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Tuesday 29th July 2008

Didn't get to the workshop today but did catch up with a few things. First went to Hare and Forbes at North Parramatta chasing the plug tap, They don't have them but recommended another business who could. Hare and Forbes are now in modern premises but 40 odd years ago where in an old building in the back of Parramatta and dealt in 2nd hand equipment, war surplus stuff and all sorts of goodies. Mate of mine bought 2 war surplus sidedraft German tank carburettors and used them on his Ford Model B Ford 4 banger powered dragster! And out the back they had 2 HUGE solid rubber tired trucks probably from before WW1, sometimes wonder what became of them. However, went to Lee Bros which was Wades fallback option, and they came to the party producing a HSS 7/16" UNF Bottom Tap at a price of AU$30.80, apparently the Carbon Steel one is cheaper but I thought it better to go with the HSS.

Then off to General Instruments at Lidcombe to pick up the new handbrake cables and clevises for John's '39. Got to talking with Ralph and Daniel there and found out they are real into it car guys. Ralph has restored a RHD Model B Porsche as well as a 912 and a 914 and a couple of Jag XK120's. Pic's of Ralph with cables for the '39 and one of his cars, can't remember what! And a Pic of Daniels Formula V, he was racing it last Sunday at Oran Park, south west of Sydney when it started lightly hailing, apparently circuit was white! Also pic's of the clamp before and after Ralph's repair.

Next dropped in to see Kablan, the guy who cut out and replaced the rust damage at the foot of the cabin of the '41. I'd dropped in to see him on Saturday but he wasn't there and instead spoke to Robert one of his sons who told me Kablan usually came in after 9:30am during the week. Robert also mentioned that his dad didn't drink now because of Diabetes and that kiboshed my plan of a suitable liquid refreshment as a thankyou gesture, have to find something else more appropriate. Taking to Kablan he tells me he has a '56 Holden (Local GM make) which he's restored and has 60K original miles on it.

And, last night, picked up the '38 Eight fresh from having the right rear fender repaired.

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was wondering if maybe you have a nick or burr on the tubing end where its double flared or the seat of the mating fitting does not take much to allow a leak when pressure applied look closely as old eyes like we have can miss things we could see before the down side of getting older

Wednesday 30th July 2008

After the plumber finished the sewer fix mid morning, it was off to the workshop. Because Wade wasn't in, left to my own devices so started on the rubber components for the body. Made 2 rubber washers and eyes for the clutch and brake pedals because the originals were badly perished and the eye for the clutch one was missing, see pic's. These were all cut out by hand using a Stanley knife, very carefully mind you as I don't like the sight of my own blood. And as you'll see from the results Steele, and others in that game, have nothing to fear whatsoever. I believe they'll do the job, and were cut from rubber about 1/4" thick. Using the same 1/4" thick rubber and using the old heel well pads as templates cut out some new pads also with the Stanley, see pic's. Then onto the big one, the front floor and under-seat underlay. This was cut out using 1/8" thick rubber and the old underlay as a template, see pic's. Last was the underlay for the sloping bottom of the firewall. This has been cut to overall size, but needs holes cut for things like accelerator, brake and clutch pedals, etc. The holes and any other trimming will be attended to on Friday as I'm unlikely to be able to get to the workshop tomorrow. The plate around the clutch and brake pedals and the bottom of the steering column will require some corrective surgery as it's been modified at some stage, see pic. And John advised me that the new rear brake lines are ready to be picked up.

And Al, we'll be sure to check out your suggestion.
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Friday 1st August 2008

It the horses' birthday in this part of the world, but I worked on the rubber underlay for the base of the firewall. Don't ever let anyone tell you that owning a Packard doesn't require physical fitness. Must have pulled the piece/s of rubber underlay in and out of the '41 fifty times at least. And moved from one side of the car to the other 100 times minimum to align and re-align the rubber underlay. Should have worn a pedometer and recorded the mileage. Anyway, started out by carefully measuring the location of the accelerator pedal bracket in relation to the underlay and then cutting the slot required with the Stanley knife. Did it fit? Never does for me, and this was no exception. So after a bit of re-cutting had the hole right. Then the hole for the accelerator pedal shaft, same result but used a punch this time. Same with the holes for the clutch and brake pedals. Trimmed each side for the taper of the body as it rises up the firewall. And also trimmed to fit where it meets the bottom of the vertical part of the firewall. I had been hoping to keep this as one piece of rubber underlay but with curves, bumps and fittings involved this wasn't possible. Ended up with separate pieces for the drivers side under the pedals and a larger plainer piece for the rest, see pic's.

In my absence yesterday Wade had fitted the new hand brake cables to John's '39. John had called in and wants Wade to have the clutch and brake pedal pivot holes bushed to take up any slack as there is still some play there. And yesterday received word from the guy I bought the '41 110 gearbox off on eBay that it has been shipped to California, so it's started it's journey to Oz. While I was working on the rubber underlay today Wade was again trying to get the rebuilt generator to work in the Super 8, it had worked on the tester but not in the car. Wade also replaced the noisy bearing in the used generator he had on the Super 8. Wade had re-energised the re-built generator before installing it, but realised he might not have had enough current flowing to do the job. So he "zapped" it good and hard and, Voila, problem fixed.

And a little drama, the tap I bought the other day was only 20tpi and not the 24tpi required. Back to Lee Bros to find out they don't have these type of taps so the search resumes. And a major drama was the news that young Mat in the Packard club here when near Mudgee heard a loud knocking/banging sound in his '34 1100 Sedan's engine. Mat had the car towed to Russ's, another club members place, where Russ's mechanic took off the sump to find lots of metal in there. Hope it's not too bad as a total re-babbit would be very expensive.

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Mal, Nice job on the floor underlay. It should help insulate noise and heat from the passenger compartment. Keep in mind that the underlay plus carpeting material may result in a thicker floor covering than was there originally. This I mention because it may keep your accelerator pedal from making full throttle. I had this problem with my 115C Convertible Coupe and after fiddling around a bit ended up making a longer shaft from the pedal to the linkage fixture on the firewall. This fixed the problem just fine. Keep up the good work and keeping us informed of you progress.

Having owned and driven a 1934 Eight 1100 for nearly 45 years and being involved with many other Packard engines of this vintage, if you truly heard a "loud" banging and found significant metal in the crank, it's probably much too late to avoid rebabbiting the rods (at least one of them) at the least, and almost certainly the crankshaft will have to have the counterweights removed and turned undersize. Crankshaft grinders who can do this long and complex shaft aren't found on every street corner, and it's going to be expensive. Sorry to be the bearer of what may be bad news, but if one wants to avoid the crankshaft job, you need to stop driving immediately after you hear even the slightest rod knock, often first heard at a hot idle.

I heard just the slightest rod knock on mine about 45,000 miles ago, and immediately stopped driving. The crankshaft was still OK and I just had to rebabbit one rod, though at 89,000 miles the engine did need a complete overhaul.

PS - I meant to compliment you on the work you're doing on your car - very nice indeed and you'll certainly benefit from it later with a well done and comprehensive job.

Saturday 2nd August 2008

Couple of hours at the workshop this morning and removed the heater inlet and heater box. Then cleaned up the inlet and painted with POR-15. The heater box containing the core and the fan seem OK, Wade had tested the fan some months ago and it ran without problems and the core looks good. Although the paint on the box has some minor peeling in places, it isn't too bad and I'm inclined to leave it "as is".

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John and Dave,
Thanks for the kind words about the work on the '41. But I'm sure it could be done even better, just don't have the funds for a professional restoration, so doing the best I can.

And John,
I'll certainly keep in mind the potential for accelerator pedal travel to be impeded by thicker underlay. And speaking of accelerator pedals, yesterday a new rubber I'd bought on eBay for the '41 arrived.

And Dave,
Concerning young Mat's '34 1100 Sedan, Wade is well aware of the enormity of the problem and is forwarding details to Mat and Russ, of 2 engine rebuilders here who can do the babbiting and the other work required.

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Monday 4th August 2008

Bank holiday here today as well as Mechanic's Holiday. This explained why John and Rick were sitting in the sun having a few quiet drinks and not getting their hands dirty as usually is the case.

But I didn't go directly to the workshop, first went to Parramatta Tools at Rydalmere after the elusive 7/16" 24 TPI Bottom Tap. After searching eBay and googling for this tap over the weekend without any success I wasn't expecting a positive result. And so it proved to be but I was given leads to 2 other possible sources, Total Tools at Granville and McDonald Engineering at Pendle Hill. Instead of going on a wild goose chase looked them up in the yellow pages and rang them. Total Tools, the closer option, didn't have one but McDonald Engineering did.

Left the chase for the elusive tap for the time being and proceeded to the workshop. There, after some gentle advice from Wade, was easily convinced my leaving the heater box and front unpainted was not really an option. Cleaned the box and front up, and after going to the local hardware store, returned with a spray can of the closest colour I could find to match the original heater colour. Although the new colour is a gold while the old colour a light brown. But as I hadn't sprayed anything with a can for a long time my attempt was a little heavy handed, but did get 3 coats on and I'm sure it will look OK in the dark recesses under the dash.

Then, instead of then going directly home, made the trip out to Pendle Hill to the address I'd found in the yellow pages. Turned out to be an Academic College and on ringing McDonald Engineering turns out they haven't been at that address for 5 years. Must have an old, old yellow pages at my place! They did give me the new address and although not literally around the corner it wasn't far away and they did have the tap, so mission accomplished! And turns out the 7/16" 24 TPI is a "NFS" National Fine Special. One of the internet sites over the weekend had said something to the effect of "good luck in finding one - you won't". Well I did, so I'm very pleased.

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Tuesday 5th August 2008

Got to the workshop late morning and had a fairly quite day which was welcome as I'd been out in heavy Sydney traffic earlier running a few errands. Wade wasn't in so I started to prepare the heater for re-installation until I realised I needed a new rubber grommet for the heater fan wire to pass through the box, the old one being cut off for painting. Wade had said yesterday he probably had one at home with his radio stuff but that didn't help the present situation. Also had to make one new spacer from a length of tubing because I'd dropped one of the four on the heater down the drain outside when I was emptying the heater of water. And made a new gasket for the air entry where it meets the firewall, made this from a roll of foam rubber with adhesive backing used to seal doors. Put the tiny knobs back on the front and side directional doors then came the question. What next? So to keep production going I nipped over to Grippy Rubber at Silverwater to buy a grommet! There and back in 3/4 of an hour and while there picked up an assortment of small grommets for the future as well as a small offcut of 1mm thick rubber sheet, more of that later. Installed the gromment, screwed the front cover and the demister motor (which I've left the original colour) back onto the heater box. Then remounted the assembled unit into the firewall. Finished up by re-installing the air intake onto the tube mounted into the firewall and the control cable for the air intake butterfly.

Now to the rubber sheeting offcut. I have a pair of gaskets to mount the taillight housings to the body. But when I pulled the bezels and lenses off, so the bezels could be re-chromed, one taillight had a scrappy looking homemade gasket between the glass lens and the housing but the other one didn't. So next task was to make a pair of gaskets for the glass lenses to mount on the taillight housings. While Steele Rubber, et al, still need not have any fears I think my efforts this time are somewhat better than before, although the thinner rubber being easier to cut had a lot to do with it too. Used a taillight lens as a template and traced around it and then cut out the shape using scissors. Used the scrappy gasket as a template for the inside cut which was done with Stanley knife and scissors. Then trial fitted the gaskets and made a few minor adjustments for overall fit. And found there are small tabs about 2/3 of the way down on each side so accommodated these with the help of the Stanley knife. Also found that the lenses are different in colour with one being a lot darker red than the other.

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Hi Mal,
Very nice work on the gaskets and all.
You've inspired me to take on the laundry list of work needed on my '55 Clipper Super.
Cheers!