WTB Senior trunk rack knob assemblies 37-40

[Guest 39Super8]

WTB set of trunk rack knob assemblies complete (Knobs plungers, springs), for 37 to 40 Packard Senior. good used, or reproduction set fine.

Thanks,

Jim

[Guest 39Super8]

Well, looks like the supply has dried up. A machinist friend and I made complete assemblies today. Time consuming to make, but not terribly difficult.

[West Peterson]

Photos of how you did it, please? ...and the end results.

Thanks.

[Guest 39Super8]

West,

Here is a picture of the machined pieces. The roll pin is 3/32 dia. by ½ inch wide. The spring and roll pin is a hardware store item total cost for 2 springs and 2 roll pins $2.00. The metal stock to make the parts is about $4.00 from the remnants rack at the local steel supply.

We took the easy out in making these by making the parts individually and then assembling. The tapered plunger was machined out of stock that was close to finished size. The thin ¼ inch rod was threaded and the tapered pin threaded then threaded together. the knob was made in the same manner. The knob was made of large stock, knurled, than parted off into biscuits. The biscuits were bored. the pins sticking out of the biscuits were bored for the ¼ inch pins to push into (latter pushed together and roll pins installed) than the pin is pushed through the biscuit and the end TIG welded. Back into the lathe and faced off. We now have the knobs. Now the knobs are put on the mill and the 3/32 holes drilled. about 2 ½ hours total machine time. At the normal machine shop rate, not real cost effective. If we wanted to have made the straight lines in the knobs instead of the knurl, we would have had to have used a colette spinner and rotated a few degrees and made the cut with the edge of an end mill. This would have taken about another hour.

Now they are ready to be sent out for plating. These were made from memory, and may not be perfectly to original spec. They work great, and don’t look bad for a Sunday afternoons work.

This was a walk in the park compared to the process my connecting rods went through getting welded to widen, machined, bored, straightened and converted to slant 6 bearings!

That’s the story

Jim

[West Peterson]

Wow. Nice work.

I just found this in my parts stash, but it's different from what you've made. The shaft on this one is threaded. I'll take a photo of the one on my 1940 and see if there's any difference.

[Tom M]

West,

Are those for sale? I am missing one of the little pieces.

But first I need to crawl up in attic and see if mine looks like your.

[West Peterson]

Jim

I'll post a picture tomorrow, but you pretty much got it spot on... aside from the already mentioned knurled edge rather than regular ridges.

The photo that I posted is for an earlier car. The parts came from our 1929 phaeton. I didn't think they would be that much different. Screw in rather than spring.

[Tom M]

Here are some pictures of mine. I happen to break the other one taken it off...

West the little tapered piece does it slid right over the thin rod on the end of the threaded section?

Only way to get my broken pin out was slid it out towards the taper end of the small piece. What holds this tapered piece in place. Is it just pressed on once you screw the knurl piece in the rack?

[Guest 39Super8]

Tom,

If I am not mistaken, I think PI club store still has a supply of that style trunk rack lock knob. You might give Carol a call, she is there from 9:00am to noon.

Best of luck!

Jim

[Tom M]

Jim,

Thanks for the info. But where do I find the info on the PI Club Store?

As you can see I will need two knobs NOW and one of the small taper pieces.

[Guest 39Super8]

Hi Tom,

PI office number is 714-541-8431

302 French St. Santa Ana, Ca. 92701

Jim

[Guest 39Super8]

Tom,

I just found my PI club store catalog, it lists 1927 – 1934 trunk rack locking knobs machined and plated $75 pr.

If they are still available, that is a bargain! I just dropped the ones I made for plating this morning and am in total shock!

[Tom M]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 39Super8</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I just dropped the ones I made for plating this morning and am in total shock!

</div></div>Price for chroming out the roof?

Thanks for the contact info.

[West Peterson]

Jim

Here is a photo of my trunk rack knob from my 1940 180. As I said, aside from the knurled edge, you did one heck of a job!

Tom.

It appears that the tapered piece is slid into place, then the end of the knob is peened to "mushroom" it secure.

[Tom M]

No wonder why I had trouble getting it out. Hence the breakage at myself

[West Peterson]

May I suggest putting your broken pieces in a lathe and drilling out the center, then fit a new shaft in place much the way one would put a sleeve in a cylinder. Freeze the new shaft, heat up the threaded knob...

Would that work? I'm just throwing out an idea.

Or you could weld a new shaft into place, fire up the lathe again and turn down the weld.

[tbirdman]

In regards to finding parts, I find belonging to the two Packard national clubs and receiving their magazines with ads in the back and suscribing to Hemmings, helps find a lot of parts.

As an example, I was surprised one day to find that a Packard region had reproduced the metal pieces that connect the 32 horns to the brackets that mount them on to the headlight bar. One of mine had broke, and I was all set to try to make a new one. At $50 a pair they were cheap to me like the $75 for those rack knobs. It was interesting as it was a part only for 32. I suppose a member must had made for his car, and then made it a regional project. I was very surprise but glad when I saw the ad.

[West Peterson]

Point well taken, Ken... but, if one has the time, it's satisfying and stress relieving to be able to work on and fix small things like this. For me, it's almost a competitive sport. The challenge is to not only fix or make something better than what can be bought, but to do it for less money (as long as you don't figure the cost of your time).

[tbirdman]

West,

Then you are more than welcome to come over and help me work on my air cleaner:) But agree with you on doing things yourself and the challenge. Having own cars that I have restored and cars that I have bought already restored, there is quite a different feeling when people ask you if you did the work.

I just got done painting my sidemount covers. By the time I bought the supplies I could had done it cheaper. But in the process I did learn a lot and improved on my body and paint skills.

Part of the expense was buying an Airvantage 6" DA and Abralon 1000, 2000 and 4000 grit pads to do the wet sandinging on the covers. The paint supplier said a lot of body shops are going to this technique as it eliminates a lot of the final polishing and hand wet sanding. SO I'm learning though not at a reduced expense

[Guest 39Super8]

West,

Thanks for posting the picture!

I am surprised we got the knobs that close! I kind of remembered what they looked like, but was not sure about the shaft that ran through the spring, connecting to the knob. I almost wish we would have done the lines instead of the knurl, but that would have taken a lot of time.

You are right about projects like this being rewarding, but I sure wish they were still available.

I am hoping PI has the knob assemblies Tom needs. You are right, I think the old ones could be drilled and tapped, kind of the way we did these.

Jim

[West Peterson]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: tbirdman</div><div class="ubbcode-body">... you are more than welcome to come over and help me work on my air cleaner:)

</div></div>

How about if I post a scan of it from factory literature?