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Annet, should have also said it's always good to have another Aussie onboard PackardInfo. And if that dream of an early 30's roadster ever turns into metal don't forget to include it in the Packard Owner's Registry.

Monday 16th April 2012

Spent some time at the workshop. Wade had an Auto-Lite Generator from John, for Junior, he'd picked up on Saturday after he'd brought Junior back to life. John wants to replace the Chrysler generator presently on Junior with this one he'd bought off eBay. Only trouble is the pulley and cooling blades are very bent. A look on the shelf found another pulley and blades, and although not the same can probably be made to fit, but that'll be a job for another day.

First thing though, that Wade wanted to do, was take the bearings and other parts for a water pump over to David at Anglade Engineering. Some months back Wade had rebuilt a water pump for a 426 for a guy at Tamworth. There was also a second pump but it's body had split in half which Dave now had had welded up, had machined, had made a sleeve for the new bearings, had made a new shaft and was now ready for the final machining but needed the bearings to do so. Because Wade has plans to go to car show at Tamworth in a couple of weeks time he wanted to get the parts over to Dave so he can finish the machining, so Wade can then take the finished pump with him. And while at Anglade I spotted, of all things, another Packard water pump on the shelf! Turns out it belongs to another guy in the club who needs some machining work done.

Back at the workshop Big Red was thoroughly warmed up and then went up on the hoist for an oil change. Wade was taking the opportunity to change the oil, check the fluids, a greasing, etc, etc. All in readiness for the Tamworth trip which is about 250 miles North West.

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Tuesday 17th April 2012

Because Wade wasn't at the workshop in the morning I dropped in around lunchtime to find him pottering around with Big Red. But I soon left him to it because of this thread - Challenging Mid'30's resto project.

Now why would I refer to that? Because, against the advice of a couple of Forum members I was seriously contemplating buying it! I was spurred on by my wife who was concerned I needed a Packard project to play with. Isn't that nice? So I'd teed up a mid afternoon time to inspect the Packard which is located about 70 miles south of Sydney at Mittagong where the Packard National Rally was based in 2009. Only trouble was the inspection time was relatively close to the end time of the eBay auction. I also arranged with my wife that I would phone her to bid, on my behalf after the inspection, should the Packard check out to be worth it. This, as I said, despite advice offered like "...It is a parts car. Period...." and "...You would be crazy to buy this car..." With those thoughts in my mind I made my way to Mittagong where I was met by Al, who I first thought was Rick the eBay seller of the car, after all I'd never met him before. Rick was busy so Al was my guide for the inspection. Followed Al out to the 120 acre property where the car was located and, on driving in, spotted another Packard, a green 20's Sedan with a tarp over the main body.

But back to the Packard of my dreams. It's a '3? Packard, a '3?? The more learned and knowledgeable here may have a more definitive answer than '3?, from the pic's I took. Anyway, first look at the '3? was enough to convince me the advice of others was spot on, especially the second quote. Anybody looking to buy plenty of rust was certainly going to get their monies worth but that's about all. Maybe the diff and trans were salvageable but I'm afraid little else was. So I departed, not sadder, but wiser and glad I'd taken the time to check it out. Otherwise there would always be that lingering question of: Should I have bought it?

The upside of the trip was seeing some other Packards, there being 3 others visible besides the green '20's sedan. See the few pic's I took, time was limited otherwise I'd still be there. I believe the owner has many, many cars including many, many Packards with those I saw just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

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Wednesday 18th April 2012

Since Monday, when bearing material was found in the sump plug when changing the oil, the engine has been pulled from Big Red and disassembled. On discovering the bearing material, at first, only the sump was pulled to ascertain the extent of any damage. But, after taking off #7, #6, #8 then #1 big end caps and all showed various degrees of damage, the engine had to come out. The big end bearings which failed came from M... and were semi-finished shells which were then machined to fit. Wade isn't happy because the same thing happened previously following the original engine rebuild. Why is it happening? Is it the bearings? Most probably. Is it the machining, balancing and other work? A possibility. Is it the assembly? Not very likely. What other factors could be at play? Thoughts? Opinions? Insights? Anything? Wade is weighing up his options and has been talking to Barry Smith and his engine rebuilder in Tamworth, who rebuilt Barry's V12 with excellent results.

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Yikes!! Sorry to hear.

shorthand notes of some thoughts

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Bearing shells consist of different materials that become softer, going from inside to outside, often starting with bronze as a base up to the babbitt (alloy) as the bedding-in layer. The babbitt surface is paper-thin. When disambled after reaching the end of lifecycle the coppercolored bronze of the base often gleams through. Who machined the shells?

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In the knowledge that Wade is a master of his trade and Mal a partner extraordinaire it isn't easy to speculate. How about the axial clearance of the crankshaft and your way of accurat determination? As you know the gauge must be solidly connected to the cylinder crankcase and its tracer should touch the crankshaft edge, the pulley or the flywheel (sorry for making a virtue of the obvious). When moving the crankshaft with some power in axial direction even minor deviations are visible unless the dial gauge is inaccurate. Once I tried to challenge a sprint record with the use of an inaccurate stop watch.

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The play of the crankshaft sliding bearings influences the oil pressure. The smaller the play, the higher is the pressure. Therefore the oil pressure is useable as an indicator for the play of the crankshaft bearings. Did you observed particular divergences in recent months or even right after engine rebuild?

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Last but not least the oil quality comes to my mind.

The oil temperature should not be forgotten to mention which may causes a discontinuity or even break down of the film of oil on the inner surface of the shells. To open the attached list of mugshots takes some few seconds.

Wade & Mal, chin up, chest out.

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Gerd,

Thanks for your thoughts and the reference material supplied. I'm sure Wade will find them useful in his search for the cause of the bearing failure.

Mal,
Not sure of the exact url addy but Clevite bearing has a number of pics of failed bearings with explanations. Search for Clevite bearing failure and you will find it. Pass the info on to Wade and make a conclusion. Such a shame labor wise...
Jim

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Mal, --> this way please.
Thanks Jim!