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Wednesday 25th February 2009

On the way to the workshop picked up the replacement speedo cable from General Instruments. So on arrival drove the '41 in and Wade jacked up the right side and put jack stands under while I rounded up the tools for the job. As usual Wade slid under the '41 on the creeper removed the end piece inserted on Monday and replaced it with the new cable and original speedo drive from the '41. The cable was then passed up to me and I re-threaded it through the firewall. Wade again assumed an upside down position under the dash and reconnected the speedo end, no mean feat in the limited space available. Then it was off on the Packard test circuit down to the bay and back and the speedo works great, with not a quiver and steady as a rock.

And yesterday, as noted in the Wades Workshop Project Blog, I'd pulled the spark plugs from the '41 and cleaned and re-installed them because of the '41 running rough, especially under power. However this failed to correct the problem and the '41's still missing and carrying on especially under load. So I've bitten the bullet pulled the Carter WDO carb from the '41 and will take it to Wade's carb guy tomorrow for some expert diagnostics and treatment. And here's a little aside - On the phone last night I'd mentioned the rough running to a nephew who's a mechanic and he said he knew a carb "genius" which turns out to be the same guy Wade uses! And another thing, this carb genius's father back in the late 60's had developed a low pressure fuel injection system which was used on a mate of mine's dragster. The dragster pulled high 10's, low 11's in the quarter mile from an OHV 179CI Six.

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Thursday 26th February 2009

Before going to the workshop took the Carter WDO over to Tim of Carburettor Service Company at Burwood and should have the carb back later next week.

Despite my travels arrived at the workshop before Wade and started by installing the fuel door spring purchased, who know's how long ago, from Patrician Industries. I'd put away in a "safe place" only so much so I didn't find it again until this morning. Next I cleaned the left rear quarter window with methylated spirits and applied the replacement registration label I'd got 3 weeks ago. Then, as I was reading through a Diamond Back tyre catalogue, Wade arrived. Next matter was the spare tyre retaining rod, the previous owner of the Coupe had made up a carpeted board to cover the spare but the rod needed to be longer. Wade produced an old U-bolt of the right diameter and after initial straightening in the vice, hammered out the remaining bumps so it was reasonably straight. Drilled a small hole through one end for the retaining split pin then bent a 90 degree bend at that end. Measured and cut the upright end and cut a new 5/16" NC thread with the die set. A clean and a quick coat of paint and there we are, a secured spare and cover in the trunk.

I'd also taken some used oil down to the workshop and disposed of that. Also 4 batteries, 3 of which were cactus, and as the battery guy was coming today he'll get a bonus in used batteries to take away. The other battery should be OK as it came with my '38 and was hardly used although I replaced it anyway. If it comes up on the charger, and it's looking promising, Wade will put it the '34 and put the Optima back in the '37 120.

Along with the batteries and used oil I'd also brought down my 2 battery chargers. One I've had for 40+ years, a 6V & 12V charger, but it wasn't working but Wade fixed this with a new fuse. The other is even older, a 6V only charger, and I'd bought it at a yard sale about a year ago. I brought this one down so Wade could check it out for me. Well first thing he did was replace the power cord which, because of it's age and construction, he considered could well be dangerous. As he was doing it though he kept commenting about how well the charger was made with everything properly done and nothing skimped on in it's construction. So all I've got to do now is buy some cable and crocodile clips and Wade will make me up some cables to be able to use it. While Wade was fixing the old charger I'd been under the hood re-connecting the heater air vent control cable which had come loose.

So it was a day of catching up with little things. Until the carb comes back nothing more is likely to happen to the '41. And with the '41 in the slot in the workshop work is unlikely on the '38.

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Monday 9th March 2009

After having my eyes tested in the morning, arrived at the workshop after lunch. Brought along the rebuilt Carter WDO, I'd picked up from Tim of Carburettor Service Company on Friday,http://www.carburettorservice.com.au/ and installed it back on the '41. Sounds easy doesn't it? Probably is for the less mechanically challenged, but for this individual it did present challenges. Started off well getting the carb bolted back on the intake manifold then mounting the choke heating tube from the exhaust manifold to the automatic choke. It was difficult enough to get the nuts on and done up for the carb as some of them aren't easily accessible unless you have fingers which bend back on themselves. Then came the vacuum tube from the base of the carb to the vacuum advance on the distributor. The tube had been left attached to the vacuum advance on the distributor so it was only a matter of reconnecting it to the carb, right? Wrong! Because the fitting for the tube is "tucked under" the float bowl of the carb this individual couldn't see what he was doing and succeeded in cross-threading the brass fitting on the carb. So backtracked, removed vacuum tube, choke heating tube and carb. Took out the cross-threaded brass fitting from carb base, cleaned up the threads with a sharp pick and threaded the vacuum tube into the brass fitting on the bench, this time correctly. Then refitted the fitting into the base of the carb and the carb back onto the '41 along with the choke heating tube. Reconnected the distributor end of the vacuum advance tube, the fuel line to the carb and the throttle linkage and spring. All set to go, after turning over the engine to get fuel up into the carb again and some aerosol starter primer the '41 was reluctant to co-operate. But finally came back to life although a little hesitant, maybe the auto choke needs adjusting although Tim said he's set it up per the book. We'll see tomorrow when Wade returns from his trip to inspect the progress of the '34 being painted. And all this in a mere 2 hours! Think of how quick it would have been if I knew what I was doing!

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Tuesday 10th March 2009

After some first up chit-chat with Wade it was onto the '41. Started it up, with it catching and firing on the second attempt, it then settled down into a reasonable idle but with a definite intermittent miss. Wade adjusted the idle mixture, which was just about spot-on to start with after the rebuild, but no improvement noted. Wade and also Rick, who had come over to join in the fun, were pretty much convinced it was an electrical related miss. So after Wade grounded each sparkplug in turn, which resulted in a noticeable miss each time in addition to the on-going miss, the distributor was turned to as a likely source of the problem. While Wade went to attend to another matter I was left to remove the distributor from the Coupe. This I managed to accomplish by undoing the vacuum tube fitting, the lead from the coil to the distributor and loosening off the screw headed bolt attached to the distributor clamp, taking a few pic's along the way as I went.

Set the distributor up in the removable padded jaws of the bench vice then turned to the bakelite fitting saved from the very rusty distributor disassembled a few weeks ago. The bakelite fitting in the '41's distributor had a crack in the part which fits inside the distributor body and as a result couldn't be tightened properly when re-assembled some months ago so it was a likely source of trouble. Disassembled the fitting then cleaned it up, metal pieces in the wire wheel and the bakelite parts using brake cleaner and a cloth. All went well and at this point Wade returned and started disassembling the bakelite fitting from the '41's distributor. When it came apart, what had been a crack was now a split with the internal bakelite piece in two pieces instead of one. As I continued cleaning the outer bakelite fitting, from the parts distributor, it too split into two pieces! Started to get a little short on serviceable parts at this point but still had one good inner and one good outer bakelite piece. Now, kid-glove treatment came into play, a lot of care being taken in handling the remaining intact but fragile bakelite pieces. The inner bakelite fitting has a raised post, for want of a better term, over which an internal wire passes to connect to the bakelite fitting, So to relieve this stress point there was some judicious filing of the post until only a flat surface remained where it met the connector. Wade then was able to re-assemble the bakelite post and fitting without cracks or further problems arising.

So that sorted. Then turned to the points, these had been cleaned up a few months ago when the distributor was re-assembled but now they were pitted! Wade found a set of points he'd bought some fair while ago which didn't fit what he wanted them for. A test fitting and it seemed like they might do. However on closer inspection they weren't complete but Wade believed they could be made to work. So turning to the old points, which were complete, it was resolved to use the parts out of that which were missing from the new set. The missing pieces comprised the plastic insulating piece together with it's metal stud and nut. Only problem, the insulating piece from the new set were set into a square hole while the old sets pieces slid into a slot. What to do? Well at this point yours truely had an idea, it doesn't happen often! It was to cut the cross piece off the top of the new sets body to form a slot! So carefully using a hacksaw, then a file and together with a little straightening work a slotted body was created. And it worked! The next problem was that the body of the new set had a flange extending from the base piece which resulted in the retaining nut hitting the inside of the distributor body although we'd also cut some length off the little stud to try and avoid that. What to do? Why reverse the orientation of the stud so that the nut was inside the points set instead of being on the outside! Credit due here, this was Wade's idea. And it worked! One of the distributor cap clips was also loose so it along with every other screw or nut in the distributor was summillarily tightened.

The points were then set, some lubricant in the form of vaseline applied to the distributor cam and the cap inspected and cleaned. We were now ready to re-install the distributor. But which way should it go in? Fortunately I'd taken some pic's of it in the car with the cap off before it was removed so that solved that problem. Then Wade attempted to re-insert the distributor from whence it came, and tried, and tried, and tried, etc, etc, etc. Finally, 'Magic Hands', Mal said "let me have a go". And what do you know, after only a little bit of jiggling, in it went! Sorry Wade, had to say it because it's not often, sorry not ever, has that happened before! Wade then positioned the distributor by eye, the cap installed, vacuum tube installed and coil wire installed. Jumped in the car and after a few turns the '41 burst back into life. And you know what. no more miss! Wade rounded up John's timing light, and using that, the distributor was set in position only necessitating me tightening up a hidden screw. There are easier things to do, but working on Packards these little challenges become a away of life. And some things to remember. This is a later model distributor which had a dual point conversion somewhere in it's life using unknown points but only one set of points has now been retained on the dual point baseplate, so it wasn't exactly "correct" to start with. We just had to work with what we had.

At this time with the '41 running sweetly, at least in the shop, I had to leave because my wife Kath had called a little earlier to let me know the grandkids were coming over. And there's only one thing better than Packards and that's grandkids, with the siren call of 2 little girls drawing me home to enjoy the afternoon with them.

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Tuesday 17th March 2009

St Patrick's Day and not a leprechaun in sight, although there was plenty of green beer flowing! Begorrah!

Todays activity was driving the '41 over to Ralph Moore Autoglasshttp://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/SYDNE/0023/61/39/1.html at Mascot, about 16 miles from home and the site of Sydney's Airport. Took about an hour through the tail of the peak period traffic and the '41 performed well staying at just over 1/2 on the temp gauge even when caught up in traffic for long periods. Once there Ralph directed me to Greg who would be overseeing and doing most of the work. Explained to Greg what was required, being: re-sealing of the front and rear windscreen and a new right rear glass to replace the one I broke back in January. I'd also bought new front and rear Steele rubber seals through Max in January. The left front windshield glass had a small crack in the lower right corner and this was to be replaced as well. Left the job with them in the hope it would be done today.

And it was! Arrived back to find it was all good and Greg explained or showed me what was done. The quarter window which cracked was actually too long, must have been replaced at some stage, so they cut a new slightly shorter one and installed that. The left front windscreen has new laminated glass and they were also able to re-use the rubber because apparently it's pretty new. One thing though that Greg told me, the left side didn't have any sealant when they removed it! And looks like I've got another item for the Swap Meet next week. Anybody requirimg a Steele's P/No 30-0357-50 Vulcanised Window Channel please see me at the Swap Meet. Enough of the commercial, back to the chase. The rear windscreen rubber was thoroughly perished and my Steele's replacement was used in this instance. So now we have a good chance of keeping the rain out.

Had a good session with Greg there where he explained that often they can make a windscreen if a replacement isn't available. For instance he explained that for the '41, even though the rear windscreen is curved, they should be able to make one to fit. They'd do this by cutting a replacement screen out of a new laminated windscreen. If fact while the rear windscreen was out of the '41 he matched the curve in it to a Holden Commodore(Local GM Brand)windscreen. He said they do this reasonably often and showed me pic's of a '41 Chevy Ute with a 5" chopped top they done and told me about others. Interesting too was the fact that the stock rear windscreen in the '51 Chevy is exactly the same as that for Holden FJ Sedan. West, if you read this, the obvious GM design influence in early Holden's is reinforced. He also said that they'd actually had a run of Holden FJ rear windscreens made a few years back.

Then it was off home, also in peak period traffic but the other end of the day. Trip was uneventful except the Ammeter was showing discharge most of the way home. Got out while stopped at one set of lights and tapped the Regulator housing vigorously but no change. So tomorrow morning I'll drop the '41 into Ken at Tibby Rose Auto Electric at Ryde to run this to ground(pun intended) before the Rally gets going on the weekend.

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Wednesday 18th March 2009

Dropped the '41 into Ken at Tibby Rose Auto Electrics together with 2 regulators I'd bought off eBay some time ago. Looking at the regulators Ken told me one was an Autolite, same as on the '41, while the other was a Delco-Remy. Left everything with him because we'd been booked in with the Grandkids for the morning. Ken rang me later to tell me in fact it appears the problem is the generator, and did I have a spare? The answer was no but I rang Wade to see if he did and although getting a similar answer there was also the suggestion to swap the generator out of my '38 into the '41. Rang Ken back and told him this and because he was leaving at midday agreed I'd pick up the '41 this afternoon and return with it again tomorrow morning.

So, returning from the Grandkids, dropped off the daily driver and took the '38 down to the workshop. Wade needed someone to drive him back to the workshop after returning John's '39 110 and I'd volunteered. I followed in Wade's Holden(GM) Dual Cab Ute with 350ci Chev and auto while Wade was driving the '39. On the way back from John's, picked up the '41 and returned to the workshop.

Then it was into swapping the generator out of the '38 and into the '41. First removed the '38's generator, then removed the Autolite generator from the '41. And they were different! Cleaned up the '38's generator but couldn't find any tags or markings on it. But presume it's probably a Delco-Remy because the regulator in the '38 is a Delco-Remy. This automatically expanded the scope of work. To make sure everything was compatible the Delco-Remy regulator from the '38 was also removed to replace the Autolite regulator in the '41. All was accomplished by Wade with my help along the way as and where required. In the end the '41 just started up again as the drain on the battery without any recharging had been going for quite some time. The ammeter on the run home was at full charge most of the way. I'll see Ken again tomorrow morning and have him check and test everything.

The other thing that happened this morning was that the radio didn't work from the time I started up the '41. Only raised this with Wade after the generator/regulator swap, but as I expected it'll be looked at after the Rally as there are other matters to be attended to.

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Thursday 19th March 2009

Up early and off to see Ken at Tibby Rose Auto Electrics. Ken checked over the Delco-Remy generator and regulator and hooked up his test machine and all checked out OK.

Now only need to check the fluids, add fuel, etc and we're ready for the 103 kilometre trip to Mittagong on Sunday morning.

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I was somewhat optimistic there I'm afraid, haven't checked fluids etc just yet. Amongst other things done today was cleaning and polishing the '41's exterior and brightwork.

And added a few "stickers":
- Rear windscreen, PackardInfo sticker courtesy of Keegan
- Rear quarter windows, 2 Packard stickers, 1 each side
- Front bumper, 3 Red adhesive vinyl hexagons to over-riders
- Rear bumper, 2 Red adhesive vinyl hexagons to over-riders
- Hood spears, 2 Red adhesive vinyl "triangles", 1 each side

Keegan had the PackardInfo stickers made quite some time ago but I wanted to wait until the rear windscreen was re-rubbered and re-sealed before I applied it. And it looks

The red adhesive vinyl stickers are MBM originals, just got to figure out now how to make one for the Packard script in the middle of the rear bumper!

Still to clean the interior, the wheels and tyres including the WWW's, the running boards and the window glass inside and out. Then a fluid check, etc. Will add the fuel on the trip down to Mittagong.

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Looking good Mal!

Friday 3rd April 2009

Rang Wade on Wednesday 1st to learn on Tuesday he had disassembled the generator out of the '41 and found that the brushes were kaput. He'd also taken the armature round to Sam and Ivan and they'd skimmed the brush contact area, and for free too! So when I went to the workshop I took the set of brushes I'd bought on eBay a fair while ago. Had went out with Wade to run some errands and while doing so bought a new sealed front bearing seeing the generator was completely apart. Next day, Thursday 2ns took the '41 to the workshop and out came '38's Delco generator and regulator and put back the Autolite ones removed previously. Then put the Delco generator and regulator back into the '38. Both now working well but I'll run the '41 for a few days to bed the new brushes in then take it up to Ken at Tibby Rose Auto Electrics to be checked that all is well.

The National Rally last week brought a few things on the '41 to attention. Namely the rings are shot, this from PackardInfo member Peter Packard while following the '41 in his "Hot Rod" a TJ Richards bodied '38 with 9 main 327 and 4bbl and OD trans. His observation of the smoke or the way it was made told him my rings needed attention and it was not valves. I knew I was using some oil, a combination of leaking and burning, adding up to 5 litres for the week! The only time another Packard passed Peter was when he was parked. And the turn indicator switch/stalk has given up the ghost so I've reverted to old fashioned hand signals until that's fixed/replaced. The brake fade drama suffered on the run down the side of the mountain to Kiama hasn't returned and the brakes are fine. Next time, if there is a next time, I'll lockout the OD for any prolonged descents.

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