1932 - 902 Club Sedan

[Guest box]

I'm in the process of installing the firewall - DO I NEED TO INSTALL WIRE ON HOOD LACING FIRST AND IF SO HOW IS IT INSTALLED - NEVER USED IT BEFORE??

[Guest imported_Speedster]

I'm completely confused by your question? Isn't the firewall part of the body, on that car, and isn't the hood-lace held on by rivets, to firewall and grille-shell? Are you welding on a replacement firewall?

I think the normal procedure on a '32 is to finish the painting of body and shell, before installing the hood-lace on them, using Split rivets (bend-over type rivets). Which should be done before final fitting of the hood.

[Guest box]

Iam installing firewall face plate painted bkack.My hood lacing has a wire running down center of it.

[Restorer32]

On the '32 the exterior firewall is a separate piece and is always painted black regardless of body color, except on the 900, which has the firewall integral with the body and is always body color. The firewall insulation is sandwiched between the two panels. The hood lacing is the wire type and if I remember correctly it is installed after the firewall installation.

[Guest box]

Yes that is what I was talking about.......How is the wire hood lacing installed? I see one rivet in the recess area on the side but no others - is it glued?

[Guest imported_Speedster]

Very Interesting!

I didn't realize that.

I would like a better discription also?

[Earl B.]

box, is your car an early car or late car?....B

[Owen_Dyneto]

Assuming that the 32 hood welting is the same as 33 and 34 and I believe it is, yes it has a wire running thru the center, both sides, front and back. I forget for the moment just where I bought it recently, but is readily available. It is NOT riveted. You can install it at any time even after the car is completely assembled; cut the welting to length and leave about 3/4 inch of wire exposed at each end. Then just make a hook in the wire at each end, a bit more than 90 degrees, insert the hooked ends into the appropriate openings top and bottom. If you can get behind it, bend the wire over to secure it but if you can't, it should still hold. In the cowl and on the radiator shell you'll find one or two "v" shaped depressions and these are used to pull the wire and welt taught. A small "hooked end screw" (make one from a threaded eyelet) loops thru the welting and around the wire and the threaded end is used to pull the welting taught.

[Earl B.]

Owen, I'm in the same place box is with the firewall... what do you mean.."a threaded eyelet"? Is there a picture anywhere? many thanks, B

[Restorer32]

Owen is correct. Easy to do but rather difficult to describe. A small, maybe size 10 or smaller eye hook hooks around the wire and the stem is inserted thru the hole in the depression on each side of the cowl. A nut then tightens the eye hook and thereby tightens the welting. An eyehook looks like this ? only with threads and is available at any hardware store. If you carefully cut a slice thru the underside of the welting the wire can be exposed and the eyehook attached so that it is not visible after installation.

[Owen_Dyneto]

Restorer 32, thanks for the confirmation. I'm intimately familiar with the 33/34 Eights (I've owned an unmolested 34 for more than 40 years) but not so familiar with the 32s. I'm not so sure Packard went to the trouble to hide the head of the eyelet; on my welting which I assume is original you can just see the shiny loop of the eyelet on top of the wire.

[Guest box]

Thank you for your help on this - it was a bit of a mystery. When you tighten the eyelit is the wire supposed to go into the grooves that runs around cowl? I think my car is a late '32 but don't know for sure - ID plate is missing.

[Restorer32]

The wire tightening up and pulling down into the groove theoretically keeps the welting in place. It's a balancing act. Tighten the eye hook too much and the hooks on the ends of the wire will try to straighten out.

[Guest imported_Speedster]

Okay, now I think I realize what we are talking about.

My '37 1502 has wire on top of the hood-lace to hold it down, with the loop-hooks to hold the wires down. That is what we are talking about, correct? (I used copper coated welding-rod for that wire).

I first thought we were talking about a special type hood-lace with wire inside of it.

[Restorer32]

it is a special type hood lace with the wire inside.

[Owen_Dyneto]

Yes, we are talking about a special type of welting with the wire INSIDE the layers. 1936 was still the same, perhaps yours has been changed over the years or perhaps 37 was different, I can't confirm those details.

[Earl B.]

Who sells the hood lacing?

[Guest imported_Speedster]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">it is a special type hood lace with the wire inside</div></div>

Thanks for the clarification.

When I restored my '37, I just replaced the hood-lace with the same type it had (which was the same type used on my '29s) and the rusty wires holding them down. NOW, you tell me that is probably not the original type.

Well, I won't be replacing them anytime Soon, because I can Remember how Difficult it was to get those hooks back in there, by myself.

[Guest imported_Speedster]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Packard32</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Who sells the hood lacing? </div></div>

This is a New one on me, Also?

I'm pretty sure Restoration Supply Co. does Not have it, (which is where I got mine). I checked their catalog and saw nothing like that. I'll do an Internet search and see what comes up.

[Guest imported_Speedster]

I think I found some an Kanter, for $5.50 per foot.

I didn't Realize it was GOLD plated. (at that price)

My welding-rods are looking Better all the time.

I only paid about $1.50 per foot for the double-bead type.

http://www.kanter.com/packard/pac-sen.html

Scroll down to: Hood, Group-0

[Earl B.]

This is from my friend in Pittsburg. He has a very early car....made only 3 weeks into 9th series production. Is this how the 8th series was done, and carried into early 9th series? or has someone messed with it? ....B

[Guest imported_Speedster]

Now that looks like the same way my '37 1502 was done, with wire on Top of hood-lace, not inside of it.

[Owen_Dyneto]

Repeating, the wire should be WITHIN the lacing, not on top. The attachment eyelet looks correct.

[Owen_Dyneto]

Repeating, the wire should be WITHIN the lacing, not on top. The attachment eyelet looks correct.

[Guest box]

Great PICTURE - worth a thousand words. My hood lacing - the wire is definitely buried inside the center of the material. I did an experiment testing on how to install and found that I had to use a small 3/16" diameter rod and tap on the groove that runs around the cowl to insure that the lacing would stay in the position and not slip from side to side. Thanks again for the pic and your help -Kurt (bought it from Gary Britton 4 years ago - not cheap but will look great)

[Earl B.]

Owen, noted and noted.. and that is the way mine is going to be done..wire inside the lacing.. but.... is the picture the way the 8th was done? Since his is a very early 9th...is this a holdover, and maybe later in the 9th series, the lacing was changed to the wire inside type....We've found several changes from his to mine....

[Guest imported_Speedster]

The hood-lace was held on by Rivets in '31, (8th series).

So it may be they had plenty of the double-bead type left over when they started '32 production.

Here's a pic of a '31, you can see rivets at far left and right:

[Guest imported_Speedster]

Here's a pic of a '32 901 Sedan that appears to have external wire on rear hood-lace.

So they must have been done both ways in '32 ?

[Earl B.]

Very well could be they had leftovers Speedster... I guess there are many things about Packards we'll never know for sure...B

[tbirdman]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Speedster</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Here's a pic of a '32 901 Sedan that appears to have external wire on rear hood-lace.

So they must have been done both ways in '32 ? </div></div>

But look at the picture. No loom holder for the spark wires. Incorrect color wire going to distributor cap. So if those two things are wrong, i sthe lacing correct? I suspect there's a lot of restorations perhaps done icorrectly leading to more being done incorrectly as they are being used as examples.

For what it's worth, my hood lacing ha sthe wire inside of it.

[Guest imported_Speedster]

Yes, 'So Many Questions, and So Few Answers'

[Owen_Dyneto]

I have no direct knowledge of type or method of fastening the hood lacing on the 31 Packards, but if you examine the cowl and radiator shell and don't find the depressions for the little toggle that tightened it in place, then you'd have to conclude that it didn't use the "wire within" type lacing so perhaps the rivets shown are correct, though there are some other details in that picture that are not authentic. But there is no doubt that 32 and up to atleast 36 used the "wire within" lacing. Did someone mention Gary Britton, I think I purchased mine from Gary Brinton though that was more than a dozen years back.

[Restorer32]

I have never seen an original car with the wire on the outside of the lacing nor have I ever seen a well restored car with that arrangement.