transfer, and be machineable. Answer - Delrin plastic.

Began by boring the 3/8 hole for the bolts to pass through. Then turned the OD to the desired washer OD. Turned to .800" and then parted off. Next was turning the stock down to the OD for the internal fuel pump bolt busing. Once turned, parted off and all components chamfered.

I was inspired by the recent thread started by Dave concerning the fuel pump leaking at the gasket and the feedback about the heat insulating bushings and washers. While work of this nature is time consuming and invisible once installed, it is fun and fulfilling. Kind of makes me think of all the work that went into each and every part Packard had to produce to manufacture these fine automobiles.

Attach file:

---

  (37.21 KB)


  (44.34 KB)


  (43.71 KB)


  (39.24 KB)


  (43.30 KB)


  (29.18 KB)

Your parts look like the nylon sleeves and washers I bought at a hardware store, except they are of a different material. The sleeves I bought were a bit long so cut them to the right length. My fuel pump bolt bores were already the size to accommodate the insulating sleeves. You did some nice work, thanks for sharing.

(o{I}o)

Still thinking I need to make an insulating gasket between the fuel pump and engine block. Doe anyone know how thick it should be, and any suggestions for a good insulating material?