Re: 359 questions

Posted by HH56 On 2022/11/1 14:58:57

Not sure of the reasoning or all the differences but 51 and 52 used an Autolite pinion shift starter on the Patrician 327 9 main engine. The pinion shift type is the same high end starter Packard used on all their senior models thru 56 and does seem to have a lot of torque. Other models used Delco straight Bendix type starters.

In 53 the senior engine was changed to a different model Autolite. Have not found specs to see if it was still pinion shift but the smaller engines again used Delcos. In 54 it looks as if Delco Bendix type starters were used on most engines -- even the 359 -- except for believe it or not, the 5400-01-33 models which had small engines but the same Autolite starter used on the 53 senior engine. Unless the parts book is in error that reasoning does not compute in my feeble brain. Except for the 5433 commercial chassis the other cars were the cheapest small engine models. Unless the R chassis designation as in 5400R and 5401R is for heavy duty somethings have not quite figured out the logic on why they used the same senior starter on a small engine.

As I recall the earlier discussion on the reason there was a torque difference it was because the Autolite starters with higher torques have larger or maybe it was more field coils -- 4 instead of 2 -- while the lower torque starters were somewhat field coil deprived.