Re: 51Packard's....51 Packard

Posted by Ross On 2010/8/29 20:53:29

Hey guy, I just spotted one of your problems: The throttle lever on the side of the tranny, the one that goes up to the throttle linkage is on upside down!! It should point up and not down. See fig 79, p 24 in the shop manual. With that on upside down, the throttle pressures will always be wrong: there is no chance of kickdown, and the trans will actually decrease it holding power when you give the car more gas. Bad Bad.

Just had this on a car that came in for a visit after the national. Owner was thrilled with his new performance.

Here's the deal for quick and dirty Ultra-happiness: Put the throttle linkage in roughly the right orientation, but leave the clamp screw loose on that little arm. Poke your choke open with your finger and let the throttle linkage snap back to a slow idle position (no need to run the engine) Set the length of your throttle pull rod so that the end is close to 2 3/4 inches above the surface of the head (fig 89, p 26) A piece of square cardboard with a pencil mark on the edge works just fine. Now get under the car and lightly turn the shaft that little lever is on CCW til it stops. Bring it CW just a tiny skosh, a couple of degrees, and then tighten the clamp bolt. Done. A right angle screwdriver is a really big help for this.