DavidMc

Licespray, A useful reference if you go ahead http://clubs.hemmings.com/wocv/

Greg, Thanks for the compliment. Its a 1922 1st Series 6 cyl Sport. The Sport body is quite different to the other 5 and 7 passenger Packards of the era which make it look like an eight. There were only a few hundred made. The Sport should have disc wheels but virtually all of the early Packards that came to Australia had these 24" Rudge Whitworth wire wheels, as did this one. As an aside to all of those in fear of 2 wheel brakes, it has external contacting bands on rear wheels only and they are quite good. Driven accordingly and with second gear down steep hills the car is fine to drive. In serious rain it is another story.

"David - nice! I love the “April 1927...Many years later” captions: It was actually April 1976 , a bit hard to read. It went on its first drive in late 1985

The asbestos issue is a PITA but its more about restrictions on importing cars into Australia. I have never heard of anyone having to prove their car is asbestos free. In NSW where I live we need to have all cars, including old ones, inspected annually and a car with lots of exhaust smoke would fail in the hands of a strict inspector but the WK and its potential new owner is in Qld where no such inspection is required. However I have seen Knight engined cars on tour and don't recall them emitting excessive smoke. I don't think that is a deal breaker for this car.

"2. Go for it, but only if the engine can be made to run beforehand. " Getting it running would not be important in my view because it may damage the engine. The cylinders may have rusted, rings seized, oil ways blocked etc. I would strip the engine completely to clean it and assess condition. Having got that far I would have do whatever is necessary to rebuild it before attempting to start it. . On all of my projects I have started on the hardest jobs first, which has always been the body. once that it all repaired and primed the its on to the mechanicals. Starting the engine is about the last job. Not much has been said about woodwork, check the door fit, opening and closing, use a screwdriver of see if all the hinge screws are tight in the wood, feel the door pillars and windshield posts, check the 2 main outer wood sections in the floor, they are first to rot out. If major woodwork replacement is needed you will need to be able to do that yourself, if you have to out source it I would walk away from the project. Below is one of my projects, it took about 10 years , which helped spread the costs. I still have it. At the end I vowed never to take on such a project but have since completed 2 more that were just as far gone. Its a disease, I hope you catch it!

DavidMc May I ask where abouts in Aus are you? I’m Queensland. Sydney

I have restored a number of cars from far worse condition than that one and there is enormous satisfaction in doing so. I highly recommend the process but you need to be aware of some potential major costs, if money is not a problem then read no further. Engine rebuild costs on a Knight engine, if the sleeves need replacing , crank grind, new pistons etc etc $10- 20k. Maybe more. Upholstery in all of the correct materials, seats top etc maybe $10k if you are lucky , my last car cost over $20k Nickel ( that car predates chrome) bumpers, radiator surround, handles headlight surrounds $5-10k, my last car cost over $15k for plating. (BTW the headlights are missing , hopefully stored away). Tyres tubes rust bands maybe $2k Painting, panel beating etc, do it all your self . around $1500 for materials. That car would make an excellent long term project , there are are not a lot around. Its an interesting car. I am, the last person to discourage a major restoration project but just have some idea of what you are getting into. I am also in Australia. If you want to buy a car look at the classifieds in "Just Cars" https://www.justcars.com.au/cars-for-sale/search lots of later model cars but a few earlier ones. Otherwise join a local club and ask around among members.

As has been said on this forum many times a car in that condition will cost you far more to restore that it will be worth when finished and will take years of work so in those terms its not worth buying unless you have a strong reason for wanting that particular car. Buy a complete running car , the best you can afford and start from there. If its a Willys Knight it has a sleeve valve engine which would be VERY expensive to recondition unless by some miracle it does not need it. Interesting car when done correctly but a huge money pit.

From my experience there is no spray on anything that will shift the sort of thick caked on dirt and grease. Its needs to be removed with scrapers, wire brushes , sometimes a hammer and chisel, whatever works . Once it is reasonably clean then maybe it can be finished off by blasting with a steam cleaner or high pressure water blaster. If there is an easier way I am very keen to know about it .

Mike, How are you planning to weld in the repair piece? If you oxy weld with steel rods you will need to either cut out all brazing or braze the new piece. Steel welding alongside brazing produces a brittle alloy that will crack.

Mike, I have done some steam bending using a similar set up using an old pressure cooker to generate the steam. A bit of trial and error was needed to determine how much bend was needed to allow for the spring back when released from the jig. Also I had to work very fast to get the wood into the jig before it started to harden. It worked very well after a little practice.

I have a small 2 cylinder brass era car that spent many years in a museum. It had suffered a lot of corrosion inside the engine and transmission. This would have been caused by atmospheric moisture condensing inside the engine at low ambient temperatures. Had the engine been started occasionally this would dried out avoiding the problem. Most of the transmission parts were pitted but usable however the cylinders above the ring line were so deeply pitted that the only practical solution was to sleeve the engine and fit new pistons. Nothing terminal but if it had been run occasionally it would have been in better condition.

Mike, Its too late anyway, the Humberete has sold . Apparently sold quickly.

Mike, maybe you would like another one . For sale in Australia. https://www.justcars.com.au/cars-for-sale/1914-humber-humberette-roadster/JCMD5041048

I can't believe that, virtually every car on the road has bonded linings.

The reason for using woven linings on cars with mechanical brakes and harder linings on cars with hydraulic brakes is all about the friction factor between linings and drum. Mechanical brakes exert a lower pressure between lining and drum than hydraulic brakes and the lining material needs to be matched to the application. Woven works better than hard molded linings at the lower pressures and harder moulded linings work better at the higher pressure obtained with hydraulic brakes. Having said that there are many grades of both woven and hard linings and specialist advice from a company experienced with the older cars is advisable. I have no expertise in this area, the above is what was explained to me years ago by a company specializing in the supply of friction materials. The question of bonded versus riveted is more about whether you want to do it yourself or have the job outsourced. I am not aware of any negatives with bonded - I do not know if riveting is still done by any of the brake shops. Riveting requires care in cutting the flat based countersink for the rivets to the right depth, too deep and the lining will let go and this is a l little more difficult to achieve with woven material. You also need the correct star type punch to spread the rivets and a punch holder to keep the punch aligned to the rivet.

I will have to research the difference between woven and bonded lining. All types of linings can be bonded including woven. Your Chandler needs woven linings

I switched to bonded linings 30 years ago on my 2 wheel braked Packard with external and internal linings. No problems with those linings after 30 years and many long distance tours. The linings are high friction woven material.

Dave, Adding to what others have said, you quote a strength figure of 3960 psi for J B Weld. What is that a measure of, is it tensile strength, shear strength , compressive strength? Without more information it is meaningless and probably irrelevant. What you are looking for is bond strength, the ability of the the JB Weld to bond to the tubing and to maintain that bond over time when subject to temperature change vibration, effect of the brake fluid etc. The use of the word "Weld" in the product name is misleading, a weld occurs when the materials are heated and fused together at their melting point. J B Weld is just a glue .

Stunning, I believe its a C Type Jaguar not a D Type

Bill, The passenger microphone looks exactly the same as the ones in the last two photos. The recoil mechanism is concealed behind the upholstery. The speaker is a little different to the one in the above photo, it is mounted in the panel above the division window on the drivers side. Its a one way system. The passenger gives the driver instructions, the driver cannot respond. I believe these Dictograph intercoms were used in a number of high end cars. David

I have a 1930 Packard division window limousine that has a "Dictograph" intercom from rear passenger to the chauffeur. The wire to the passenger microphone recoils into a box that looks like that

Mike, I am enjoying your restoration reports. I have used that match stick method to fill small holes but sometimes the match stick is not a good fit. Tooth picks are a good alternative, one for small holes or a few where the match stick is loose.

Its not Maxwell

Unless you are from a location (Australia for example) where you just can not obtain 6V batteries That's certainly not true, 6V batteries including Optima's are readily available here in Australia. I totally agree however, 6V works fine with the correct battery leads. I have three 1920's cars all have 6V batteries and all spin over fine, maybe not as fast as my modern car but more than enough for starting.