Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Thanks Jim

I'm looking forward to me trip as well. I hope to keep everyone posted on my progress.

Thanks,

John H.

John,

Where in upstate NY? I live in Cortland.

Gene Wescott

Hi Gene

I live near Saratoga.

John H.

Here is a photo of the 1936 120B T.S. that I bought. I am flying into South Bend and the owners friend is going to pick me up and I will be driving it home to Upstate New York near Saratoga. The car was originally delivered new to Brooklyn, N.Y. Engiine, tranny and all of the car has been rebuilt. I hope to be on the road by 2 PM on Saturday and arrive home by Sunday evening.

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John, it looks as if you have found yourself an exceptionally nice 120B. Have a safe and uneventful trip. We all await accounts of your travels.

(o{I}o)

John,

The '36 120B Touring Sedan looks great. Have an enjoyable and safe trip, and if you can, keep us updated as you go. Happy Packarding.

Congrats on a fine looking car. Rt 20 should work although you are going to get some steep going around Cazenovia as I recall (haven't run it since 90-91)and through the Leatherstocking Region. I am thinking you might want to take 5 after Auburn. It should be much closer to level- think NY Central RR, the water level route.

Best wishes, I envy you the trip.


Stephen

Thanks for all of the encouragement. I'll try to keeep everyone informed.

Ok, so here is how the trip went. I arrived at the previous oweners house around 1 PM. The weather was perfect (with exception, a little cooler would have been better)for my trip. The owner had told me earlier in the week that pesides all of the restoration done previously he also had the transmission rebuilt, new clutch, new throughout bearing and water pump. He informed me when I arrived and he was showing me the car that he had not re-installed the thermostat. Why I am not sure but was a little leary because I know they are as important for keeping the engine cool as they are for getting heat in the winter. I left Baroda, Mi. around 1:40 PM and soon discovered that driving 60-65 made the water temp get up to the 200 F temp and running 50-55 kept it around 190 F. So I drove the 50-55 once the sun went down and things cooled off 60-65 was a comfortable speed to travel at. I got through Clevland around 7:30 PM I was planning to drive until about 9-9:30 PM and get a hotel room for the night. GOOD LUCK!!!! There were none to be had. Every exit I stopped at they were all booked up. Around 11:00 PM I got on the cell with me wife and had her on the computer as I was driving and she was looking for a room for me. It's now 12:30 - 01:00 Am and I said "FORGET IT". Every place along the way had a fair in town or a biker convention and the last attempt in Jamestown, N.Y. had a Lucuille Ball convention (Jamestown was her hometown). I pulled into the Jametown rest area and sleptin the car. The next day as the temperature started to rise and I started to climb hills the car started to heat up again. This time the water pump started to leak as well. So I would keep stopping and letting the car cool down and add some more water then go at it again. I got within 70 mile of my home and called AAA. The old girl made it 733 miles of the 793 miles. The gas milage wasn't bad either. She needs a little mechanical tune-up and then I think I could drive her to California. I'm not saying I am going to though.

The owner told me I can tighten up on the packing and that should fix the waterpump problem. What do you folks think??? Also where is the best place to get these Wide Whitewall tires (most reasonable price)?

Owning this old girl is more fun than they should allow me to have.. I'll post more photo's as time allows.

Thanks,

Ahh...another leaking 35-37 Pump. I should write a technical paper on these....
Up to 37 (no we are not going to talk about early 38s), the pump has a graphite rope packing which, when tightened, is supposed to keep the water from leaking past. Not unlike the old faucets. Must be the plumbers got to design automotive waterpumps "in the beginning". Finally, the engineers got tired of leaky waterpumps and designed a spring loaded seal on a ball bearing shaft, but I am getting ahead of myself. Back to the 35-37 pumps. There is a grease cap at the front and rear of the waterpump casting. The pump is designed to have some lubrication here, otherwise the shaft will run dry and scorch, leak, etc. So it is important to keep these caps lubricated, now on to leaking. The packing nut can be tightened to try to alleviate leaking, but bear in mind that some seeping is considered normal and acceptable. There is no "spec" for torque on the packing nut, it really becomes a how tight is tight exercise. As for adding packing, the key is adding, not replacing. If I recall, the most basic 1/4" rope packing can be bought almost anywhere. Get a variety of sizes if possible, the stuff is cheap, and stick with the plain old fashioned graphite rope, not the newfangled teflon stuff. It is not a fun job to add packing, first you have to be able to loosen the packing nut all the way to get into the pump. Then you have to have just the right size to wrap around the shaft and somehow cram inside the cup shaped nut. PITA. Yes, go ahead and remove the fan first. By now your back is sore, your knuckles shredded (see the current post on replacing the waterpump), and you're ready to throw in the towel and simply replace the pump, thinking that will solve the leaking. Not necessarily so... as the packing has to "settle" in on a new pump, then usually be tightened, again. And don't forget to add lubricant to the grease caps.
Since you already know that the waterpump is probably "good", hopefully just a matter of learning the intricacies of the old packing style pumps...such fun.

Keep us posted.