Re: '48 Custom with minor issues and bad gearbox

Posted by kanadanmajava On 2013/7/23 17:45:48

I did try to shake the gears and noticed that the gears did wobble a bit. I don't know how tight they are in new condition but I guess new bearings should be a lot tighter.

I remembered that my friend took apart some "forest find Packard" years ago. He did save the engine for some hot rod purpose but I don't remember what happened to the transmission. Packards in Finland usually didn't die because of high mileage so something from the drivetrain might be salvageable even with decades in the forest.

flackmaster said something about a rebuilt gearbox. I'll have ask from him.

Today I noticed that the engine doesn't idle as nicely as it did when I picked it up. I already cleaned the fuel pump but didn't yet touch the carburetor. Finnish gasoline might have washed something into a wrong place.

I noticed that timing light doesn't give very stable flashing so I checked the ignition system. All spark plugs were wrong type (seven Y-8 Champions and one UY-6) and gaps were too large. I cleaned the plugs and the distributor cap and got the engine to idle a bit better.

But inside the distributor I noticed another problem. The distributor shaft seems to have quite big amount of play. I could open breaker points by shaking the shaft.

The parts list shows that the distributor has two bushings inside that could be changed (and they seem to be available). Are those common parts to wear with a high mileage car?