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Tell Wade to be careful around those 'gators, they can be pretty mean!

Gator's came in handy at The Battle of New Orleans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_New_Orleans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Q47i4zGBs

I was under the impression that crocodiles were the species most common in Aust. More than likely this is due to crocodile Dundee movies. Have no experience with either and wish to keep it that way.
My idea of cold blooded is a car that does not run well until fully warmed up.
Still enjoy your reports Mal usually one of the first things I read in the morning after my coffee. Also thank Wade for his work which makes your reports possible. Between you two all of us here have a view of down under which I have learned to admire and appreciate. Keep up the good work and good reporting .

Al,

You're right of course, there are no alligators in Australia only crocodiles.

Monday 23rd February 2009

Arrived at the workshop in the '41 to find Wade had already been and gone, but he soon returned together with 20 litres of fuel for the '34 which was poured in and the tank and fittings inspected for leaks. Last week he'd bought some radiator hose of the right diameter and cut and installed the upper and lower hoses required and filled the cooling system with water. Earlier today when Wade arrived at the workshop he found two leaks, one from the lower hose and the other from the sending unit in the head, and these he's rectified by some judicious tightening of the fittings concerned. So today was going to be the big day, when the '34 finally roars back into life after many many years of silence. Wade then took the Optima battery out of his '37 120 as the Optima he had for the '34 had been appropriated for the '37 Super 8 when it's battery expired. Rigged up a temporary ignition circuit using the Optima and used a booster battery to turn the starter. Firstly without the ignition circuit just to get oil circulating and fuel through the lines to the carb. At this point another inspection was undertaken of the fuel lines and fittings for any leaks and lo and behold there was one. This was from the pressure dome(I think that's what it's called) on the fuel pump, hadn't been tightened enough but soon fixed.

Then a few pushes on the accelerator pump to confirm there was fuel coming through, there was, and a few squirts of quick start spray down the carb throat and all was ready. With Wade wielding he jumper cables on the starter side and me positioned on the carb side of the engine to manipulate the throttle Wade made contact. Motor spun freely gave a small lurch but did not fire. More quick start down the carb throat, more priming and another go, also unsuccessful. Same again and this time she sprang into life sounded good but didn't run for long as we both noticed the oil gauge was reading zero. As the motor shut down however Wade noticed the oil gauge actually returned to Zero. It was pumping so much pressure the pointer had gone right around the gauge and was resting at the back of the stop on zero, there being no stop at the highest indicated pressure of 75 on the gauge. Ah-ha, says Wade we'll have to adjust the pressure relief valve spring. This was done although not without it's own share of minor problems finding spanners and sockets to fit but finally accomplished. More quick start and fired her up again, with the same result, pointer on the back of the zero stop! Some more adjustments, more quick start and now running at just over 75 lbs. Further adjustment to the relief valve spring, and after the quick start, this time we were running at about 45 lbs pressure. During all this John when asked how he felt it sounded said it was running retarded so a quick advance on the distributor timing was made. And earlier Wade had noticed oil leaking from the vicinity of the oil filter, which he thought he'd fixed by tightening some of the oil pipe fittings in that vicinity. However after the last firing the oil leak problem was greater rather than better so running was suspended while the leak was investigated, and by this time the booster battery was weakening so it was put on charge for service later.

Now Wade has modified the oil filter to incorporate a modern spin-on filter in lieu of the correct cannister style filter. But you wouldn't know this from external appearances, Wade has retained the cannister and the plumbing and fittings are all carefully concealed but fully functional. First Wade carefully inspected the external features to determine where the oil was escaping from. Then after dis-assembly the internal components were likewise inspected. Not much to see, and it appeared the only way oil could be escaping was by too loose gasket fitting. This was addressed by making some new and thicker gaskets and ensuring all fastenings were tightened appropriately. Then back to the rigmarole as before. Optima for ignition, booster for powering the starter, quick start down the carb throat and although the motor turned over this time it wouldn't fire. Couldn't pursue this course of action because by now the booster was loosing power and slowing considerably. So there the '34 was left, the booster put on overnight charge for tomorrow while we turned to the '41(See Mal's '41 120 Coupe Project Blog for details).

And here's a little known fact - '34 Packards bite! Well Wade's did! While getting some tools to work on the '41 in my haste, because it's fairly close between the '34 and the '38, I caught my calf on the right rear running board bracket of the '34 and drew blood.

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That first start is a pretty exciting moment, isn't it!! That is one spectacular-looking chassis.

As to the oil pressure, I've had my 34 Eight set such that the pressure relief valve opens at about 60 psi; this was after I blew out the seam on two repro Purolator L-6 filters (I'm now running a Burr Ripley conversion which like yours is not distinguishable from stock, externally) with higher pressure. So 60 is the max cold pressure, running hot is between 35 and 55 depending on road speed, and hot idle is about 25.

I believe the correct paint color for the external oil pressure relief valve is engine green, and the acorn cap and the hex head (for the filter relief valve) should be nickel plated.

Please remind me, was this an 1100, 1101 or 1102 chassis, and which body style (#) was mounted originally?

Tuesday 24th February 2009
Quote:
Dave,

You said it, Wade was thrilled even though some of the edge was taken off it by the little dramas that came with the start up. As to the what chassis and body style, Wade will answer that directly to save me the embarrassment of getting it wrong.

Now for today, suffice to say it was interesting to say the least. Arrived later than usual to find Wade had already had the '34 fired up again, it had started up easily but was not running right. The oil leak and the earlier water leaks were fine but there was now another oil leak seeping from the front valve gear rocker cover. But before we go back to that spotted the '34's body bolts laid out on the desk and Wade showed me the 2 long carriage bolts with their "tilted" heads to fit the wooden frames. If you weren't told or saw them in situ you'd probably think the heads were bent! Should have taken a close up of that feature, sorry. From this turned back to the '34 and fired her up again. Adjusted timing manually, checked this with the timing light(which had to be rebuilt to get it functioning) and also adjusted the oil pressure relief valve with the engine running and now at fast hot idle sits on about 33psi. During all this it was still running roughly and John suggested it was running on only 4 cylinders! John also suggested a back to basics approach so while the engine was running each plug was grounded to see whether it affected the running or not. Turned out there was no discernable difference for the middle four cylinders 3, 4, 5, & 6 while for the outer four cylinders 1, 2, 7 & 8 there was a noticeable miss when each was grounded. This appeared to point to a fuel delivery problem because the middle four cylinders are fed by the inside barrel of the carb. Furthermore Wade was having flashbacks to both his '37 Super 8 and Kevins '35 in each of which he'd found a hole burned through the "hot box" floor of the intake manifold. He'd spent lots of time getting carbs rebuilt for both those, which they probably required anyway, only to discover the major fault was the exhaust was being sucked into the intake manifold.

So next step was to disconnect the fuel line from the carb, disconnect the automatic choke linkage and remove the carb from the manifold and, at this point, Wade's worst fears were realised. Only there wasn't a hole in the hot box floor, there were two holes! One in each of the intake manifold throats, see pic's! And this on a manifold he had re-porcelained! Next was disconnecting the fuel drain system under the inlet manifold, unbolting the hot box from the exhaust manifold, unbolting the intake manifold from the block and removing the inlet manifold. What to do? First checked out the inlet manifold on Wade's spare '34 chassis, and it looks OK. But Wade was thinking of having stainless steel sleeves inserted into each throat and so, each holding an end, we carried the inlet manifold round to Ivan and Sam's machine shop. Sam inspected the manifold and said yes he could do it but didn't have any stainless tube. Left the manifold there and back to the workshop where Wade checked out the length of stainless steel exhaust tube sitting in John's part of the shop. We'd used this previously as an extension to provide extra leverage on stubborn parts over the last year and who would think it would now turn out to be what was required! In addition to that it had been picked up when the tenants next door had relocated so it came at the right price too. Back to Ivan and Sam's where Sam said he'd look at it and let Wade know.

Back at the shop I proceeded to pull the plugs from the '41 because it was missing and farting around. And halfway through that Wade gets a call from Sam to tell him to come and pick up the manifold as it was done! While I continued with the plug cleaning and re-installing, Wade headed off to Sam's. When the plugs were finished I too headed off to Sam's and found Wade about 3/4 of the way back but resting under the load of the intake manifold and the exhaust tubing so lightened his load and carried the manifold the rest of the way back. Everything was then re-assembled with new gaskets being fabricated by MBM for the fuel draining tube under the manifold. Then restart, at first it wouldn't catch because of no fuel in the carb but after the float chamber filled it was off and running. And a sweet sound it was too, timing was a little out but it was running on all eight and not four as before. Timing was ajusted manually by turning the distribtor with the motor running. Wade holding the timing light and I turned the distributor while being careful to avoid touching the exposed ends of a couple of the plug wires where they exit the North East distributor cap. At the end of that the timing light showed both number 1 and 6 as being spot on. The fuel mixture was also adjusted using the mixture screws on the base of the carburettor. Still idling fast but nearing the end of the day there were big smiles culminating in celebratory drinks all round. At this point as the '34 was allowed to keep running John depressed the clutch and tried to engage gear. Much grinding but no meshing, because the clutch linkage needed adjusting. John with Wades assistance adjusted the linkage and was able to engage and change gears and even crept forward about 2 inches, while sitting on the bare frame, so John's claiming first drive of the '34! And even yours truely had a Jim Beam and Cola and, for a man who hardly drinks now, all I can say it'd be easy to do this on more regular basis. Young Lachlan, John's son, also took a video of the motor running, which also shows Wade and Mal in celebratory mood, and when I receive the link to the video I'll include it here.

Two other matters today.

There was a Ferrari F1 in the workshop which had only 964 kilometres on the clock but required Rick's expertise to fix some faults in the instrument cluster. You'd think when you spend AU$400K that you'd at least get a car which works. A very, very nice car even with it's minor faults but it's the first time I've seen Rick take John for a ride around the block in one of the cars they are fixing. Of course the wail of a Ferrari could be heard echoing around West Ryde, not an everyday experience, but delightful to hear it.

The other matter was me getting the gears hung-up on the '41 just as I got home, I live on a busy road and to be stuck in peak hour, just outside your driveway, trying to wrestle a gear lever that won't move is not pleasant. With a cell phone in one hand calling Wade, and a hammer in the other a number of forceful blows freed up the linkage. Then was able to drive off the road, up the driveway and into the garage, phew. But it didn't stop there, now couldn't find my house keys. Again rang Wade, he was at home so no joy there. Rang John, he was still at the workshop, but no joy either. Then had a thought and found they'd slipped down the back of the front seat of the '41 and rang John so he could call off the search. Teach me to leave loose keys lying about!

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Owen,
To answer your question, the car was an 1101 club sedan.
This car was a right hand drive car ex the factory. Hence all the extra cross shafts that are used to get the brake and clutch to the other side. This is the second attempt to restore the car. The first attempt was aborted after the body was completely destroyed in the bush fires around Sydney a few years ago. I managed to find a complete wreck in Califonia that hapened to be the same body. So now we are getting close again. As to paint colours etc, there seems to be a lot of differences between what was available in the USA and what we got over here. I have put things together with the same paint schemes as were on the original car. I know, however, that there seems to be some differences to what you guys have. When I find out how to drive this site I will post some pictures of the car before restoration, during restoration and after the fire.

Wade, you're doing an absolutely wonderful job on that 34 Eight and I know we'd all enjoy the pictures, especially me as I've been following 34 Eights for as long as I've owned mine (45 years) and have partial data records on some 150 of them. I'd especially appreciate the thief-proof number of the replacement body, and the original body as well if it's known. And the vehicle number from the patent plate if you're willing to share it (send via PM if you want to keep it private).

Do you know if the car was originally imported/delivered by Kellow-Falkiner Ltd.? They were Packard's agent in Melbourne at the time and I have some data on about 20 1934 Eights that were delivered in Australia by them, all factory RHD cars.

Quote:
Dave,

I posted the above body plate details for Wade's '34 in your old Thief-Proof number thread some time ago, so you should already have this.