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Hello All,

No work on the 55 Clipper these days, it is resting in its storage space. I brought home the 37 Convertible Coupe, and it now occupies the garage space.

The intention is to do some much needed service on the 115C. I started last week by giving a good cleaning to the exterior and interior. It is amazing how dirty the car got sitting for months.

Yesterday, I really got into the service. I removed the oil pan and cleaned it. The last time this job was done was when I first bought the car in 2006. It was time to do the job as sludge was accumulating in the bottom of the pan. I did not have to scrape it out with a putty knife as it was still pourable. I also removed and cleaned the oil pump screen.

After thoroughly cleaning both parts I cemented a new gasket on the pan. I sourced the gasket from Max Merritt. I used 3M trim adhesive (black) on the pan side only. I smeared a light coating of wheel bearing grease on the engine side of the gasket. The grease allows me to easily move the pan around on the engine crankcase flange to get bolt holes lined up.

After all the under car work was done I filled the crankcase with 6 quarts of 15W-40 Classic Car Motor Oil. The Indiana Region of the CCCA sells the oil. You can save $5 on shipping costs if you buy two cases. Last task was to clean and re-oil the crankcase breather.

Next job will be to get the car up in the air and do a thorough chassis lubrication and change the transmission and differential oils.

Thanks for letting me deviate from the 55 Clipper.

(o[]o)

Hello All,

We had some nice weather so I decided to go out in the garage and do more maintenance on the 115C.

Friday's job was to change the transmission and differential lubricants. I had installed new oil in the units when I first bought the car in 2006. Now, six years later, it was time to do it again. I could get to the drain plugs without jacking up the car. This I did and let the oil drain for about an hour from each of the units. Then jacked up the front of the car and refilled the transmission; then, to the back to get the rear in the air to refill the differential. I used 85W-140 GL-5 gear oil in both units. I bought a one-gallon container of the oil and used my a hand pump with a flexible hose to fill the units. This worked well. All-in-all I used a total of 3 1/2 quarts.

The biggest part of the job was getting the old oil into a container for recycling and cleaning up the drain pans. I managed to do all this fluid transfer and clean-up and not create a Super Fund site.

I also filled the steering box. I could see oil through the fill hole, but ended up adding about 8 ounces to get the oil level to the bottom of the fill hole. No sign of leaking through the shaft seal. Maybe I had thought the box was full when it was not. I'll keep an eye on this and see if there is any oil on the floor in the proximity of the steering box.

Next, job is to replace the antifreeze. I have already bought two gallons of the traditional/conventional antifreeze. None of the extended life or 50-50 mixtures will be used.

Final big maintenance is to get all four wheels jacked up and do a thorough chassis lubrication. I would like to hire out this job as my least favorite thing to do is jack up a car and work on it lying on my back scooting around on a creeper. Trouble is none of the commercial service facilities will let customers into the work areas to supervise the job.

I went to the storage units earlier this week to visit the 47 and 55 Clippers. I started the 55 and let it run until the thermostat opened. It had been over a month since it had last run when I parked it in exchange for the 115C. I did not run the 47 as its battery is in the garage getting charged. They all look good; just waiting to be driven more.

Thanks and take care...

(o[]o)

funny but random.....when reading your post i noticed to the right the random photo...it was your 37 sitting at salado! funny and too cool!

Hank

I reserve one ride for the family . See you there my friend!!

Hello All,

Yesterday's garage session was spent reassembling the 115C's repainted distributor. Nothing too exciting here except in the process I discovered that there was a small leak in the vacuum advance chamber. Luckily, I had a good chamber from the distributor I bought from David Flack to use as parts to repair this one when it had a significant failure. The car was not demonstrating anything noticeable with the leaking chamber. It started, ran, and idled normally. Also, there was no noticeable change when running the car with the replacement chamber installed.

What I thought would be interesting to some viewers would be good photos of the Octane Adjuster. The adjuster is a combination of mounting bracket for the distributor, and a provider of an easy means for the driver to adjust the ignition timing to take advantage of varying quality of gasolines that were common in those days.

The driver would loosen the thumb screw and advance or retard the distributor an appropriate amount, probably not more than a couple of degrees in either direction, then re-tighten the thumb screw to secure the new location. The index provides a way to tell exactly how much the timing has been changed. Also, noting the beginning location, the driver can return the distributor to its initial setting.

Also pictured is the longer bolt and sleeve I installed to make it easier to get a wrench on the clamp bolt.

Thanks for your time.

(o[]o)

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very interesting....was this a Packard item or aftermarket of the time?

thanks,

Hank

That little octane selector/timing adjuster was a standard feature of Packard and other makes of cars in that era. If you bother to set it up and "zero" it out when you first time the ignition, it makes it very handy when you want to advance or retard a few degrees as a timing light isn't required.

I have one on my '54 Delco Distro.

Here is a photo of the car on the front page of a neighborhood newspaper that covered a July 4th parade.

(o[]o)

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Hello All,

We had some nice weather yesterday and today, so I decided to spend the afternoons in the garage. The generator looked so shabby next to the repainted distributor that I decided to remove it and repaint it too.

I had overhauled the generator when I first bought the car in 2006. I was not expecting to find any needed service or repair, and this turned out to be the case. The brushes, bearing, and bushing were like they were six years ago. After disassembling and cleaning I painted the various parts and let them dry over night.

Today I reassembled the generator and put it back in the car. I used stainless steel bolts, nuts, and washers where possible. I like the look of the gloss black unit with the green band; although these are not authentic colors.

And, yes, I did re-polarize the generator by briefly touching the armature terminal to a battery source. Just for your information, this is the old three-brush type generator. Although the third brush is not adjustable to vary the charging rate.

Now that I have done the distributor and generator I notice how grubby looking the rest of the engine looks. The starter is on the list as is replacing the cylinder head nuts and washers with stainless steel. The head nuts and bolts are on order from Totally Stainless (thanks, Henry). Then there is that rusty master cylinder. Does it ever end?

Thanks for your time and attention. To be continued...

(o[]o)

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