Re: Runaway Engine

Posted by Jim L. in OR On 2014/10/29 15:51:02

Owen,Fish n' Jim, Howard, Tim, '55 Packard Guy, Packard Illiterati - I'm sorry for having apparently tossed this out and left everyone hanging. Not to mention not acknowledging the help that was offered by you all. In my defense, we had a pretty good blow in Portland Saturday afternoon - even a tornado touching down in the area. While keeping the lights on, I lost my Comcast line thus ending my TV, Phone AND Internet Service. Comcast "forgot" one appointment but finally got out here today - service restored just 15 minutes ago.

Having no TV, phone or Internet meant that I had a lot of time on my hands uninterrupted. Except for being cut off from this website after asking a question, it was kind of nice.

But, back to the Packard. The only thing that was disturbed during the valve job was the head and valve train. Didn't open or fiddle with anything else. During reassembly I did notice that the left side accelerator linkage bracket was loosed at it's joint so I did switch the bracket from the parts car so Howard's suggestion of a linkage problem could be part of it, I found that I could, with a little effort move the carb linkage forward over a little "hump" to a more fully closed position thus bringing down the RPMs close to normal. The thing is that the car ran very well - noisy, but well before my "Valve Experience". When I disconnect the linkage from the carb, the linkage moves freely with no binding anywhere so I don't think the linkage is a problem and I was careful to note which part of the linkage on the passenger side went where when I was taking it apart Plus I had the parts car to guide me - at least in the beginning.

There was a moment after I had balanced the head on the exhaust manifold when I thought the head was getting away from me and so I grabbed it with little thought of doing possible damage. This is a long way of saying that I think that '55 Packard Guy may have something when he talks about bending things that shouldn't be bent - more or less supported by my finding that the throttle was binding just a little.

I think my next step will be to take off the carb and see what the throttle shaft looks like compared to the one in my parts carb. I probably won't get to that until the weekend but I may be able to grab a few minutes as I know it won't take long.

Once again, my very belated thanks to Owen, Fish n' Jim, Packard Illiterati, Tim, Howard and '55 Packard Guy for helping me figure this one out. I was really disappointed when, thinking I had the car pretty much sorted only to find a brand new problem - but I guess
that's the Hobby!

As soon as I have the carb off and sorted, I'll let everyone know.