West Peterson Posted May 11, 2010 Share Posted May 11, 2010 When I first obtained my 1940 1808, the running boards and rear fenders were not attached to each other. The bolt holes on the fenders were about a half-inch lower than the running board. With the running boards connected to the frame, and the fenders connected to the body, my thought is that the body/chassis mounting points have settled. But, a whole half-inch seems a bit much for settling of just the rubber bushings, which I don't think were more than a half-inch when new. I haven't yet looked to find the mounting points, but I was wondering what else would have caused this. The running board brackets are not damaged or bent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted May 11, 2010 Share Posted May 11, 2010 Fenders may just be rotated forward a bit too much. Mounting holes slotted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted May 11, 2010 Author Share Posted May 11, 2010 No rotation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 It might be possible. Have you looked at the mounts under the car? A luxury car may have had thick juicy donut mounts that were an inch thick or more when new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 Haven't checked yet, but will do so when I get back from N.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Mitchell Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 The original cars that I have had didn't have plain soft rubber body cushions, but harder rubber with cording in it, like belting or even like early tire sidewalls, and they didn't compress as much as soft rubber. If they were replaced with soft rubber, they might well allow the body to settle. Some cars had metal plates sandwiched with rubber, but I haven't seen that on the late 30s early 40s production Packards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks Dave. I know you've had experience with headlight trim on a 1940. Can you tell me if my trim strips have been bent, or is this normal. See my other post:http://forums.aaca.org/f134/help-attaching-headlight-trim-282092.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_Mack_CT Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 West, in seeing your car at Hershey last year you pointed out the trunk mounted AC unit which is pretty big. I wonder if that would contribute to body settling more so than with an ordinary production unit. Did Packard account for the extra weight - especially 70 years worth? Hmm..For example, my dad has an F-150 he treats better than I do my Cadillac. Has 125K or so on it and leans ever so slightly to the driver's side. You can count the times this truck has had any payload to speak of. Well, he has been told the lean is normal due to the 7 years and 125K miles of the weight of an average driver on the suspension. Got to believe the weight could be a factor with your Packard, sir... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bkazmer Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 I hate to be the resident doofus, but while there's an effort to help, the 41-2 running boards don't attach to the fenders like the 40's so be careful in drawing analogies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 The holes in the fender are slotted, but the fender's lip also is shaped to fit an exact area of the body. So I'd assume that the holes are slotted so that they mount up easily and can be shifted to the correct position once mounted. The front r.b/fender attachments seem to be okay.In regards to the a/c unit in the back: It is not really that heavy, as it is just the evaporator unit. But it's possible that it weighs 50 pounds or more. On the other hand, I was told that this car was originally equipped with the accessory trunk with luggage, and between that and the evaporator, it's possible it was squished more than normal.The running board mounts are also equipped with rubber spacers/cushions, but if I were to "restore" those back to "new," the running board would end up being even higher.I just got back from a show in N.C., so I've still not had a chance to inspect the mounting points. I'll let you know what I find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted May 18, 2010 Author Share Posted May 18, 2010 A quick look-see under the car today revealed some pretty hefty-looking spacers between the chassis and the body. Seemed to be more than a half-inch, closer to 3/4s of an inch. However, they didn't look squished, but then, they really wouldn't have to squish much to create a problem. Between the front and rear, I believe I counted four on each side. Starting with the second from the front, I'm thinking I should put in one spacer, adding one more for each mount behind it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted May 19, 2010 Author Share Posted May 19, 2010 I've been thinking about that Dave, but if I raise it all equally, there shouldn't be a problem. Yes, scratching my head and everything else as well. That's why I'm thinking out loud here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phils38cpe Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 Hockey pucks make great spacers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bkazmer Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 are the running boards attached to a couple of "outriggers" as usual? I would think it's more likely for the running board supports to be bent than the whole body to need a big shimming. the mounts I've seen are impregnated webbing as described earlier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted May 21, 2010 Author Share Posted May 21, 2010 Yeah, I dunno. The brackets do not look bent in the least bit, the amount of "drop" in the fenders is identical between the right and left sides, the mounts (as stated) are quite solid, the fenders have no rotation. Before I actually "do" anything, I'll be looking at everything all over again, and scratching my head and everything all over again as well.I appreciate all of the input. This has really got me confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 Well, it's time to start eating crow. I told ya'll I'd take one more long hard look at everything before I did anything rash, and I'm glad I did. I found that the fender does indeed rotate. So, to all those who said rotate the fender, you were right. When I had previously tried to rotate the fender, it would not budge. Today, I finally bit the bullet and decided to completely remove the fender. Didn't really want to do it by myself, but I finally got some rare time to work on it, so I didn't want to wait for someone to come and help. Even before I got the fender off, it immediately became apparent that the problem was that whoever previously removed the fender, glued both sides of the fender welt, making it impossible to rotate.I removed the old fender welt, installed new, and mounted the fender properly, with the running board now attached securely.I am very glad I had not painted the fenders, because I basically got a free pass to figure it all out without worrying about scratching anything.Thank you to everyone who offered ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 Supposedly I could get close to 18mpg, but I think it would entail changing to high-speed gears in the rear end. It would also entail keeping my speed down, which is near impossible to do with this car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 Or you could do what everyone else does.... lie.... ha ha ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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