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Tuesday 20th September 2011

Last week Helen, wife of MaxH, passed away and her funeral took place yesterday at Palmdale about 40 miles north. Seven Packards were able to make the trip for the funeral service, five from Sydney, one from the Central Coast and one from Tamworth. A lovely service and eulogies for a very fine lady. After the service, Max was inspected some of the Packards present. I think I knew this before, but Max was a former owner of Eleanor aka The Fossil, while Helen is a former owner of Emily. Terry, one of the guys I visited on the Gold Coast a couple of weeks ago said this of Helen, "She was one of life's beautiful Ladies. She always named their cars, the photo is the 38 super eight which was the first Packard I ever worked on for Max named by Helen as "Albert" followed by the car that started my passion "Eleanor". When I asked Helen why she named every car, she said it was her way of recognizing them and they deserved to be named."

Today at the workshop, while Wade was cleaning up Fleurette's front brakes I was tasked with cleaning out a capacitor body for the radio rebuild. Wade likes to keep appearances "stock", not that you'd know because it's inside the radio cabinet, which means digging out the old capacitor and replacing it with modern components. Seemed simple, instructions were to use lots of very hot boiled water and soak the capacitor in it then start digging. Literally tried digging it out with little progress until Wade said he uses long nose pliers to pull the compacted wax/paper/whatever mixture out in clumps. Worked better but still slow progress until about half way down the body then whatever was remaining came out in a large lump. Or so I thought. Turns out there were still pieces of paper/wax clinging on necessitating more mining and excavation until it was cleared. Took quite some time and by which time Wade had finished his brake cleanup work.

What to do next? Wade was waiting for a call about Emily's throttle linkage, the water pump being ready, but one pickup trip was more appealing than two. In the meantime turned to Big Red which had a leak from a large nut on top of the fuel pump. Was able to be fixed with a new washer under the nut. By this time received word that the linkage was ready except for drilling of one hole which they wanted to check the orientation on. So into Big Red, what a great parts chasing car, and we were off with we me in the back seat, ala Gina. Why? More of that later. At Anglade Engineering we were introduced to Brian who, after discussions and trial fitments, was able to drill the final hole.

From Anglade we went to Award Diffs, this is why the back seat ride occurred. Yesterday, after the funeral service, the complete pumpkin out of Barry Smiths '38 Twelve was transferred from the boot(trunk) of Barry's '51 Convertible to the boot(trunk) of Big Red. And a set of high speed gears for the '38's pumpkin was transferred to the front seat floor of Big Red. Because the box, the pumpkin was in, occupied most of the available boot(trunk) space of Big Red all the accoutrements for Packard runs, fold up chairs and table and such also ended up in the front seat. Not wishing to disturb these arrangements meant my relegation to the back seat. Actually it's very comfortable, the phrase lounge chair comfort springs to mind, and now I understand Gina's preference for travelling there. Anyway, enough of the Packard saleman pitch, back to Award diffs. There the pumpkin and high speed gears were unloaded and Wade discussed Barry's requirements with Terry. As usual Terry had all the answers even before Wade could ask the questions or point out certain matters to be attended to. And there is a story behind the high speed gears too. Barry had bought two sets some years ago, one set of which he installed in an early '30s Packard(Wade or Barry, don't be afraid to jump to positively identify it!). The other set ended up with a guy in South Australia, JohnW, who installed them in his early '30s Packard(Wade or Barry, same deal on the identification). However John removed the gear set because performance wasn't as expected. Barry remembered this, and with the Twelve "getting busy" at highway speeds, the second set returned from whence it came.

Back at the workshop Emily's throttle linkage was re-assembled, well that part of the linkage which bolts on the firewall connecting the accelerator pedal to the first linkage rod from the firewall mount to the bellcrank on the intake manifold. This is a RHD car so will differ in that it doesn't cross the engine, or run behind it, to operate the carburettor. Wade had been looking for a new cross shaft to replace the worn one while making use of the present levers at either end of the shaft. Besides the new shaft and installing brass bushes at either end of the cross shaft bracket, Anglade also made a new brass lever for the accelerator pedal link. However the brass bushes, because they are in a thinnish bracket were fabricated so that they each have a shoulder on the inside of the bracket for shaft support. Didn't matter for the accelerator pedal side but for the carburettor linkage side this created a problem in re-installing the cross shaft spring in that the hole for the retaining pin was now "out". Solution, drill a new hole in the cross shaft, easy? I had heard of V-blocks but never seen one in operation. Turns out this is the way to do it. And it was "easy", but only because Wade knew what he was doing and did it in measured steps to ensure the required outcome was achieved. All then put together and now ready to go back in Emily tomorrow.

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Wednesday 21st September 2011

Seemed we were going to be working on Emily today because the front seals for Fleurette were yet to arrive. First was to get the cross shaft bracket mounted back on the firewall. Although a bit tedious went back in without too much drama save it had to come out after the first attempt. Why? Because the rod mounted to the accelerator pedal lever was the wrong way round. You can only put it in two ways so of course the first way chosen was the wrong way! That sorted, the bracket was remounted. Next was the bell crank mounting pin in the intake manifold. The old pin was worn and also loose in the manifold so Wade had Anglade make up a new one. Trouble was they got it completely wrong, rattling around in the manifold. To cut a very, very long story short, a discarded 8mm bolt of John's was used with the thread recut to 7mm, threaded end shortened, head cut off, hole drilled(ala V block) and square head ground on the open end. The mounting hole in the manifold body was tapped to 7mm and the new pin, together with the bell crank fitted.

During the course of this the package from Max arrived containing the new front seals and a flexible fuel hose fitting. The fuel hose won't be going on the shelf as I speculated previously but is expected to be used on Big Red. Rather than continue with Emily, Wade turned to Fleurette and putting the front brakes back on. Remounted the shoes and springs for both sides then repacked the wheel bearings one side at a time. Fitted the inner bearing installed the new seal, brake drum on car, outer bearing fitted and nuts, lock washer and split pin installed. Adjusted brakes and remounted wheels. Fleurette is ready to return to the shop floor, probably Friday because Wade is attending another funeral his fourth in four weeks, so won't be in tomorrow.

And speaking of packages from Max, on my return home found that mine had been delivered too!

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Hi Mal,

Just wanted to confirm that I will be dropping by tomorrow (prob late morning) with the 34 gearbox for Wade... that is if I am able to lift it into the car... and to pick up those rear leaf packs.

Might see what is happening for lunch?

Cheers

Snapey

Matt,

'34 gearbox should be easy for a young guy such as yourself! Wade will be at the workshop tomorrow morning but I'll be off donating blood plasma and have an errand to run. Will try and make it there late morning/early afternoon because it's been a while since I partook of Friday lunch at the Eastwood Rugby Club.

Friday 23rd September 2011

After the vampire struck and errands run finally reached the workshop just after midday. Found Wade working away adjusting the carburettor linkage on Emily, with a combination of new cross shaft & pedal lever, Holden carburettor and non standard linkage rods a fair bit of tweaking was required. After that the hand throttle and choke cables were reconnected and adjusted. But that's as far as it went, couldn't start Emily up to test it, because the water pump wasn't ready to go back on. Earlier in the morning Wade had POR-15'd the housing, backing plate and impeller and they were hanging up to dry before being reassembled, that'll be Monday.

Also, neither Noel(Tabletennissport) or Matt(Snapey) had been sighted at the workshop. Matt called and advised he was having trouble separating the transmission from the '34 engine and would go directly to Eastwood Rugby Club and meet us there for lunch. Noel? Said he was probably coming in Wednesday or Friday, but didn't make either day. That aside, ten blokes enjoyed lunch on the open air dining area on the club's verandah. Then followed return to the workshop for drop off of the trans Matt had brought over. Matt also picked up the original rear springs off Mat's(Packard34) '34 Sedan which Wade had changed over. These springs will be used in Matt's Biposto in lieu of the original springs.

Had a query from William George Stocker concerning what radiator cap he should put on his '39 120, looks like a follow on from this thread. Instead of that, I have photographed the radiator filler necks on Noel's '39 120 and on my '41 120. The '39 is NOT pressurised while the '41 is.

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Thank you so much for the photo's, it has helped me. My rad filler-neck is not sealed like Noel's 39 120?

One more question what is the pressure cap rating on Mal's 41, 120? As this look's very much like mine, I will take a photo of my Radiator filler neck tomorrow. My Packard must be a very late 39? could they have put early 40 radiator in my Packard..(could this happen??)
thanx Guys!

The "Vent" on the hot box of the manifold is the air inlet for the automatic choke thermostaic coil on the original Chandler Groves carburetor.

Redundant for a different carburetor.

Bill,

See pic's below of my '41 120 cap. From memory it was 4 or 4 & 1/2 pounds. Make sure the one you get has the correct reach or depth so it seals properly on the lower sealing surface. The guy at the radiator shop where I had the radiator cleaned, checked and pressure tested provided a new cap. Suggest you try a radiator shop if a parts shop can't supply one.

Quote:Brian,

Hmmmmm, should it be "plugged" then to prevent a big vacuum leak? If so, and putting aside the throttle linkage fixes recently done but not yet tested, this could be a major source of Emily's poor performance.

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Quote:Brian,

Hmmmmm, should it be "plugged" then to prevent a big vacuum leak? If so, and putting aside the throttle linkage fixes recently done but not yet tested, this could be a major source of Emily's poor performance.[/quote]

No need to plug it. The connection to vacuum in the original carburetor was through the small hole in the boss that is off to the side of the carb mounting flange. That hole should now be exposed and non-functional.

[/quote]Brian,

Hmmmmm, should it be "plugged" then to prevent a big vacuum leak? If so, and putting aside the throttle linkage fixes recently done but not yet tested, this could be a major source of Emily's poor performance.[/quote]

No need to plug it. The connection to vacuum in the original carburetor was through the small hole in the boss that is off to the side of the carb mounting flange. That hole should now be exposed and non-functional.