Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Yesterdays Radio produces a few of these parts in Ivory so its really the only way to go without making them yourself. If I can't find them in orange I will make them from acrylic blanks:

pennstateind.com/store/WXSAC02.html

I might even have some fun with them:

pennstateind.com/store/WXLB1758.html

I have managed to round up enough of the dash knobs but the rest of my hardware is the low end chrome stuff.

Ray, hijack away. Let me know if you need a particular picture of an assembly. These are priceless for those of us with CRS.

Nice find on that acrylic. That would be more authentic looking than the ivory, as the original knobs were made of a material that had a marblized swirl to it.

I ordered new bearings and seals for the axle ends so I thought I'd at least get the axle and differential mounted back in the car. First I mounted the empty tube axle to the springs, then I installed the diff carrier and lastly the cover. I didn't want to fill it with oil but decided to add just a quart in order to get the gears wet. After I dumped it in I tried to turn the drive shaft face plate over to get everything wet and it wouldn't move. I had installed the cover upside down and it was rubbing the cover. In order to make the flip I lost half the oil to the garage floor. Let this be a lesson to you, that cover only goes on one way!

Attach file:

---

  (76.76 KB)

So I've had the last week off work and I had hoped to get some work done on the car but ten minutes after starting up the air compressor it blew itself up. One of the rods broke sending a piston flying. This turned out to be a blessing as I hated the old Craftsman oil-less compressor. It couldn't keep up with the sandblaster and it sounded like a swarm of angry bees wielding chainsaws. The new compressor is an Ingersol Rand 60GAL that puts out 14.4CFM at 125PSI which is almost double the old compressor. It also sounds like a highly muffled Harley which is much nicer on the ear drums. Since I was in that part of the shop I decided it was time I ran hardline too. The entire garage is now plumbed in copper for air where as before I had to drag that hose out every time I wanted to use a pneumatic tool. This took a few days to accomplish but was well worth it. Here is the new compressor in its new home:

Attach file:

---

  (55.17 KB)

One of my front brake fulcrum support arms had been broken so I managed to find a new one however this "new" one also had problems. After I got it apart I found that the shaft was badly pitted so I decided it needed to be turned down and refit in the housing. First the arm was mounted between centers in the lathe and I took small cuts until all the pitting was removed and it was true again.

Attach file:

---

  (68.19 KB)

Next, I ordered some new undersize bronze bushings from McMaster and cut them to length on the mill:

Attach file:

---

  (66.73 KB)

Then these were installed in the old housing which was already cleaned up and sandblasted. Next the bearings were bored out to fit the new smaller shaft size and the parts were reassembled with new cork gaskets. Those gaskets aren't being remade so they were cut with a punch set from 1/8" cork.

Attach file:

---

  (76.28 KB)


  (56.88 KB)


  (45.78 KB)


  (79.17 KB)

This weekend also saw the engine go to its third rebuilder, the first two gave up. The engine now resides at Classic and Exotic Services in Troy, MI. I met with the owner Brian Joseph this morning and he sounds like he knows what he's doing and I'm sure that this is the engines last stop before going back in the car. Here is the truck all loaded up:

Attach file:

---

  (98.11 KB)

My busted rear brake cams were too far gone to fix with any certainty so I had a friend remake new rear brake cam housings. These were finished on Friday and I picked them up the same day. I also had him make me new front spindle lock washers, a new rear axle outer seal retainer and bumper bracket clamps for the front and rear. All the parts came out very nice. Call Steve Ortner at Mountain Machine shop in Belleville MI if you need something machined at a reasonable rate.

Attach file:

---

  (89.59 KB)


  (97.02 KB)