Re: '40 Ignition cables recommendation

Posted by Joe Santana On 2012/8/3 13:41:52
Howard et al,

How I wish it were so. I feel like this is a major confession, and that expertise shouldn't be wasted on the stupid, so I have kept quiet about this recent circumstance.

I had planned to drive to Ashland, Oregon last Saturday. The car was hesitating a bit when wound up in 2nd gear. I thought it needed a tune-up. I thought I could (should) do the tune-up, or at least install the new parts for the tune-up.

As someone suggested, the cause may have been a dirty fuel filter, and no tune-up was necessary.

On Wednesday after work, I merrily checked the specs for the new plugs, Champions, identical to the ones installed, gap .028, and installed them. No difference in performance. I unlatched the distributor cap and replaced the rotor.
I transferred the ignition cables 1 for 1 to the new cap....only I didn't realize that the cap only goes on 1 way. So starting with the new cap upside down I transferred the cables back to the old rotor. I test drove it down the street, and it didn't run any better. Maybe a little worse.

I pulled all the cables from the cap. I used the wiring diagram to replace them. If you look at the 1940 wiring diagram, as I took for gospel, it shows the firing order as 1-6-2-5-8-3-7-4, a set of numbers that will live in infamy.

It shows specifically where the low tension connection is. It shows which number cable goes where, the order being clockwise. The engine would not run. I pulled all the wires out again and looked at them by length. These were custom cut from a universal Belden kit, but still. I plugged the longest 2 at the bottom, the next two closer, etc. Then I looked at the numbers in relation to the firing order, switched a couple of cables to get 16258374 and tried again. It still wouldn't run.

So I started from scratch. I turned the engine with the starter, so the marks on the damper were close to the pointer. I looked at the rotor and it was pointing to like 7 o'clock, just left of the bottom latch indentation. (Are you laughing yet? I was near crying.) I put the No1 cable in that slot, and the rest in order, clockwise, per the manual. I moved all the wires (verifying each cables origin) over 1 and tried. Nada. I had one big backfire. Then I moved the wires back one. Nada. In the course of resetting the damper I noticed that the rotor could also point to 2 o'clock. So I tried that, since nothing worked starting at 7. No good. Then I noticed when I turned the engine that the fan turned COUNTER-clockwise. I was like a lab animal having an aha! moment. I moved the engine in tiny starter bursts and checked the rotor. It was definitely moving counter-clockwise. I connected the wires counter-clockwise, and it fired right up. I test drove it, and it still hesitated. I had to be at the airport at 11pm. It was 9:30pm. I took the other car. My objective for all this was still to drive the car to Ashland, 300 miles, on Saturday. I thought, it's just a matter of tweaking.

Not willing to leave well enough alone, Thursday night I installed the points. The new ones NAPA sold me would not fit in the distributor. They said the listing was for all 41-47 Packards. I had a spare set of points which had no adjustment hole, just 1 for attaching. So I installed those. Now it wouldn't run. (I would like to know what number to ask for if Napa actually has the points for a 356 engine. That would be a huge help.) Yes, I probably set the gap incorrectly, .015 is what I tried for. I had to give up for the night.

I'm only putting you through all this because the car is still not running.

Friday I called my friend Vaughn. He is far more knowledgeable about mechanics and Packards. OK he chuckled about the counter clockwise thing. He gave me a 6V timing light he'd been carrying around. He had a break in his day and was willing to come help me. I left work early and he picked me up. He set the points correctly. He put a white mark on the damper. We weren't getting spark. We verified there was spark from the ignition switch. Checked the wires for position. Got a spare coil and bypassed the one on the car. No change. We disconnected the OD cut out from the low-tension terminal to eliminate that possibility again. No change. We poured some gas down the carb. Nothing. He had to leave.

I reinstalled the old points and set them as Vaughn had shown me. Spark was getting through to the timing light, where I checked #1, then 2, then 3, then 4. I removed 4 spark plugs and reinstalled 4 old ones, which Vaughn said were in perfect shape (3,000 miles). But that didn't make any difference.

I charged the battery. It was fully charged on fast charge, then I switched it to slow 2 amp trickle until it was fully charged.

Yesterday I ordered original style cables from Potomac Packard. Last night I changed the fuel filter, which was a little dirty. I replaced the coil. The ammeter needle wiggles when I push the starter. The timing light lights on #1. It was late, so I waited to start it this morning. The car does not start.

How can this be that hard?

There it is. I can take pix tonight after work if there's anything you want to see.




Joe

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