Re: Henry's 55 Constellation

Posted by John On 2008/3/3 12:21:51

Hank,
If I recall correctly, the coil output to the distributor should be in the neighborhood of 15 to 30 thousand volts. Most high performance ignition systems operate in the range of 50K volts. That's pretty hard to read with a handheld meter. I think I would first verify the wiring to make sure that the spark is being generated when the points open (btw, there should be very little spark at the points - If there is, that usually indicates a bad condensor), and that the polarity is correct. If the coil is producing spark then check the rotor. Easiest way to check coil spark is to remove the coil wire from the distributor cap and hold it next to the block while cranking the engine. If the spark jumps to the block, the coil has output. Some of the older rotors were built with a resistor in the flow path and that would sometimes fail. I'm not sure if the Packard had this or not, but it is another point of possible failure.
HTH,
John