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Tuesday 13th July 2010

Late start at the workshop because of family commitments in the morning. Marked and cut out 2 pairs of '41 Packard under running board mudflaps from the rubber sheet Wade had purchased on my behalf this morning. I pair of which will be winging it's way to the US tomorrow, I'll also include the "best" mudflap from my '41 when I bought it. I'd send Noel's, but it might have sentimental value to him and wouldn't want it returning to the US? As it is my mudflap having started life in Detroit in '41, then spending until '61 in San Francisco, from '61 to '07 in Idaho and from '07 to '10 in Australia will then return to the land whence it came. By this time tomorrow the mudflaps and another Packard care package will be winging their ways to two PackardInfo members. Mudflaps done, then removed the front sway bar from Old Blue for Wade. The sway bar links are shot and annoy Wade immensely because they rattle. And no wonder they rattle, once taken off one of links actually fell apart!

Quote:David,

Might be close by, but cost can be a factor too.

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Wednesday 14th July 2010

Bastille day and down to the workshop. No stirring anthems, just oil, grease, dirt and car parts but a stirring Packard environment nevertheless. Back with reality, Wade had mentioned yesterday that Old Blue required some further work, this time the right side boot(trunk) hinge. It was loose and another rattle not something Wade likes, but here's the rub, Old Blue has had this rattle for the twenty years he's owned it! So armed with an assortment of spanners(wrenches), the offending hinge was removed from Old Blue. This necessitated Wade holding the boot(trunk) lid open while I removed the bolts securing it in place. All this with me taking pic's, darting back to the toolbox for a ratchet and 7/16" socket while Wade was holding the boot(trunk) lid open. Once off it was apparent what the problem was, the post of the body part of the hinge closest to the boot(trunk) edge had been repaired sometime in the past(now long past) with a helicoil which wasn't properly seated. The bolt being used for this particular mounting point was much too short, the helicoil came out with the bolt and the mounting post was also damaged. Fixed by drilling out the mounting post hole, inserting a new helicoil, sourcing a correct length bolt and the "re-built" boot(trunk) hinge was re-installed on Old Blue. That done, what next? Why doing the same thing on Big Red which was suffering from the same problem. However this time role reversals were in order with Wade wielding the wrenches(spanners) while I held the boot(trunk) lid during the removal and re-installation processes of the left hinge. This time the thread was just stripped and it too received the helicoil treatment. Left hinge back on Big Red then turned to the right hinge where the thread was stripped on the mounting post of the bolt on the boot(trunk) lid closest to the body. This was repaired in-situ, drilling out the hole, inserting a helicoil and fixing the bolt back in place.

A little aside. I often refer to Wade's '37 120 as "Old Blue" and to the '37 Super 8 as "Big Red" because these are the names Wade and Gina use for them. Then on Sunday on our Packard club run Gina referred to "The Fossil". Refers to Wade's '34 Club Sedan although I've never heard this phrase pass Wades lips. But, now that I've heard it uttered, it could be used more frequently in this narrative.

But back to the workshop. During the various boot hinge fixes a NOS 4.36:1 Crown wheel and pinion for Noel's '39 arrived. Inspection revealed they truely were NOS with not a mark on them, just some very slight surface rust, dirt and such. A session in the parts cleaner followed by a careful clean in the media blaster soon returned them to a much more presentable state. From there we turned to removing the bearings from the hemisphere, a task which had thwarted previous attempts to do so. The problem was, there is very little room in which to engage a puller to remove the bearing. But a discussion with John, who advised to break the bearing cage so the bearing body was more accessible, pointed us in the right direction. Together with a different puller of John's, this task was then accomplished although it still wasn't easy, with very little surface to engage the puller's legs on. Mission accomplished, all the parts then went into the parts washer to remove any last traces of dirt and grime. Now, all that's needed is the new bearings, with all but one cone having been sourced locally by ABC Bearings at probably less than half the cost of bearings from the US. And once ABC comes through with the outstanding cone, the diff will be re-assembled and sent off to be "lapped in" prior to final assembly and re-installation in Noel's '39.

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Friday 16th July 2010

Arrived at the workshop a little later than usual followed in closely by Wade who had some Super 8 parts in his hands. He'd taken Big Red's water pump over to Stan earlier in the week so the body could be machined to take a modern seal. Also a coil holder because the replacement 6V coil Wade has is marginally larger in diameter than the original, probably made to a metric spec. There's still more work to be done on the water pump because Wade had to figure out how to retain the new seals and was then taking it back to Stan for more machine work. However because I'd brought my youngest son's daily driver, a mid 80's Mitsubishi Magna S/Wagon, down to John for some remedial work to pass it's annual inspection I was called away to chase some parts for it. Yesterday I'd picked up a headlight assembly and a corner blinker unit for it in preparation for todays work. Turns out the replacement headlight unit had broken retaining clips and the apparently OK in-bumper blinker unit was also cactus. So, back to the future? Sorry, back to the wrecking yard to replace the replacement headlight unit and to pick up a blinker unit.

Back at the workshop turned the new intact headlight unit, and bumper blinker unit, over to Murray for installation. Then Wade turned me to a task I know a little about, making a gasket, this time for the water pump body to block seal on Big Red. Was almost through finishing that when Noel arrived to inspect, with his own eyes, the NOS crown wheel and pinion for the '39. He was suitably impressed and, all going well, on Monday the new bearings should be available for pickup from ABC. Then it will depend on how long the gear lapping-in takes before the '39's back on the road. But, because of poor starter performance of the '39, slow cranking, Noel had also brought along a set of new starter brushes for Wade to install. Although Noel was invited to join us for lunch later at Eastwood Rugby Club, a prior engagement prevented his attendance. So following Noel's departure I completed the MBM water pump gasket. Wade turned to removing the '39's starter, then removed it's brushes and inspected the armature and housing. Wade's initial diagnosis, looks reasonable but very cruddy inside. Further investigation and work will have to wait until next week because Eastwood Rugby Club's Wings Restaurant was calling.

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Monday 19th July 2010

Although I love the smell of napalm in the morning, the smell of burning flesh, especially my own, is another matter entirely. After having a couple of seborrheic keratosii removed from my head(I'm ugly enough already!) by means of diathermic needle it was off to the workshop for some Packard post-op therapy. By the time I arrived Wade had already been to see Stan and had also picked up the new diff bearings from ABC Bearings. Wade was just starting to push the new carrier bearings onto the hemisphere and then did the large rear pinion bearing before knocking in the rear and front pinion bearing races. The pumpkin was then "loosely" assembled ready for transportation tomorrow to be lapped in.

Next, turned to Noel's '39 starter motor. A good clean of all the starters component parts was followed by a basic resistance test which checked out OK. The new brushes supplied by Noel for the "overhaul" weren't used because the present brushes are good, showing hardly any wear so didn't need to be changed. That done and the starter re-assembled it was re-installed into the '39, probably the hardest part of the whole exercise particularly on Wade's back. Starters are heavy enough without having to lean over a broad '39 mudguard(fender) and then further reach to position and install the beast! All done, then all that remained was to test it! But.........nothing. Not a peep, turned on the headlights, also nothing. Checked the connections, all shipshape and Bristol fashion. Then checked the battery, flat as a tack, not a skerrick of charge could be found. So out with Noel's battery and in with the one currently in The Fossil which had previously been in Old Blue since April '03. Connected it up and the '39's interior light came on, so that was the explanation as to why the battery was flat, having steadily drained every last ounce of life out of it! And this time the '39 started, turned over a lot better than the previous slow turn and this from a battery which was below 6V itself when Wade checked it a little later. Instead of administering the last rites Noel's battery was put on a monitoring charger to slowly bring it back to life, then once charged up it should really spin the starter over.

This morning when Wade picked up Big Red's water pump from Stan, Stan had to do some on-the-spot machining having interpreted, or maybe mis-interpreted Wade's blueprint and instructions about the required outcome. The little collar he made will have be redone because of a number of dimension changes required. Stan, I'll have to stop singing your praises if this continues! A fair amount of time was spent in re-assembling and dis-assembling the pump, figuring out and taking measurements, wrestling with removing the bearing retaining circlip and getting parts to fit that had previously fitted perfectly. Very exasperating for Wade, in that it was supposed to be a straight-forward modern seal replacement for the original packing nut and seal arrangement.

At one stage in the afternoon John called us outside to witness something he hadn't seen in 30+ years of working on cars. The Saab pictured below had come in without any power, John couldn't find any reason for that until he took it for a run round the block. Came back and said to Graham "I think the exhaust is blocked", to which Graham responded "You'd better have a look at what's coming out the back". See for yourself!

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Boys will be boys!

ROFPML!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A fabulous story Guscha, I can tell that your teachers must have loved having you in their classes!

I've heard stories of hammering a potato into exhaust pipes causing the engine to die of strangulation or picking up when the pressurised potato projectile releases. Or using a hose to fill the exhaust pipe up with water. But Gerd, your schoolboy ingenuity, and thinking on your feet. Can't beat that!

Thursday 22nd July 2010

Not a great deal happening of late. On Tuesday Wade had taken the pumpkin to a diff company at Seven Hills for lapping-in and set-up. They said, with any luck, it could be ready Friday, tomorrow. Wade had also cleaned out the diff housing of old oil and any diff particles yesterday in readiness for the pumpkin's return. And yesterday I took the '41 down to Carburettor Service Company where Tim checked the auto choke butterfly which was found to be dead upright. And so it should be after a 1/2 hour drive in peak time traffic. Tim also took the opportunity to adjust the idle mixture slightly. This morning MBM enterprises swung into action to make some gaskets for the axle housings and bearing retainers on Noel's '39. Also cleaned up the axle housing, seal and bearing retainers and backing plate mounting surfaces. All is now ready for the re-assembly except for the MBM pumpkin gasket which will be made just prior to it's installation.

While I was making gaskets Wade was under the '39's left running board replacing the philips head bolts on the radio aerial with hex head ones, at least that's what he told me, the pic tells a whole different tale. Yesterday Wade had a call from Snapey about the '34 chassis and the remnants of a engine sitting in the workshop. Then today, after confirming with Barry Smith that Matt could use the engine, Wade couldn't find Matt's mobile number. So Matt, if/when you read this could you give Wade a call please? Speaking of giving Wade a call, starliner could you do the same please. Left a message for you on Monday Chris, that your radio is ready for pick up, but I don't think Wade's heard from you yet. And that's the extent of Wade's "paging service" for today! Left Wade hunting for engine parts to go with Barry's engine while I'm now off to see the granddaughters!

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Thank you for delivering that message Mal, although Wade did leave a voice mail message on my work number but I was a little too snowed under to respond as promptly as I would have liked.

"I love deadlines - it's the wooshing noise they make as they fly past."

I will endeavor to give him a call tomorrow morning. Thanks again.

Friday 23rd July 2010

Drove the '41 down to the workshop and when I arrived what did I find Wade with? Why the fuel tank out of Big Red. Yesterday afternoon Wade had noticed there was a weep from the drain plug on the tank. Decided to fix it but instead of the plug tightening, the whole plug boss turned and a bigger leak immediately resulted! Out with the tank, a lot easier than on the Juniors we've pulled previously because the Senior tank has a straight filler neck not a curved metal filler neck. Once out Wade discovered it had been repaired before and not very well at that. So first up this morning we took the tank around to Emil, the local radiator repair guy, for repair work.

Then, as soon as we returned to the workshop, Wade received a call from Stan to say the new collar and the sleeved shaft for Big Red's water pump were ready. And because Stan is going fishing for a week we immediately went and picked it up. Back at the workshop the pump was reassembled with the interference fit collar pushed into the pump housing, the newly sleeved shaft and new bearings refitted, the ceramic seal fitted, the impeller fitted and then the pulley re-installed. The pulley itself is a big chunk of metal and it had been balanced with holes drilled around it's edge, and for it's size and weight it would need it!

Received a call from Emil to say the fuel tank was done and ready, so off we went again. Turns out the tank had been previously damaged and all around the plug boss it had been patched with body filler! Emil found this out when he went to repair the tank so had to remove all the filler first. Back at the workshop before re-installing the tank Wade commenced repairs on the fuel tanks sending unit. Although Wade had replaced all the wiring and ensured good connections it still read full on the gauge most of the time. Wade disassembled the sending unit, doing this by drilling out the three rivets holding it together to find a lot of corrosion inside. Now cleaned up but more to come, but it's certainly a whole lot cleaner than it was before. Wade's taking it home tonight and will use electrical contact cleaner as a further step in it's rejuvenation.

While Wade was doing that, I thought I'd get MBM into gear on the pumpkin to diff housing gasket for Noel's '39. How to do this though? The diff housing is still under the '39 so access there was cramped. However the pumpkin sent up by Peter Packard is still in the workshop so I eyeballed that. My eyeball observations were that it would need a gasket comprised of 2 concentric circles with a cut out for the oil drain hole and holes of course for the diff housing studs. Was able to turn the crown wheel so that a steel tape could be passed through the hemisphere allowing accurate measurements of both circles diameters. However didn't have a compass and Wade said he'd chased one before without luck although if he'd wanted he could have bought a full set of instruments in order to obtain the one he wanted, but passed on that. What to do? Why find something circular of the right, or close to the right diameter, to draw the circles required. Looked around and a couple of 20 litre drums, one plastic the other metal, looked like they'd be close. The plastic drum was too small but the metal drums base was spot on! So used that as a template and drew around it for the outside of the gasket. The inner circle was more of a challenge, but wandering around espied the hubcaps on Big Red. Fortunately with the front wheels off Big Red there was a hubcap readily available, and although the outside diameter was too great, the diameter where it tapered down to fit the wheel was almost perfect. Then followed some positioning jiggling of the hubcap inside the outer drawn circle and then by leaning the pen at an angle a line was drawn for the inner circle. Cut out the outer circle allowing a fraction more "just in case" and similarly with the inside circle allowing even more "just in case". Cleaned up the gasket surface of the pumpkin, which was mounted on some special Packard pumpkin stands, and a trial fit. Turns out the inner circle "just in case" wasn't needed and after a bit of pruning it fitted! Then using a small ball peen hammer knocked out the holes for the studs and the indentation for the oil drain plug. Then as I'm feeling quite pleased with myself, reality in the form of Wade intervened. Asked me about the crescent shaped cut outs for crown wheel clearance at top and bottom. They don't appear on the pumpkin but they are on the diff housing. So under the '39 with gasket and hammer and after some remedial work NOW had a MBM gasket for Noel's '39 diff. Wade rang about the pumpkin this morning but it won't be ready till late this afternoon so will be picked up Monday morning.

Quote: Matt for calling this morning, but referencing me to Wade as his secretary? I just try to help if I can! Pic's below of the engine and the bits and pieces that Wade rounded up yesterday.

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