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Hi Mal & Wade - really nice to see you haven't forgotten me - although I have been keeping a close eye on your goings on here and living my Packard restoration dreams vicariously through the rest of you while I struggle to keep the families financial head above water.

Life has been pretty hectic and I have decided that it is a cruel quirk of fate that means that I only ever seem to have the money to do the things I love or the time, never both... oh the vagaries of the human condition!

Regardless of all this I am desperately trying to get back to the workshop for a visit and a chat. I have done quite a bit of research on my proposed project and I think we are ready to work something out. I will give Wade a call later in the week and see when he will be about.

In the meantime keep up the good work and say G'Day to all the guys in the workshop for me.

Cheers

Matt

Monday 29th March 2010

The quote I gave from Wade last week was "one step forward and three steps back" well today I was greeted with "one step forward and six steps back"! Isn't part of the joy with "old cars" overcoming the challenges, in Wade's case the many many challenges, which come up over the course of working on them? Rhetorical question only, please do not respond! Well be that as it may, in my absence over the last week, Wade has the manifolds and carb back on Big Red as well as the front bumper and all the wiring has been completed. That brings us to today which was spent working on Big Red. First was installing new trans mounts, should be reasonably straightforward, but it took a frustratingly long time to do so. Finally accomplished after jacking up trans, much aligning and re-aligning of holes, a few "magic" words and some brute force when required. Also caused some pain to yours truly, kneeling on Big Red's running board mats with their rows of fine tread, reaching into Big Red's cabin didn't help my knees at all! After that re-installed the radiator, radiator cradle and grill shell assembly. Using the engine crane to lift, carry and position the assembly made this a relatively painless operation. Finished up with Wade cutting new fender beading to fit between the front mudguards(fenders) and radiator shell. Oh, and last Friday picked up the '41's running boards from being re-Rhinoed. Let me just say that with the Easter break coming up I'll be busily employed doing a LOT of rubbing back!

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Tuesday 30th March 2010

Late start because Wade wasn't getting in until about noon. Cleaned more small parts, nut and bolts in preparation for another round of POR-15 painting. Had earlier phoned Graham Wilkins about progress on the '41's engine machining and balancing. Graham told me that he had been aiming for before Easter but it'll now be after the bunny visits. Wade was involved in installing new radiator hoses and re-installing the generator on Big Red when new PACA member ChrisR arrived. Chris returned some club stock parts he'd taken "on approval" but which turned out not applicable to either of his Packards. At this point I left them to it because babysitting responsibilities intervened.

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Wednesday 31st March 2010

This morning donated blood plasma and platelets, the platelets being the first time I've done that. Took about 70 minutes instead of the 40 minutes it takes for a straight plasma donation. Reason they were after platelets is to stock up for Easter. Apparently platelets have a 5 day shelf life and supplies over holiday periods are crucial, they even call people in to donate when supplies are running low. One of the major uses of platelets is for people undergoing cancer treatment, it's good to know that it helps people in need!

That done it was off to the workshop where I found Wade under Big Red just finishing up bolting up the exhaust pipe bracket to the bellhousing. Other things installed this morning included the generator, the right side engine mount and the exhaust manifold to the exhaust pipe. So, while I cleaned and prepared '41 parts for POR-15 painting, Wade went about installing a new upper radiator hose complete with filter, filling the cooling system with water and then checking the timing and installing the distributor. That done, he was off to buy a new set of sparkplugs which weren't available from Repco around the corner, but John was able to order a set and they'll be here tomorrow. Next was refueling Big Red, and by which time I'd finished my painting tasks, with Wade tipping a large fuel container into Big Red's fuel filler neck. I had a phone call from Harvey during the course of Wade's refueling operation and when I handed the phone over to Wade he went walkabout around Big Red. Phone call over, Wade said there was a water leak and it was coming out of the heater water shut off valve on Big Red's head. So drain enough water out of the system, take off the valve, insert new o-ring, reinstall valve and refill with water. So far, no apparent leak.

I'd also received a call from Graham Wilkins to advise me of the approximate cost of the machining and balancing for the '41's engine. Lucky I was sitting down at the time, painting the heads of nuts and bolts, otherwise the shock could have knocked me over. $uffice to say I only ever want to rebuild one Packard engine as I couldn't afford to do another!

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Thursday 1st April 2010

Arrived at the workshop before Wade and set to work taking down the parts painted yesterday. After Wade arrived Big Red's engine was cranked over using a booster battery to ensure oil was circulating which it was by the gauge indicating about 3-4lbs pressure without any plugs in. Because there wasn't more to be done with Big Red until the new plugs arrived, surprise, surprise we did some work on the '41. First was re-fitting the cross-firewall throttle linkage, accomplished with me inside the cabin equipped with a screwdriver while Wade positioned the linkage and the nuts. Next was the clutch and brake pedals setup. Started by trying to ensure that all the components were there and that they fitted together. Necessitated some POR-15 removal to achieve good fit and touch up on the wire wheel for the bolts that hold the assembly to the chassis. Pre-greased the new pedal pivot shaft and any other swinging components then trial fitted to the x-member. Looked OK but there was some interference between the pedals and the pedal panel. Out came the assembly and it was determined the sequencing of spring, pedals and spacers was incorrect. Also determined at that point we were a circlip short but continued anyway reasoning that the missing circlip could be caught up with later as everything else could go back together in the meantime. Bolted everything back in and pedal clearance was no longer an issue. Next Wade re-connected the master cylinder actuating rod from the brake pedal to the master cylinder. The end part of doing that was very frustrating for Wade because of access and visibility restrictions in trying to put the split pin into place on the inside of the pedal bracket. Necessitated Wade using long nose pliers to hold the split pin and push it through the hole by feel and good fortune, but he finally made it in the end. Then John came to the rescue with a perfectly fitting circlip he liberated from some trans gears of his. Being a transmission "specialist" John has lots of stuff lying around which can come in useful. And It's a perfect fit.
John!

During the splitpin fit saga the new sparkplugs for Big Red had arrived. Then after Wade gapped them, 0.028", in they went. Then key on, Wade pushed the starter button only to be greeted by Awww, Awwwww, Awwwwwwww, the sounds of a very flat battery. Wade brought back the booster and, half a crank later, Big Red sprang into life Vrroooom, sweet! I was stationed on the right side of the engine to manipulate the throttle linkage while Wade applied the booster pack. And it didn't just catch me by surprise, when it sprang so easily to life, but Wade too! The value of ensuring the cylinders are well oiled during assembly to ensure compression is available more than compensates for the oily exhaust which accompanies it. And.....no leaks, water oil or fuel. Well, there was a minor drip from the packing gland which could be expected after almost a year of inactivity. And later a minor drip from the top radiator hose was spotted which tightening of the clamp easily fixed. All the guys in the shop came over and Rick even balanced a coin on edge on the cylinder head while the engine was running! Oil pressure was a touch over 40 psi while engine temp was showing about 170 degrees after about 10/15 running time. John's timing light was hooked up and the distributor was manually adjusted back to the timing mark. Switch off and the throttle linkage was adjusted and which resulted in idle speed dropping back to normal as it had been running a little fast at idle.

After a glass of red for Wade was downed in celebration of this milestone, and about a 1/4 glass for your truly, we then returned to the tools. This involved non-mechanical stuff in the form of affixing new cowl beading to Big Red, by means of heating the beading with a heat gun, bending it to the shape of the cowl and screwing it in place. Both sides of the cowl were done but only one side of the radiator housing, because there weren't sufficient screws and nuts available, but there's always next week! And I've got a couple of very short videos of the engine running but until I figure out how to load them the still pic's will have to suffice.

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Figured out how to get the three little videos I took together, but its all very short, 18 seconds total running time. The first part is trying to crank with the flat battery, second part, focused on carb, is the motor running while the last part focuses on the oil gauge then you can hear Mal swear as the camera swings away because a still shot and not a movie was expected! As this luddite learns more about how to operate the camera I hope to provide more videos from time to time.

Big Red - Back to life

About a month ago received an email from BillB updating the progress on his '37 115C Coupe Roadster. After gaining approval from Bill, I've reproduced a mildly edited version of part of it here together with further edited updates from yesterday and today.

" I finally got around to starting the car, I wound the motor over with ignition off to bring up petrol, my rebuilt pump works well, but petrol gushed everywhere out of the top of the EE14 carby. So off with the top, no top gasket and no needle in the seat! Further inspection with the top off revealed one badly corroded venturi and the other badly distorted. This was supposed to be a "rebuilt" carby from ......... So off with Emails over the next week to ask what he can do for me with an eventual reply to send it back and he will fix it...... now at his mercy as to when I get it back. I did fit a needle out of an old Carter so I could finally start the motor, did start easy with good oil pressure but switched off fairly quickly as petrol dripping everywhere."

Here's part of yesterdays email, also edited.

"I am still waiting for the carby to come back from ....... it is very hard to get any replies to my Emails so I am going to phone him this week, he has had it back for over a month now and I think I have been pretty patient. Finally got the remains of the chrome plating back and have fitted what I can, as mentioned before do not want to fit grill, bonnet and right front guard until carby on and motor tuned. Attached couple of photo's show car with rear bumper fitted, cover on left front spare and new running board mould fitted. (Kanter's ended up being US$120 cheaper for freight than Max Merritt.) Photo show the new hand-made bonnet louvres that I welded up to replace those terrible die cast originals with all their pot marks! Also rechromed hand throttle with new cable.The sign is an old one from my Mazda Dealership, so I updated it!......We are going to south island of New Zealand .....so it looks as though completion will now not be until May unless a miracle happens and I get the carby this week."

And todays email

It is OK to use the stuff I have sent you as you see fit (make sure you protect the guilty). I had hoped that I would get the car on display for its first time at this www.clevelandautospectacular.com.au which is on the day before we head for NZ, beauty of this show is that it is only 10km from home, oh well, always next year!

I did "protect the guilty" Bill, and my best wishes are with you in getting the '37 back on the road ASAP.

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Content removed. error in judgment, my apologies. DAF

I think the bumpers are correct for 1937, I know the over riders are 38, could not locate good condition 37's to replate..

Bill,

Two pic's. First one is Wade's '37 120 rear bumper, looks like yours. Second is of '37 115C and 39 120 over-riders in PACA club stock, could be of help. I can take pic's of individual over-riders if you need/want some.

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