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Monday 20th July 2015

Hmmmm......removing the front clip is somewhat harder than I thought it would be. Saying that, it's mainly me rather than the process. Didn't get to the Coupe until this afternoon and at this stage the clip is still "on" but just sitting there. Under the car, releasing the headlight harness from the frame was easy. Next was going to be unfastening the nut holding the radiator collar to the front crossmember but there wasn't a nut to unfasten! Looks like it was missed being put on again back in 2010. Then turned to the radiator drain cock at the front of the lower radiator tank, the cock turned but.....nothing happened! So resorted to a partial drain by loosening off the hose to the water pump at the water pump inlet, caught "most" of the coolant but a lot still escaped. Didn't matter though, I'm an old hand with mop and bucket from the workshop days.

Rigged up my hoist at this stage, an old 1 ton chain block I picked up from EleanorS. Chained it to 2 of the garages rafters about 4' in front of the Coupe, should be OK(I hope). Plan is to roll the Coupe into position under the chain block, hoist the front clip up, roll the Coupe back then lower the clip to the floor.

Put the front wheels back on and rolled the Coupe into position. Then using 2 lengths of rope, one attached to the mudguard(fender) brackets attached to the radiator collar, the other threaded through the gills of the inner mudguard(fender) and the big air vent, looped these through the lifting hook of the chain block and started lifting. Front was coming up OK, rear looked to be struggling. Discovered a couple of things, instead of "bolts, 4 each side, securing the rear of the mudguards(fenders) to the cowl" should have also found the nut and bolt each side securing the inner mudguard(fender) panels to the cowl! Also discovered the left side mudguard(fender) brace was still attached and......I'd missed the clamp holding the wiring harness(loom) to the inner mudguard(fender) panel. As well the fuel pump heat shield was fouling and the fan was catching the lower radiator hose. At this time decided to abandon the lift, returning the clip to sit on the frame and will take up the running tomorrow.

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Mal; You need to put a 4 by 4 on top of the rafters or a block between them as not to damage the rafter ( cross ties is what they are) good luck. Jon

Tuesday 21st July 2015

Not much done today except the clip is now separated from the body. Main obstacle needing to be overcome was removal of the fan, which had been catching on the lower radiator hose. Although I've done this a number of times before it's always a chore because of the lack of working space between the fan and the radiator. As I've said previously, the radiator acts like a cheese grater on the skin and is NOT a comfortable working experience. After working for a while on one of the four bolts with little progress, bit the bullet and off to the tool shop for a 7/16" ratchet spanner(wrench). At the tool shop, after the young guy said they are costly found a wide selection of ratchet spanners(wrenches). That is all except for a 7/16", or I could have bought a full set for an exorbitant price! Next stop, the hardware store, where they didn't have singles, only sets at a less but still exorbitant price. Third port of call was Supercheap Auto. Again no singles, only sets, but now at a realistic price. Home again, and gee isn't it good to have the right tool for the job? Still requires some knuckle scraping but the bulk of the work is done without the cheese grater effect!

Now the moment of truth, was there enough clearance, had I forgotten or missed some other fastening/bracket/hose/ fitting? Started raising the clip with the chain block, main problem being to keep the chain from rattling against the mudguard(fender) but soon developed a technique for that. Would raise it a bit, check each rear corner of each mudguard(fender) and the radiator, fuel pump heat shield and generally check the whole situation, raise again, repeat checks, raise again, etc, etc. When the clip was up high enough for the rear of the mudguards(fenders) to clear the front tyres pushed the Coupe back without any worries. Positioned the thick towels being used at the rear of each mudguard(fender) on the floor with another under the bottom of the grill shell then lowered the clip to the floor.
Jon, for the advice "put a 4 by 4 on top of the rafters or a block between them as not to damage the rafter cross tie". Fortunately nothing untoward happened as I'd almost backed myself into a corner with the way I was doing things and didn't want to backtrack. However, will put the advice into practice before the clip goes back on!

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Wednesday 22nd July 2015

Just a few things today. Removed the radiator from the clip and cleaned the oil, from the leaking seal, off it. Rang Wade to bounce off him who to use for the radiator clean, check, test and possible rebuild. He suggested that, although the last guy he used in Sydney's west was good, the guy he's found up the coast is excellent. Outcome? I'm going on a road trip Monday to visit Wade complete with radiator under arm! Other thing was I removed the screen from the upper radiator hose in-line filter. It's been doing it's job with about half the screen filled with trapped particles but obviously I hadn't being doing mine in cleaning it regularly. Probably explains why the Coupe has been running a little hotter than before.

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I have never seen a screen like that. Is that something Wade made?

"I have never seen a screen like that. Is that something Wade made?"

Ken,

No, although Wade gave it to me, it's a commercially available Tefba in-line filter. Open link then scroll down.

Thanks! Never heard of one. Seems like a great idea.

Sunday 26th July 2015

In preparation for tomorrows road trip to Wades needed to get the parts together today. Taking up the radiator, timing case cover, harmonic balancer and the generator. Because of oil all over the generator would like Wade to check it over. Now that the timing case cover is exposed, it's readily apparent that it's the source of the leak. To get the TCC off, needed to jack up the engine, wooden block between the jack and the sump(oil pan) and remove the front engine mount yoke as well as the 4 bolts at the front of the sump(oil pan).

I also included a front mudguard(fender) to frame brace because Noel needs one. Rang me on Friday wanting to know the length of the Coupes fender braces. Because I bought 2 pairs of fender braces recently, needing just one because of a kerfuffle with a kerb(curb) a few months back which bent the drivers side brace well out of shape, I could tell him straight up it was 19 & 7/8"!. Noel then called back to say he had several braces but only one was 19 & 7/8" and did I happen to have one? Of course, I did. So on the way to Wade's will pick up Noel, present him with the Royal Order of the mudguard(fender) brace, and then continue onto Wades.

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Monday 27th July 2015

With the boot(trunk) stocked with Packard parts and empty jars, and after picking up Noel, headed north to the Central Coast and Wade. On arrival transferred the Coupes radiator into Wade's Ute but, before we left PeterL called in, Peter lives just over the road from Wade. Peter came over to give Wade a hand to put the radiator back into GeoffC's '39 TJ Richards bodied 110 Sedan. Only trouble was the radiator wasn't there! It was at the shop waiting to be picked up when the Coupes radiator is dropped off. I imagine Peter will come over tomorrow or later in the week to give Wade a hand to put the re-cored radiator into the TJR.

Bidding Peter farewell we were then off on what turned out to be more a parts run then just dropping off and picking up radiators.
First stop was a REPCO, store. What Wade bought there I don't know but I took the opportunity to pick up brake cleaner(for the Coupe) and hand cleaner(for me).
Second stop, just around the corner, was another Peter. This Peter being the excellent machinist Wade now uses. A fascinating guy who, besides the lathes and other equipment, has a magnificent and large 1895 steam yacht in his shed. Peter built the steam engine and boiler from scratch, in its restoration, I'm sorry, but didn't get any pic's. There Wade picked up a pair of screws for Big Red's headlights as well as commissioning some fuel pump bolt spacer sleeves for the TJR.
Third stop was Warners Bay Radiators where we met proprietor Warren and offsider John. Entering the shop first thing seen was the re-cored TJR's radiator, looks real good. After effecting a transfer of radiators out off and into the ute Noel and I got to talking with John who has restored a number of rather rare Matchless motorcycles. It's expected that it'll be a couple of weeks before the Coupes radiator is ready to return home. As Wade is due to come to Sydney in about two weeks, he might be able to drop the radiator off at the Workshop if it's ready then.
Fourth stop was JAYCAR Electronics where Wade picked up some switches and a new pair of wire strippers, his old pair finally becoming unrepairable after many, many years of great service.
Fifth stop was PIRTEK for some fuel line fittings.
All that brought back old times as even I had been entrusted, on occasions, to shop at Jaycar and Pirtek for parts when at the workshop.

On returning to Wades, after unloading the TJR's radiator, Gina provided us with a lovely lunch of toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches. Noel and I were also the lucky recipients of jars of Gina's home made Marmalade.

After lunch Wade, Noel and I retired to, where else, but "Wade's Workshop"! There, on the Peter Packard supplied Timing Case Cover, I cleaned up the gasket surfaces by wire wheeling them. Also asked Wade to have a look at the Coupes generator because of the excessive exterior oiling it had experienced. Lo and behold that's what it turned out to be, excessive exterior oiling! It was just as well I asked Wade about this as all that was needed was removal of the cover band from the back end of the generator. I'd imagined that you'd need to disassemble the generator to ascertain it's condition. Removing the cover band, together with a good torch(flashlight) enabled inspection showing no discernible oil ingress, phew!

Mentioned earlier that Wade collected a pair of headlight adjustment screws(left hand thread) from Peter. This is because Wade is rebuilding the headlights on Big Red. Returning from their trip to South Australia Wade found that the little night time driving experienced was done more or less in the dark despite the headlights being operative. Now "operative" apparently doesn't mean good lighting so Wade is having the headlight reflectors resilvered, ditto the trippe light relectors, and with appropriate Halogen bulbs expects the road lighting system to be effective as well as "operative".

And what's happening to GeoffC's TJR you might ask? Well, the carb has been expertly rebuilt by Carburettor Service Company and is waiting to go back on. As mentioned, the radiator has been re-cored and rebuilt and will be returned to the car shortly. The electrical system has been returned to 6V positive ground from the negative it had been changed to(of course the ammeter was reading backwards!). Also in the electrical system the Ford Falcon(12V) part(ignition module? can't remember what Wade said it was) found wired in and has been removed. It was running on an electric fuel pump although the mechanical pump was there but not connected. Wade found out why the electric was used, there was a big chip out of part of the body of the mechanical pump which would had leaked like a sieve! In Wade's supply of used parts was a good pump body and this will be used together with a rebuild kit to return the mechanical pump to proper service. An electric pump will be retained but only used for priming, as a back up or, heaven forbid, should vapour(vapor) lock ever rear it's ugly head! Other matters to be attended to are the rear spring rubbers and the torque arm rubber bushes.

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A little aside from "Workshop" matters or more truthfully I forgot to report this in the above post!

During their return from the South Australia trip Wade and Gina stopped overnight at a motel at Robe. The motel's proprietors were quite new and also very taken by Big Red. So much so that they asked Wade and Gina if a photo of Big Red could be used in the brochure they were planning for the motel.

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