Customs Packard Concept

I'm still working on figuring out my photo posting issues, but I found out earlier that the car won WMBC. And that makes this car the first car to ever win AMBR and WMBC. It's quite an honor. Very cool to be a part of this build. We were also awarded the Sam Barris memorial award.
It's been such a great experience for us with this car. Beyond that, I'm pretty speechless.


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It was fun stopping in the shop over the past three years and seeing that build take shape, very nice to be there at the GNRS and see it win. Is there any talk of building a Coupe? Bob

 

So, I finally worked out my photo issues.
I'm calling it a night for tonight, but here are a few to get started.
I'll post up some more soon.

 

Very cool to see where the changes happened.

 

Congratulations on the Custom De'Elegance award at Sacramento as well as the AMBR.
Two major and deserving awards.

mick

 

@cretin Thanks for posting all of the build pics. This answered a lo of our questions on what was done. Its amazing what a little off of hear and there will make a difference. Congrats on the Custom award at Sacramento.

 

Thank you guys so much. The response to the car has really been amazing.

 

So, Unfortunately, I found less construction photos then I thought I would. Also, I didn't do much sheetmetal on this car and as a result, don't have a lot of photos showing that. I also don't have photos of the frame going together, because if I remember correctly, the frame began construction while I was out of the country.

Anyway, hopefully the photos I do have will be of interest.
There also aren't quite in order, and I'm not going to worry about getting them in order.

This is the construction of the front "horns of power" These are the parts that attach to the actuators in the cowl, that also attach to the 1/4 elliptical springs that allow us to adjust ride height, without changing spring rate, or ruining the vintage look of a suspension that most adjustable suspensions do. This is the start, more strength is added to these later.



This is one of the reasons they are so affectionally referred to as the "horns of power"



And here is how it goes together.

 

In the process of adding some strength and style to the front suspension pivot brackets.








Here is one of the front engine mounts welded together, but not yet ground. And I'm finishing up making a stainless cover for the bottom of it to cover the bottom of the mounting bolt.



Here is a side view of the mount and cover. And in the background you can see the in process running board mounts. Also, underneath the mount is a front shackle, which you'll see more of later.



Here I'm getting actuator mounts tacked together inside the cowl in order to start testing the suspension concept. In the background you can see one of the engine mounts, and the twin I beam.



View of actuator mount from the front. Background you can see a bit of the frame, and the lower control arms we made for the rear end.



I'll post some more tomorrow.

 

And if anyone has any questions about anything you see, or something I don't address, ask away.

 

WOW! We never would have even known about that hidden actuator system if you hadn't posted these pics. Thanks!

 

These are awesome Kyle thanks so much for taking the time to post these! I can't wait to see more. Did you hammer the reveal in the "horns of power" after welding them up or are we just seeing the back side in the jig?

 

Soooooooo cooooool....

I can't figure out the steering linkage.

Pics? Explain?

Thanks,
Rich

 

Wow!

 

I'm such a hack....! Absolutely amazing design and fabrication, well done!


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What is/are the glass pieces behind the headlights? Turn Signal, or something else?

 

Thanks! If I understand your question correctly, the reveal in the horn of power was shaped separately and then welded into the sides.

There is an explanation of the steering in this thread.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/exceptional-stuff-at-gnrs-2017.1045357/#post-11850556
If you have any more questions, let me know.

Thank you! I don't want to make anyone feel like a hack! If anything I'd like to inspire people to want to improve their skill set. I am far from the best, and look at inspiring work everyday, and try to improve everyday. If I can help someone do that, then that is awesome!
But, no matter what your skill set, if you do the best work to your ability, then you aren't a hack!

They are just decorative. The factory hood sides had a slotted grill trim piece there, and we replaced them with custom made pieces that we thought better fit the art deco design, and class of a Packard.

 

Here I'm in mockup of the rear suspension design. We started with a Kugel independent rear end using a Winters quick change center section. We ditched to coil overs for our 1/4 elliptical/actuator setup, and we took the rest of the parts we still needed and used their dimensions to make more attractive parts to suit our needs.
You can see here that the control arm has already been remade using I-beam axles. We made some subtle changes to the Kugel design, and as a result we widened the control arm at its attachment point at the center section.



This is the rear hub I made to replace the stock Kugel piece. Which now includes the shackle hanger for the rear spring.



Mocked up with a main leaf. The leaf spring pivot/mount went through a slight re-design after this photo was taken.



Test fit of the hub, still some cleanup needed, but everything fits!



Another mockup photo.



Here is a mockup of some of the B-pillar structure, and you can see some sheetmetal work going on. I made the B-pillar piece, and the rest was done by other guys at the shop.

 

We always planned for a supercharged Lincoln flathead, but didn't always have the Latham. Sorry it's a terrible photo, but this is a mockup of the engine with an empty case we had around.



In the original drawings, the car had hidden hinges. Once we had a real car, and we saw the factory hinges, we knew that had to be included. They were just too cool. Some people don't like them, but we think we made the right choice. This is how they started.



Despite how they look in that last photo, they were in great shape. Really they only needed the shafts replaced. Those aren't really an off the shelf item, so I made some new ones. The knurled end is attached to the pin, and the other end has a 10-32 stud attached.





I probably took too many photos of such a small detail like the hinge pins. Flathead aficionados will notice the V12 in the background that is mounted on the stand in the wrong way. Rest assured that is an empty junk block only used for mockup. The real engine (when it was on a stand) was much more adequately supported.





Honestly, I'm not even quite sure exactly whats happening here, but it must be early frame work. I see frame sections clamped on, and the fixture that held the mockup block in.



Like I said, probably too many photos of hinges

 

This is the beginnings of the structure for the rear suspension actuators. After some more of the body was made and more testing, this structure got a slight re-design. As you can see, we love our clecos.



The car utilizes a more modern T-5 trans, and as such a modern style driveshaft. However, the independent rear end allowed us to make a torque tube over that modern driveshaft. This is the beginnings of the rear clamshell piece of the torque tube that I call the sewage coupler.



This is the front piece of the torque tube going together. It's kind of a wacky piece, but it did the job, and I like to think it looks good while doing it.





This is the clamshell sewage coupler before ribs were added.



This is the whole torque tube minus the ribs on the sewage coupler. This photo also shows a decent amount of the frame, the rear suspension structure that is changed later on, the rear fender installed, and the fender skirt skins clecoed in.

 

The Kugel rear end comes with inboard disc brakes, which obviously wouldn't work for this build. The original plan was to make covers for the disc brakes to look like drums. We quickly came to the conclusion that not only did those covers look too big and bulky, but we didn't want to do it fake. We decided to convert the rear end to skeleton drum brakes using Lincoln drums. These photos are when we were trying to mock up drum covers.

This first photo is what would have been the fake backing plate. In the end, the bracket for the wheel cylinder will bolt to the two bungs, and the brake shoe keepers will bolt to the 8 bolts that hold in the side seals.



This is what would have been a brake scoop which housed the caliper.



Mockup.



Mockup



I'm pretty sure I have some photos of the rear drum brake conversion that will show up later in the thread.

Here are a couple more early front frame/suspension photos. front crossmember is still unfinished. Wishbone, and axle are there, but still no spring, and engine is mocked up.



Then here are a couple photos of starting to add some ribs to part the sewage coupler torque tube bracket.





More to come

 

Man you guys must have spent as much on grinding disks and abrasives making all these parts as some have in a whole build. Great work!

 

PLEASE keep them coming!

 

Cretin, the build pics are great... it's amazing how it goes from a piece of tubing and/or plate to the satin smoothed pieces shown above...
After the welding is done, do you guys die grind with stones, or stick to sand rolls and roll lock discs, finishing by hand?

There's absolutely no tool marks showing anywhere!!!

Thanks again


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That is just increadable work! The finished product is drop dead gorgeous, all the awards are well deserved!

 

I definitely went through a lot of abrasives! And I won't lie, with all the ribs I added to stuff, I got pretty tired of finishing fillet welds!

When making the arms on the jig, I just used Rolocs to finish it.
When I'm finishing fillet welds, I use a combination of Rolocs, rotary files, and sand rolls. And depending on what the final finish of the part will be, maybe a file.
I also typically like to DA the parts after grinding because it helps soften any edges that may still exist, help remove small flat spots that may be there from using a Roloc on a rounded surface, and it makes the surface more uniform.

One of the things that is important when using Rolocs, is to keep the disc parallel with the work. You don't want to use the edge of the disc, because it will gouge.
When dealing with odd shapes, you can cut some slots in the Roloc, or cut it into a star shape, and that will allow the Roloc to flex and work around the odd shapes. Another option for smoothing odd edges is to fold up a few lengths of emery cloth, and attach them to an arbor on a die grinder.


Hopefully that addresses all you wanted to know. If I make anything similar in the close future, I'll try to document it.

 

Adding the ribs to the torque tube side of the sewage coupler.





I'm in the process of cleaning up the ribs here. This piece was a bit of a pain, but I was happy with it in the end.



After deciding to put real rear drums on the car, we decided to go with skeleton brakes, and this is part of what I came up with. I used the bolts that bolt on the housing for the axle flange seals, and made some guides for the brake shoes. I mimicked the ribs that were on the rear end housing. You can also see here that I made a plate where the caliper used to attach to mount the wheel cylinder, and the brake spring pin.

 

This is the layout for modifying the front backing plates.



I cut out the windows, and then made some ribs to span the gap.
Rib layout.



Windows cut out.



Here is the stock backing plate compared to the cut and ribbed version.



Cut a ribbed version installed. These windows get mesh added in behind them later on.



Backing plates installed. You also get a bit more of a look at the frame. You can see all the pieces I was using to get the steering figured out on the front of the frame table. Other things visible here are the front fender mounts/healightmounts/front shock mounts. Front engine cradle and mounts, front spring mount/pivot, part of the rear front fender mount.



I made some stainless covers for the back of the front wheel cylinders. This is my press tool I made to make a piece of the cover.









Here is the cover installed as compared to uncovered. I know this may seem like a ridiculous detail to some, but I think it's a nice detail for showcar stuff without making things have streetroddy covers. I used the blister made above for the two blisters on the sides to cover the wheel cylinder bolts. The center part of the cover is just a cut up piece of pre-bent stainless tube, then I added the mounting tabs.

 

This is one of the steering swingset pivots in process. The window clearly needs more work at this point to get the waves out, but I probably wanted a break from finishing welds at this point. It also has a "Kyle plate" installed on it. These capture the lower pivot pin in the bracket. Kyle plates are used in some other places too, to cover up bolts we didn't want seen.



This is how the swingset pivots attach to the frame. They slide into a pocket in the frame, and bolt through this hole. Then the front of the frame horn is bolted on to cover this. The frame horn shares a bolt with the front fender bracket.



Here I'm trying to get the steering mocked up for testing.





Here are some sheetmetal photos. These must be right after the hood doors were fit on this side. The body lines and front window on the hood sides are stock, but we made the hood doors.

 

That car was on the build stand when I stopped in the last two years, and it was on a platform at the GNRS. What was it like standing next to the car sitting on the floor for the first time? Bob