zdillinger

"The new phone books are here!" Well, OK, not a phone book but a very expensive, and quite heavy, little box has arrived.... Looks like my weekend is booked.

Any time you are in the area!!

I'm 6'5" with disproportionally long legs, and this is one of the reasons I primarily focus on Packards. Never found one yet that I couldn't fit in comfortable. It take a bit of finessing to get behind the wheel of my Model T and my Pontiac, but I can manage. All that said, my first automotive love was the Datsun Z car. I had two of them when I was a teenager and finally just outgrew them. Nothing I could do could make it comfortable or, really, even plausible to drive them (especially the '74 260Z). I had to finally sell them, but I sure wish I could fit in one again. Despite my love for all things pre-war, I'd daily drive a properly tuned Z car if I could.

A minor update to this project. A couple of weeks ago, I was all set to take the Pontiac to her first car show, a local show just a few miles away. Sadly, I didn't make it due to an indeterminate roadside issue. I was able to diagnose it on the roadside as a plugged fuel filter. Fearing it would happen again, I just took the car home and skipped the show. This led me to drop the tank, do a proper cleanout, etc. There was some rust but it honestly wasn't too bad, I think I just put enough miles on the car to finally plug up the filter. Car runs great now. While the car was down, I got an email from California Pontiac Restoration that the clutch throwout bearing was finally back in stock. I've been waiting for this since spring. I also picked up the front input shaft bearing, figuring I might as well replace that while I have the transmission back out, which should hopefully cure the noise coming from the trans. Due to a new job and some family commitments, I haven't yet pulled the transmission to make these repairs but I'm hoping to get on them soon so that I can enjoy the car during the fall driving months (i.e. exactly what I was hoping to use this car for given the warmth the firewall kicks out). So, I'll have an actual project update soon, hopefully with actual pics. All the best. Zach

Morning all, Just a quick, no pics update. I have the parts car front end torn down and waiting test fitting/assembly. This will be done after I get my wiring harness, which should be any time now. The gas tank is ready to install, complete with new sender from Merritt. The exhaust system from the parts car is actually useable, no damage or rust in it except for the very end of the tail pipe (which will be covered by a deflector anyway), so that can be installed as well. On a personal level, I managed to leave the job that was giving me stress and found a new position. It was a fairly big promotion for me so I'm really digging in to make sure I do the job to the best of my abilities. This has lead to some delays on the Packard but I hope to get back out there and make progress again as soon as the wiring harness arrives. I hope everyone's summer is winding down well and that you're enjoying the pre-winter driving months. Zach

The Benny Maxwell that was used on the show is currently owned by the president of the International Jack Benny Fan Club, Laura Leibowitz. I haven't seen it in person, sadly, but it is apparently in somewhat decent condition but doesn't run.

They are a chapter of the PAC club and they have worked out a deal with Harnesses Unlimited. The cost to me was the same but this way a Packard club organization gets a small percentage for their treasury.

Just a minor update. The wiring harness has been ordered through Mid-Atlantic Packards and I found a good starter solenoid through Jeff Adkins of Moose Motors. The harness will take a while, unfortunately. I have also ordered the new fuel pickup/sender from Max Merritt. This will go in the newly cleaned out tank from the parts car. I will soon be able to run a new fuel line, further preparation for lighting the thing off (hopefully).

I got mine! Can't wait to dig in this weekend.

My T doesn't have a tach so I have no actual data, but I can run it slow enough to actually hear each individual cylinder fire with a pause between them. I suppose I could count/time the explosions and figure out the actual RPM.

Oh so tempting!

Just a few....

Oh, and one question that I wanted to flag seperately: I'm not an electronics "guy" and have a question about the generator. I've always heard that you can't turn the generator at engine speeds (i.e. run the car with the belt hooked up) without having the generator output connection either wired to the harness/regulator/battery or direct to ground. Is that true?

An update on the status of this project. With the project car front end disassembled, I was able to send the radiator out for cleaning/inspection. It came back on Tuesday with a clean bill of health. My radiator guy cleaned it out, pressure tested it, fixed one small weeping leak, and gave it the thumbs up. I gave it a light spit coat of flat black paint and proceeded to install it back into the support frame. I still need to find the assembly for the thermostatic shutter, the "tuna can" as its called, but I'm not worried about that now. The opening in the top tank is currently covered with a blockoff plate and it can stay that way for however long is necessary. I then made some new rubber radiator pads to replace the old decomposed ones that came from the parts car before installing the assembly into the car. This includes the thin rubber piece between the radiator and the support, the 3/4" thick chunk between the assembly and the frame, and the 1/2" thick round spacer between the castle nut/washer and the frame. I also made new hoses. I spent some time in the radiator hose section at the local Autozone and found an off-the-shelf piece, E72248, that has the perfect bend/length for the upper hose. That hose also provided enough straight material from which to cut the two 3 1/2" long pieces that connect the upper and lower return connections to the bent steel pipe that makes up most of the distance. Digging into my stash of hose clamps (I always buy old clamps at swaps), I found six appropriate clamps and installed everything. After a quick return to the store for 3 feet of 5/8" heater hose to short circuit the heater passage system, I should essentially be ready to fill the rad. I realize now that I didn't document the body work I had completed previously. I'm not an expert but I feel like the practice fender came out OK. The paint is basically temporary just to get an idea of the color on the car itself. I also found out that my daughter is good at sanding and actually enjoys it. Lucky me. Little by little I'm getting closer to the first attempted start. The motor seems to have compression and had clean oil in it so I'm hopeful. Still waiting to get my starter relay back from the local electric motor repair shop. They said they would take a look and it has been a week. I also still need to find a wiring harness and to clean out the parts car gas tank. That's going to be a project in itself, and one to which I am not looking forward. That's all for now. Thanks for reading! P.S: As a happy bonus, I was able to turn the parts car motor over by hand, after previously thinking it was stuck. It also seems to have compression (which you can hear leaking through several of the shattered spark plug bases). This engine may be going into my '40 180 so this was definitely a happy moment!

Run pure, undiluted Evaporust as coolant for as long as you can depending on your area's winter. Picked up that tip from Ed Minnie here on the forum and it worked wonders in my 28 Pontiac.