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Thank you Dave,

Knew you, if anyone, would be able to come through with the info.

I'm cross referencing between both threads for future reference.

Link to O_D's thread - "Startix" by Eclipse Machine

Guys, thanks for the nice words - always happy to contribute.

The A.E.A. manuals never had the broad distribution that manuals like Motor's, Glenn's, and Chilton had; it's rare to ever come across one, even at the larger flea markets. I've always considered myself fortunate to have this one (covers late 20s thru 1934). If auto electrics interest you and you ever see one that covers your car or even cars of an era of interest to you, try not to let it get away - they are an outstanding source of information.

Wednesday 14th December 2011

Posted a pic on the 28th November of a Signal Stat 900 turn indicator unit. Subsequently bought one, off eBay, which arrived today. See it has a 12V flasher can on it, hope I didn't buy the wrong one! Wade, will leave it on your desk at the workshop on Friday for your return Monday after the trip to Gil-bloody-gandra.

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Monday 19th December 2011

My late arrival at the workshop allowed Wade to check over the Signal Stat turn indicator unit and confirm it will be fine for The Fossil, determine which wires are what and locate a 6V flasher can to replace the 12V it came with. Other arrivals besides the Signal Stat were a new engine mount for Gina's Celica, the "new" front seat back top for Big Red and a book "The Restoration of Vintage and Thoroughbred Cars". The engine mount finally arrived from Japan after being ordered early in November, usually takes days, not weeks extending into months! The seat back top for Big Red was fabricated by Noel's mate Tony using a spare '34 seat back top. Back on 13th September Tony had picked the seat back top up, returned with it the next day for a trial fit and called in a few times since then for further fitting checks. Besides a section added in the middle, about 4" IIRC, the seat back top needed to be straightened because the '37 seat back has a lot less curvature than a '34. The book, don't know who dropped that off, was appreciated with Wade thinking it good of them even though most of the work has already been done! Wade showed me a number of things he'd been working on last week, mounting of the back up light on the right rear bumper bracket, drilling of holes in the cabin timber framing and running of cable and finally being able to run the radio antennae cable down the A pillar. The last is what I left Wade contemplating when I last saw him. He finally managed to get a pull cable down inside the pillar, connect it to the antennae cable and through it came without any of the dramas associated with trying to pull it up through the pillar. Of course it also meant the plug-in end for the radio was now at the wrong end of the cable and was cut off, but more about that later.

Time for the road trip to pick up Juniors flywheel, clutch and pressure plates from Burt Bros. Only trouble was. it wasn't ready! The pressure plate needed to be re-assembled and wouldn't be available until tomorrow, and Wade was advised to ring first! Funny, because as we were walking into Burt Bros Wade said, maybe he should have phoned first! But it wasn't an entirely wasted trip because on the return journey called into Jaycar and purchased a antennae cable end and a fuse holder for the Signal Stat. Also on the return journey Wade had a call from Barry Smith, answered by moi because Wade was driving, to let Wade know that AndrewO'H, the owner of the '26 426 water pump, was dropping in tomorrow because he was down in Sydney on business.

Back at the workshop turned to The Fossil and while Wade was sorting out screws and things to mount the trunk latch ends I cut down the Back up light mounting bolts to accept dome head nuts and re-mounted the light, after of course getting Wade's approval it was in the right spot. That done I enlarged the holes in the rubber mounting pads for the trunk latch ends, they ware slightly too small and not quite correctly positioned, think they came from Steele's, but....Shhhh! By the time I finished that Wade had all the mounting hardware ready and on they went. Next was the trunk lock, but before going back on a few pieces needed cleaning and painting and will be caught up with tomorrow. Then the connector for the flasher unit was given attention with all the wires and clips first removed, necessitating Wade making a tool by grinding down an old hacksaw blade to fit into the slots to release the clips, worked a treat! The old crimped on wires were then removed from the clips and replaced by larger diameter wires soldered into the opened up jaws of the crimp lugs and slid back into the flasher socket. Next was the replacement antennae cable end which was spliced onto the radio end of the antennae cable. Left things there, but I'll return later this week for a catch up on progress and file a pre-Christmas report.

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Friday 23rd December 2009

Catch up visit with Wade this morning before heading off for Santa duties. Learned that he's spent a couple of days on his back in and under The Fossil fitting the toe board, connecting the Signal Stat turn indicator unit and connecting up the radio. Only wires still loose under there are for the electric fuel pump and the Trippe lights. Reason being the electric pump, to be used for priming only, and the Trippe lights aren't themselves fitted yet. Going back to the toe board, Wade found, with the radio in place, he couldn't fit the toe board but removing the clutch and brake pedal foot pads allowed him to do so. Also found the brake pedal is rubbing on the toe board so more work required there while the turn indicators work as does the radio.

In mentioning the Signal Stat turn indicator unit, I found another one on eBay. This one NOS and cheaper than the one I bought for The Fossil! Have a view to mounting it in the Coupe to replace the flimsy, generic unit presently in use. Also bought a pair of NORS Uni-joints off eBay for the Coupe. When it was up on the hoist about a month ago it was noticed there was some slop in the uni's. Think I was fortunate to find these at $30 each plus $15 shipping. A real bargain when compared to the major vendors prices of $125+ each plus a hefty shipping fee! Will fit the new uni's in the New Year when the Coupe goes up on the hoist for an oil change and grease as part of it's annual inspection for registration renewal.

Whoops! Just about to submit this post when I saw Chris, starliner, has sent me two emails. One of pic's of the current state of the body on his '48 Woodie two door project, the other a quick word about the same topic ".....as you see a little progress has been made , TJ reckons those tail gates are the most difficult panels he's ever made. I think he has faced the challenge and been victorious.....". I'm sorry I missed being able to inspect the progress in person but Santa had to switch his phone off in attending to his "normal" shopping mall duties!

Don't expect to be back at the workshop until January so to all on PackardInfo, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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Back on 3rd November in this post I identified a Detroit Electric as 1915.

in fact it's a 1916! And will be on display at the NRMA Motorfest on 26th January in Sydney when city streets are closed for car displays as part of Australia Day celebrations.

While this link provides some details of the Detroit's owner and his cars, impressive!

Mal, a year more or less is very important!







[picture source: www.strangebillions.com]

Friday 30th December 2011

Dropped into the workshop to give Misty, the shop dog, a Christmas bone to chew on. Also found Wade there, he's been pottering around getting a few things organised for next year. Has Juniors accelerator pedal linkage, together with a pic of same, ready to go to be rehabilitated with a new cross shaft and bushes in the shaft bracket ends. Likewise with the water pump for AndrewO'H's '26 426. Although Andrew provided Wade with another pump on his visit earlier this month it will require a new shaft too. Another item he's been "pottering around" with is the NOS oil pump for Junior, that has been opened up, cleaned and re-closed together with an application of grease on the gears to aid oil pressure from the initial start on the engine following it's rebuild. Also on the bench is Juniors surfaced flywheel, rebuilt pressure plate and a new clutch plate.

And that concludes 2011. Accordingly, to all on PackardInfo

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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Friday 6th January 2012

Had a query from Noel this morning "....Just wondering if all is okay with you? No posts from the workshop lately. Is Wade away? Are you suffering from separation anxiety??....". To which I responded "....Have been involved with some family stuff the last couple of days but did drop into the workshop for 5 minutes yesterday. Wade has been fighting with the toe board on The Fossil for the past 2 days but won't be there today, because he and Gina are going away....and will be back on Monday ....". To which Noel replied "....Gee, sounds like you have reformed! Putting family stuff in front of Packards!!....".

And because I had to clear the Packard club's mail box nearby also dropped in this morning to give Misty, poor dog, a bone. While there took a couple of pic's for what they were worth.

There had been some Packard activity earlier in the week when those club members who could, attended the funeral of a club member who died recently. A roll up of 9 Packards and about two dozen club members provided a fitting tribute for a long time member of the club.

Should be back at the workshop on Monday with regular communication recommencing then. Intend to bring the Coupe in next week for an oil change, grease, replacement of the flexible fuel hose between frame and pump, replacement of uni-joints and removal and inspection of the fuel tank for a leak and work to fix same. Need to do this because the Coupe's registration renewal is due at the end of next week.

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Monday 9th January 2012

New Year but an old problem for the keyboard challenged, moi! Hit the wrong key and lost all of what I'd typed for this post into cyberspace somewhere! Not to worry, just have to it all over again. Wonder if I'll ever learn to save as I go or create it in word or elsewhere then transpose to PackardInfo? Probably not!

Anyway, the plan was to take the Coupe to the workshop today for it's annual physical. That came unstuck when an unforeseen engagement popped up for the afternoon, so tomorrow is now the day. Wade too was also expecting the Coupe so didn't really have anything planned for the day. Although he was bolting back in Juniors main bearing caps. Juniors block, head, crank, rods, new pistons, new valves, etc, etc are going to Wilkins Performance Engineering tomorrow for the machining and fitment work required before they return for final assembly.

So turned to that standby of note.....The Fossil. The RHD toe board still required work, with holes to be drilled in the upper flange to mate with the bolt holes in the LHD. Also required some final fitment massaging of the holes necessitating a number trial-fits, removals and filing of holes before good alignment was achieved. Then turned to the metal floor board. The RHD floor board had been destroyed in the fire that consumed the original RHD body while the LHD floor board that came with the LHD replacement body was too far gone to use. Instead it had been used as a template for a new floor board. But, in doing so, the panel beater had missed the necessity for clearance of the clutch and brake shafts and linkages which translate their operation from the RHD setup to the Packard factory LHD situated clutch and brake mechanisms. Necessitated the panel beater cutting out a section of the newly fabricated floor board and welding in a raised section to clear the various linkages. However the fit between the toe board and the front floor board was in turn compromised because of this. Some trial fits on the bench, a little judicious grinding of the toe board and viola a much better fit.

The original toe board and floor board had felt strips riveted to them which acted as seals. But not having any felt, a trip to Grippy Rubber was in order to source a modern replacement material. Also was going to call in at ABC Bearings for bearings and seals for the 426 waterpumps and into Lee Bros for some fasteners. At ABC, which was the first stop, sourced the bearings and seals for the waterpump rebuilds OK. Next stop was Grippy, but they are still in Christmas shut down mode and don't re-open until Monday 16th. That canned Lee Bros because the fasteners are for the toe and floor boards final installation and without the felt that wasn't going to happen today. Instead after the engine parts drop off tomorrow Wade will also call into Anglade Engineering with the pump housings, bearings, etc for the waterpump rebuilds and then visit Lee Bros which is on the way back. Left Wade to draft some engineering drawings for the pump rebuilds.

Also heard from Dave and Shelley about their '39 Twelve which "....is sitting on board outside the heads and should be unloaded on Wednesday....". Can't wait to see it! But that'll be in March when I head to Queensland for my folks birthday celebrations. Other Packard news is that Wade and Gina enjoyed their weekend away going up the coast in Big Red where they were guests of Barry and Cheryl Smith. Barry had also invited Max Hood, a true Australian Packard Doyen, along for the weekend. Wade and Gina arrived just after Max did and Max was flabbergasted to see Big Red arrive because he didn't know Wade and Gina were coming! And it looks like Wade has plenty of Packard work for the foreseeable future with Richard asking him on the day of the funeral last week if he could look at Thelma, a '39 110 Convertible Coupe, with little compression but not rattly or smokey so probably valves. And also Roy, a '39 120 Convertible Coupe, which has been off the road for some years so needs a good "going over" before it can return to the road.

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