Re: What kind of oil to use? 1941 Packard 110

Posted by Ross On 2015/5/22 4:40:10

Electronic ignitions need 5.3 volts to operate. With any sort of resistance problem, or even starting on a cold morning the voltage to the unit can fall below that threshold and it will not trigger.

After repeated no starts on my 51--which is in good mechanical condition and cranks over quite well--I removed the Pertronix and the car starts readily hot or cold.

As hard as it is for many to believe, the 6v sytems really did work quite OK. All one has to do is bring them back to standard condition. I have six cars in regular use that run 6v and none have left me stranded.

A further caveat for electronic ignitions that use the points to trigger: The low current over the points gives them terrific life, but normal dirt and fumes in the dist. can eventually stop them from triggering. I had a very high quality ignition system on my 56 Packup 12 volt, neg ground. The car quit right in the middle of a busy intersection and I had to coast slowly across. After some highly aggravated fiddling determined that the points had stopped conducting. Snapped them shut several times and continued on my way. Realizing that my quest for greater reliebility had actually give me less, I have removed the electronic igniton.

If I was laying down 30000 miles a year on each of these cars, it might be another matter, but for the mileage each of them sees, I find I am better off with a dist with good bushings and points.