Currently having the subject radio brought back to life. Sent the radio itself out but left the dial,station presets and control knobs in the dash. The radio now told plays but restore is looking for a solid state vibrator for durability. Anyone have any sources on this? Also,on the dash, assume the chrome knob on he left is the on/off volumn, the knob on the right does turn the station dial. What are the two black up and down switches one on either side of the dial? Also, how do the station presets work?
Thanks

Thanks again for the help, and the idea of a relay for the starter button will keep this in mind if problems arise, however, I wouldn't think there would be much current flow through the starter button. Now on to the next item on the list to make this beautiful Packard road worthy.

Think I have it figured out! Basic problem was, purchased one of those large color plastic covered wiring diagrams because the one the Packard site was hard to read. Well, the plastic one is wrong, it showed a hot wire to the starter button form the hot side of the ignition switch. Difficult to actually see back of starter button with out removing the heater. The Packard site wiring diagram showed only two wires to the starter button, one to the ground side of the starter solenoid the other to the cutout relay in the regulator. Yes, there is copper bar connecting the battery terminal on the starter to the solenoid. Now that makes perfect sense. If I have it right the starter solenoid is grounded through the starter button and the closed points in the cutout relay in the voltage regulator, until the engine is running and the points in the cutout relay open and disable the starter button. Is that correct?
Thanks

When working on my 1940 with the 356 engine I often use a remote trigger starter. To get it to work properly, I connect one wire of the trigger to the starter coil wire and the other wire to ground. Cranks the engine, but makes no sense to me. The coil wire I'm connecting to comes from the starter button on the dash which is hot according to the wiring schematic. So all I'm doing is grounding an open hot circuit (starter button not pushed)to ground? Now, if this wire was a ground wire, what I'm doing would make sense, as the trigger is simply replacing the starter button. However, a continuity test does show the wire to the coil is on the hot side!
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks

Problem solved! Was advised the timing adjustment on a 54 distributor is by loosing the screw on the rod that connects the vacuum advance to the distributor outer body. The rod even has a calibrated scale once you look close. Will stick with this distributor for the time being as it seems to work well. Thanks for the advice and offers.

Thank you! After your information about loosing the vacuum advance screw , setting the timing was easy. Guess I looked right at it and just didn't make the connection. The previous owned apparently didn't either, which was the reason he obviously elongated one of the block fastening bolt holes and left the second bolt out all together in an effort to achieve just a little timing adjustment.
Thanks again

Normally I'm on the Prewar Forum discussing my 1940 Packard with a 356 engine. However, just opened distributor to replace points for the first time and found I have a model IGP5402E distributor form a 1954 Packard! Getting the points which are different from the ones in the original model IGT 4102 is not a problem. The problem is adjusting the timing. The hold down bracket which has two bolt holes (one round the other elongated) seems to be fixed to the distributor outer casing. To have any adjustment at all for the timing, the bolt in the round hole has to be left out, which is what the previous owner did, and am limited to the adjustment allowed by the other elongate bolt hole, is this correct?
Thanks

Just opened my 1940 356 engines distributor to replace points and found out the distributor is actually form a 1954 Packard! Distributor uses same cap and rotor but different points, the condense I'm not sure about. Any advice on this? Getting 54 points is not a problem, what seems to be a problem is setting the timing. My past experience with distributors is just loosing the tightening bolt and rotating the distributor to get the correct advance was simple. In this 54 distributor the tightening flange is fixed to the distributor outer case. This flange has two bolt holes for two tightening bolts one hole is round the other is elongated. So to adjust the timing, only one bolt can be installed in the elongated hole this is how it was done by the previous owner and the amount of adjustment is only what is allowed by the elongated hole for the second tightening bolt.
Am I missing anything on adjusting the timing with this distributor?
Thanks

1940- 356 engine. Pressure takes 20-30 seconds or so to come up to 40-50lbs at idle.Pressure stays good from then on. Removed oil sending unit to check for flow. Oil Flow coincides with slow pressure build up at start up. Only thing I can of is a blocked screen on the pump. Any other ideas before pulling the pan?
Bill

Joe, thanks for the feed back. I purchased a rebuild kit from Kanter's and followed their rather poor picture of the exploded view, yours is much better. Found the 1/4" spacer and carb is now working great. Now working on the fuel pump which has caused me much more grief (on the vacuum side). Think I have this resolved. Now will have to have the vacuum wiper motor repaired.
Thanks,Bill