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Monday 20th June 2011

Wade's back and when I saw Big Red in the workshop this morning thought he was going to remove the manifolds to attend to the cracked exhaust manifold. But no, instead, he was re-torquing the head nuts. Because.....the head gasket had blown on the Echuca to Wagga Wagga leg returning from the Border Run. On arriving at Wagga Wagga, in the motel carpark, Wade and Harvey had replaced the head gasket with a new Olsen one Wade was carrying. Startied at 4:00pm and finished by 5:45pm, I think they would have easily bettered the head gasket change time on packard34, Mat's, '34 when it was done during the Concours at Kangaroo Island last year. Of course, at that time Wade was only giving "technical advice" and not getting his hands dirty! He did say today, it wasn't pleasant working on Big Red's engine with 200+ miles of heat build-up. So this morning all the head nuts were re-torqued to spec. The opportunity was also taken to check the distributor, seeing it was out of the car, spark plugs cleaned and the gaps checked. Then using a timing light the timing was checked and reset. Concerning the cracked exhaust manifold, Wade's strategy is along these lines. First option, Wade heard on the Border Run that a club member, many years ago, had imported a manifold from the US and then not used it because manifolds for LHD cars differ from those for RHD cars. If it can be tracked down, is serviceable and available it will be utilised. Failing that, option two is to remove the offending cracked manifold and repair. Saying that, it will depend on how bad the crack is and finding someone with the expertise to repair it. And the fallback, import a manifold from the US. Still another possibility is using a RHD manifold, if one can be found, but going this way means a new engine pipe for the exhaust system because of the different shape of the manifold to clear the steering box on RHD Packards.

Big Red done, next was a road trip to Ralph Moore Autoglass at Mascot. Before Wade had left on the Border Run we'd marked out a cardboard template for the rear window glass for The Fossil. This followed the glass Ralph Moore cut using the rear window glass that came with The Fossil as a pattern NOT fitting properly! Wade had taken the original recut glass and the cardboard template to Ralph Moores where Greg cut a new glass piece while the Border Run was in progress. Greg explained today there were problems found with the windows rubber gasket(from Steele) and that the cardboard template had a "dip" in the top edge. Despite these hurdles he'd cut a new glass which fits the gasket at least "reasonably" well in the circumstances. Picked up the new glass, gasket, metal trim piece and cardboard template and returned to the workshop. Intention was to trial fit the glass/gasket combination to The Fossil to determine it's suitability. And it looks like it will do the job although I left Wade in the back of The Fossil with hammer and punch working down imperfections in the rear window opening so the glass/gasket combination fits properly. Once Wade finishes that he'll call Greg to talk things over to make sure that all's well. All going well the glass and gasket will return to Ralph Moores to be sealed together. Once that is done then arrangements can then be made for Greg to come over to the workshop for professional fitment of the combination to the rear window opening.

Also on the return trip from Mascot we stopped off at Godfrey Engraving where Wade dropped off a re-pro '34 ID Plate to be engraved with the type and body number together with the Packard Dealer delivery details and date. You'll see from the pic of the original ID Plate it contains the type and body number but no other details. This is very common on Australian delivered Packards, apparently the Dealers here weren't fastidious about stamping the other details on the plate. Probably because East Grand Boulevarde didn't come calling down-under too often. Or, and this is probably more relevant, there weren't many Packard dealers and not that many Packards sold either so all Packards would be known to the dealer. Speaking of Packard Dealers, the Melbourne Dealer was Kellow Faulkner and packard34, Mat, has most of the shipping records of the Packards sold by them. How he acquired these I don't know, but it's certainly a great resource because Mat was able to provide Wade with the details to complete the new ID Plate. Hope I didn't let the cat out of the bag Mat? But wait there's more, Godfrey Engraving was often used by Wade to make name and other plates when he was in business, so todays visit was a reunion of sorts for Wade and Michael there.

And then, on the way back to the workshop from Godfrey Engraving, I said there's a red boat-tail roadster/speedster in front of the car in front of us! Not often(ever?) you see a boat-tail of any description on the road! Fortunately for me anyway, my camera clicking finger was itching mightily, it was stopped by the traffic lights and we stopped behind it. I jumped out, giving Wade instructions to take the lights if they changed and I'd walk back to the workshop being only about a 1/4 mile away. Fortunately I was able to take a few pic's, quickly talk to the driver who was amused by my antics but did convey to me it's a '28 12/50 Alvis, then jump back into Wade's Ute before the lights changed. Pic's below, I like it. Back at the workshop found out that Noel had missed us by 5 minutes when we departed for Ralph Moores earlier. I'd rung Noel this morning to let him know I'd be at the workshop but omitted to then let him know we'd be out on the road. But that's typical and, as Noel is so fond of saying, "it's all Mal's fault". Noel picked up the 1941 Super 8 Sales Catalog,
I scanned on his behalf for PackardInfo, as well as the Jim Hollingsworth 1940 Packard book and a 1941 Accessories Brochure. The Accessories Brochure has just been scanned too so, when #1 son next comes over, PackardInfo should have it on-site soon thereafter. It was a pity we missed Noel, because Wade wanted to pass on to Noel the dash and window trim pieces he'd brought back from RobT for Tony, Noel's mate, to re-woodgrain.

But back to the Border Run. Wade tells me, apart from the cold brrrrrr, all had a great time with good accommodation, good runs, interesting stops and great sightseeing and historic sites. Also that Mrs pepepackard was the organising force behind the 20 Packards being arrayed in year order at one of the stops. Well done Pam! Wade also gave a couple of tasks, one being to take some pics of the Packard emblems on the bonnet(hood) sides of my '41 Coupe. These are for one of the guys on The Border Run, RobertW, because his aren't too good I believe. Well, let me tell you, after taking some close up pic's of mine, neither are mine! The other task, well it's going to be putting the ball, or more accurately Packard parts, in Hobbs court. Hobbs, I'll email you separately because I have to research this a little and get my thoughts together, but you have been warned!

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Wednesday 22nd June 2011

After giving Misty, John's dog, what was left of last weeks leg of lamb proceeded to Packard Corner. At Packard Corner first thing I did was trip over a '34 Exhaust manifold on the floor. This made me fall almost face first into a '37 Super 8 Exhaust manifold on the bench! Didn't expect "First option, Wade heard.....that a club member, many years ago, had imported a manifold from the US and then not used it because manifolds for LHD cars differ from those for RHD cars. If it can be tracked down, is serviceable and available it will be utilised......" this to happen so quickly. Best of all the '37 LHD is NOS! In fact it wasn't even drilled for the air cleaner mounting bracket on the front of the manifold or for the hot box heat riser valve mechanism! Not bad, to come across a brand new part like that 74 years after the fact.

Then the work began, disconnecting linkages and lines, removing the carb, disconnecting the exhaust pipe, taking off the intake manifold and finally the exhaust manifold. It was only then that the severity of the problem became apparent. It wasn't just a crack, the complete rearmost manifold flange had broken off. Wade has suspicions that because the two rear manifold studs were leaking coolant this could have been a contributing factor to the break. These two studs as well as one other that came out with its nut plus any others looking like "likely suspects" will be replaced using plenty of sealant on the threads.

Because the manifold lacked various mounting points, work was required before it could be utilised. The front mounting bracket from the broken manifold was used with holes marked on the NOS manifold, drilled, tapped and the old studs re-used. The heat riser valve wasn't an issue because a copper plate is already in use to separate the intake and exhaust manifolds on Big Red and this plate will be retained. Probably the only '37 Packard Super 8 in the world to lack any sort of heat riser valve! The other piece of manifold hardware requiring attention was the automatic choke mechanism. Over the years, before Wade's ownership of Big Red, the screws holding the choke mechanism to the housing cast into the manifold had been replaced by much larger bolts. Took a bit of ferreting around in various "junk boxes" but Wade was able to come up with screws of the appropriate length and thread size to suit the NOS manifold. Also, after referencing the manual, re-set the choke to spec. Before this, the pointer inside the mechanism was way off.

All that done, cleaning of manifolds and block and head surfaces were the next tasks undertaken. The NOS manifold was first wire-brushed then prepped for painting with high temp manifold paint, one coat today, another later this week. Manifold surfaces on the block and head cleaned up relatively easily as did the surfaces on the intake manifold. Oh oh! Just remembered, I was so busy patting myself on the back for doing such a good job on the block and manifold surfaces that I forgot about the engine pipe flange! Sorry Wade.

During the course of all this Harvey arrived with his spare Super 8 exhaust manifold. Fortunately because Wade now had the NOS manifold he didn't need to avail himself of Harvey's. Because Harveys is RHD it would have required a new engine pipe to accommodate the forward sweep of the manifold outlet. It also had a lug broken off the manifold outlet flange. So Harvey was able to leave, still with his manifold, but also with a gift from Wade he can utilise on his '37 Super 8. And no it wasn't a bonnet(hood) louvre to replace the broken one! Harvey had asked me a couple of weeks ago to see if I could find him a louvre to replace the broken one on his '37. To that end I'd placed want ads here and on the PAC and AACA Sites which brought this response: Quote: Harvey told me today that he'd like one of The Flackmasters re-pro's and to that end Harvey will now liaise with Noel to complete the process. But I digress! What I wanted to say was that Wade gave Harvey a "bail" type '34 radiator cap. The cap isn't in great condition, it was the one that came with the replacement '34 Wade bought from the US, but it'll do the job for Harvey when he needs to replace the gold plated Cormorant on his '37 when parked or left unattended!

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Thursday 23rd June 2011

No workshop today, just grandchildren.

Wanted to note that on Tuesday Wade had trial fitted, measured, adjusted and contemplated The Fossil's rear window and then taken the glass and the rubber gasket back over to Ralph Moore Autoglass. There he discussed what he'd observed, found and measured with Greg who is now going to seal the gasket to the glass, this will probably involve a small amount of trimming to the base of the gasket. Once the glass is sealed to the gasket, arrangements will then be made for Greg to come to the workshop to fit the window to The Fossil. Don't know why I forgot to mention this yesterday. Maybe because I keep growing older, not younger?

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Older? You? I don't think so. It is the price for woolgathering.

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Friday 24th June 2011

After donating blood plasma, a quick pit-stop at the workshop late this morning. Wade had given his new exhaust manifold a second coat of high temp paint as well as giving Noel's replacement oil filter housing and bracketry a coating of POR-15. Noel needs to replace the filter on his '39 because of leaks and dropped off a spare filter and fittings about 3 weeks ago to be tidied up as a replacement. Called in to pick up the old filter cartridge to take to Mr Filter to source a replacement. They didn't have a cartridge in stock but did have one at the warehouse and which arrived while I was typing this, so I'll pick it up tomorrow morning so all is ready to go first thing Monday morning. Have also ordered another three filter cartridges, a spare for Noel and a couple for myself. And speaking of Monday morning, EdK is bringing his '37 120 Touring Sedan in for Wade to check and adjust the brakes.

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Saturday 25th June 2011

Another pit-stop at the workshop this morning, just dropped off the new filter cartridge for Noel's oil filter.

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Monday 27th June 2011

Arrived at the workshop a "little" later than usual to find Wade under, of all things, a Packard! He was under the front of EdK's '37 120 Touring Sedan adjusting the brakes. Ed had been concerned for some time about the long brake pedal travel he was experiencing and despite bleeding and re-bleeding the brakes couldn't reduce the length of travel. Besides his wife, Margaret, also wasn't impressed with having to push the brake pedal again and again and again for no apparent improvement. Wade tells me that there was no drag at all on the front brakes and he doesn't know how many turns the star adjuster took to bring the pedal up to an acceptable level. Adjusting the rear brakes finished off the pedal travel predicament and after a test drive a very happy Ed was on his way. Now Ed and Margaret will be able to come on PACA's next monthly run on Sunday to The Australiana Pioneer Village at Wilberforce on the far western outskirts of Sydney without the worry they might overshoot it because of dodgy brakes.

But back to my "slightly" late arrival. After I was roundly admonished including threats about deductions from wages (a good one that, how do you deduct something than nothing?) I was set to work, thoroughly chastened, to chase out the threads on Noel's oil filter canister and lid. But I don't call that work, it more along the lines of "Packard therapy". Any tasks to do with getting or keeping a Packard on the road just cannot be construed as work! Isn't there a Confucion saying along the lines of "Happy is he who works on Packards"? Meanwhile, back in the real world, the threads on the top of the tube/pipe in the centre of the canister and the threads in the base of the canister's cap bolt were cleaned using the appropriate die and tap. What had previously been hard to turn now was easily tightened.

By this time Ed had left and we were waiting for Noel when Tony, Noel's mate, arrived. Tony had come down to pick up the '40 110 Convertible Coupe dash and garnish mouldings, he's going to re-woodgrain for RobT from South Australia, that Wade had brought back with him from the Border Run. As I understand it, Tony is using a Grain-It Technologies kit bought by Noel and Peter Packard. Now that Tony's prowess in woodgraining is spreading he's getting "commissions" to do others. Then as Tony was preparing to leave Noel arrived in his '39 120 Touring Sedan. From the trail of oil it left in it's wake didn't look like it would have gone too much further.

Then to work, or is it now viewed as therapy? Old oil filter off with minimum spillage, although from the excess oil on the left side of the engine any spill would have been hard to detect anyway! The bracket holding the oil filter canister to the head was also removed revealing another problem. The retaining bolts penetrate the water jacket. So, besides oil spill, there was now also water spillage. Luckily a large fibreglass catch tray had been positioned undercar otherwise an oily watery mess would have done its impersonation of the incoming tide. After a clean up around the immediate work area the freshly prepared oil filter canister and mounting bracket were loosely bolted to the head. Then the plumbing was re-connected but, instead of a bolt-off, bolt-on operation for this, use of some of the Noel's old fittings was necessary to reconnect the lines to the canister. Meant Noel's old canister, still full of oil, was wrestled for the fittings required. Done, fittings and lines all tightened up, the mounting bracket to the head was then tightened. But......not only did the bolts penetrate the water jacket the thread of the rear most bolt hole was also stripped. And, another thing found with the mounting bolts, they were also whitworth! From the junk box found a pair of the next larger size UNC bolt, tapped the holes out, some loctite sealer and hey presto the replacement filter canister was in place. Filled up the radiator, no leaks at rest. Part filled the canister with oil, cartridge in, top bolted down and engine oil topped up, needed a fair bit because it had been leaking badly. Fired up, no water leaks but there was oil leaking from the canister top seal. Canister top off, nothing apparent causing the leak, canister top back on and re-tightened, a bit harder this time round though. Fired up again, no leaks from water or oil this time, so looked like success. Another 1/2 litre of oil, to top off the system now that everything had had a chance to circulate, and Noel was on his way. Noel too is now ready for PACA's monthly run on Sunday to The Australiana Pioneer Village at Wilberforce.

That done, turned to Big Red's needs. In the lull between Ed leaving and Tony arriving Wade had pulled the oil filter off the old girl, because of an oil leak in that vicinity that's driving him crazy. With the filter off, it was obvious it's not coming from there. Another possibility might be the fuel/vacuum pump, but before that could be investigated Tony had arrived. After Noel's departure, that line of investigation wasn't revisited for now. Instead a road trip was undertaken to 1) source new exhaust manifold to engine pipe bolts, and 2) source new manifold studs. Instead of Lee Bros, Wade took up Harvey's suggestion of visiting Boltmaster at Seven Hills. Sourced the exhaust manifold to engine pipe bolts there but no studs. So off to Lee Bros, but they too had no bananas studs! Instead, bolts with a long shoulder were purchased which are now in the throes of being turned into studs! On our return trip Noel phoned to say he'd reached home, garaged the '39 and was able to report no leaks!

A legacy of Noel's visit today is that Wade agreed to do an undercar mechanical overhaul of Frank's '36 120 Dietrich Convertible which we saw on PACA's April run. Wade will be going through things like brakes, suspension, steering, axle bearings and seals, etc. And Noel took with him the spare '34 exhaust manifold he'd brought over with the '37 NOS one last week. Turns out the guy who had these also has 2 x '33 Standard Eight Sedans. One of these had suffered a hole in the muffler on the weekend and, in dismantling things, the exhaust manifold had literally broken in half! So the guy needs his spare '34 manifold back in a hurry, if not sooner. Noel tells me the manifold that broke bore evidence of a number of previous repairs so it was in a sad, sad way.

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Back on Post #791 about engraving the VIN plates, I've been looking for ways to do this. I looked this weekend for a set of metal stamping numbers with an I(phonetically 'eye'), or a hyphen to make one in combination with a san serif I, without luck. On mine, barely discernible, the dealer and date were rubber stamped. So I was going to have a rubber stamp made for that and seal it with clear, and only metal stamp the number. But Packard used a serif I(eye) for the numeral 1, so continuing to look, and today will check with stamp manufacturers.

But an engraver, if they can stamp the number, or a trophy shop, that's probably a better option than trying to find a metal stamp set with serifs. And I fear that once I had it, I wouldn't be able to resist stamping all kinds of other things with it.

But just thought I would mention that perhaps those plates you have were rubber stamped, and the ink wore off over years of wiping off the cowl. Maybe.

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I've used a trophy shop for the the portions that were factory stamped (VN) with very satisfactory results.

Hope you have luck on finding the stamps but to get it to the detail and perfection you're looking for, probably not an easy task. Unless you find the hyphen or a good shop that can precisely match it or possibly even an old time dealer set, would imagine you will wind up having a custom stamp made.

Not a cheap option but Owen_Dyneto posted a picture of the Packard fonts some time back. Perhaps that and an inquiry to one of the custom stamp mfgs like this oneinfinitystamps.com/alphabet_stamps.html would be an option. At least if you got a custom set you could go into business.