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That was my first thought also, but the hole in the middle is huge compared to all the ones I have. But the rest of the shape is right.

-Kevin

Putting the fenders back on my dad's Super 8 was....not fun. Lining everything up was a real chore. It looks like your fenders are smaller so hopefully not as bad.

-Kevin

I haven't had much time to mess with the Super this week, but I did go ahead and order an old school timing light to see if I could dial things in better. But it came dead on arrival, so that was exciting. I'll pack it up and send it back.

I was able to get some better readings on the HF gun by putting the clip on the exposed connector between wire and plug. I set it to about 9-10 degrees. Vacuum advance disconnected and plugged for the adjustment. The car seems to run smoothly at high idle (cold), somewhere between 800-1000 RPM. When warm it drops down below 600 and it runs rougher.

I took it out for a few mile drive and it seemed to do okay, but I've attached a video that shows a few things:
1). The gear shift (or something in the trans) makes a tapping sound and shakes slightly when under load. No sound at all when I let off the throttle. You can hear it some in the video. It's louder in person.
2.) After the drive and the engine fully warmed up, I could hear definite stumbles in the exhaust. The engine was shaking too.
3.) On the positive side I'm able to start off in 1st and drive in 1st without any touching of the throttle.
4.) I also adjusted the rear brakes (took forever) and now I can lock up the wheels when I brake hard. Much better than it ever was in the past.



-Kevin

I got my battery cables made from these guys: https://www.batterycablesusa.com/.

0 and 00 available, specify length, etc. Cost was reasonable and it arrived within a few days.

-Kevin

Here's the trunk and trim for the '48 Victoria. Problem is this guy is selling 5 Packards (48-49) as a lot and he wants a lot for them....$21K. They are all parts cars or worse. But it looks like there is a '48 Custom Victoria in there with complete trunk and trim. Way out in Oregon.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1395076877712607/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post

Like Wat, I'd be looking closer to 6K for that Custom 8. Especially since I would need to have it shipped all the way across the country, and that would not be cheap. But that doesn't address the bigger problem which is convincing my wife that we NEED another Packard. Especially since my Panama isn't done and we are quickly running out of parking spaces.

-Kevin

It should go up first, then forward with the bottom end coming out first. If I remember right there are hooks at the top that hold it on, plus some sort of wire hoop that holds on either side of the lower. It's been a couple years since I had my seat out last and I'm having a hard time remembering exactly what it was like.

-Kevin

A part of me really wants to get that '48 Custom Eight Convertible Victoria. Yes it would be a project, but it would be a blast to rebuild that car right, and bring it back from the dead. And the convertibles had the best lines of all models of those years IMO.

Someone talk me out of it.

-Kevin

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Not a dual-point distributor thankfully. Plug wires are all new and I routed them so they don't cross each other and do not contact anything metal, just in case.

I checked for vacuum leaks with carb spray around everywhere I could think of. No noticeable change to the sound and speed of the engine. Valves were adjusted with the engine out of the car. They have not been adjusted since running the car.

Coil, condenser, points, cap, rotor, wires, and plugs are all new. So unless one of those components is bad out of the box it shouldn't be due to those.

How would I check the distributor cam and bushings? Maybe the problem lies there?

I'm assuming the timing light is good. It's new but just an inexpensive one from Harbor Freight. When pressing the trigger I can see plainly that the pattern of flashes is not consistent. It's quick, then slow, and it obviously is not steady. So it seems like something is causing #1 to fire erratically.

-Kevin

I started the Super up today to try and tune it better. I can hear the engine stumbling some, like a miss, and the engine shakes some. It definitely does not run as smoothly as it should, and perhaps even a lack of power.

The timing marks on the timing light are jumping all over with the engine running at 600 RPM. I can't get it to go lower.
I'm unable to get a reading and have no idea where to set the distributor.

Is this a sign of a worn distributor? If the distributor needs a rebuild, how do I do that?

-Kevin