Re: Starting a 1929 Packard 8 with straight 8 and Detroit Lubricator Carb.

Posted by GaryinSC On 2023/11/20 21:04:09

I agree starting fluid is preferable to direct gas in the head. I had a similar problem with my 32 however I had the new Packard Carbs Detroit Lubricator 51 installed and it still was hard to start even with an electric fuel pump. The solution was that I had low compression mostly due to stuck valves but later found out cylinders were also out of round and tapered. You say the car runs good once it starts and mine did too but had 40 to 60 lbs of head pressure which is low even for these low compression engines like our straight 8's. I suspect no fuel is getting in the carb bowl or not feeding up into the combustion chamber hence your dry plugs. It will only pull fuel when it gets enough rpm's which you get from the direct gas feed into the head. You might check head pressure which should be around 80 lbs. Also the rpm's of the starter are important. I would check the battery and cables as that 6v starter needs all you got to spin the starter at the necessary rpm's to start these engines. It can make a big difference if you do not have large 0 or 00 size batteries cables for both power and ground. The engine just may not be turning fast enough to pull the gas up to the valves.