BigKev:

5400 Autolite
5401-5411 Delco or Autolite
5402-5431 Delco
5406-5426 Delco
5413-5433 Delco for the 5433 Autolite for the 5433

Looks like in some cases a real mixed bag.

John F. Shireman

While that is true (Delco for Senior, Autolite for Juniors) in the 55/56 Series, the opposite was true for 1954 and some prior years. My '54 Clipper (Junior) has Delco, but the Seniors had Autolite.

Thanks to everyone that replied to my posts. Nice timely info!

Craig: Some of the so-called short coming you point about the Packard V8 maybe valid, but again they may not be. Except for the oil pump problem, which maybe you and Turbopackman,and PackardV8, might have come up with a solution for.

Every car manufacturer that has ever built or produced an engine has had design flaws and weakness in them, that have had to be addressed. The Chevy small block in 1955 is another engine that comes to mind being plagued with problems. The RR inline 6 B engine introduced in 1946 had many problems which took RR several years to iron out.

I think that HH56 hit the nail on the head, that considering what was going on at Packard, they did a dam fine job on the V8 they introduced.

John F. Shireman

Your points are well taken and I don't claim to be an engine guy by any stretch but I still think with all the high drama going on behind the scenes from 53 forward, it's amazing things came off as well as they did. Just look at what they did recognize and fix, then imagine what another year or so and some money would have accomplished.

What you will usually find is that from the factory Junior models came equipped with Autolite, senior models with Delco.

I think that Packard considered the Delco ignition system to be a better product than the Autolite.

John F. Shireman

CCW is the only rotation direction possible in a Packard V-8.

The Delco and Autolite distributors are essentially interchangeable. I've seen Seniors with Autolite and Juniors with Delco. You are correct on what is supposed to be there, though.

I would be incredulous if the modern Bentley V-8 were based on the 55-56 Packard V-8.

Packard apparently did a great job of upgrading and enhancing the RR Merlin V-12 during WWII.

Although I am also a big fan of the Packard V-8...IMO, there were some significant mistakes made by Packard in designing and producing the 1955-56 V-8. To wit:

1) The oil pump (nuf said).

2) The relatively weak (for a block that massive) main webs Also there was no provision for 4-bolt main caps, an obvious enhancement.

3) The arrangement of the intake/exhaust ports with respect to the pentagonal head bolt pattern. The major offender is the pair of head bolts "gating" or restricting the center siamesed exhaust port width. Pontiac had a similar exhaust port arrangement, but due to their 4-bolt head bolt pattern, the nearest head bolt is between the ports, not gated around them. In a passenger car, this is no big deal, but for high performance, it's a major restriction. Packard should have changed the exhaust port arrangement to fix this.

4) The super long head bolts which perform dual duty: hold the head down as well as the stands for the rocker shafts. This is bad news when you have to remove these bolts in order to service anything related to the rocker arms.

5) The cam thrust plate is a good idea, but the original detailed execution sucks. Hence at least 3 different versions in order to get enough oil to the timing chain while still maintaining oil pressure with that lousy original pump.

Check it again, the only way the distributor shaft could rotate the wrong way is if the engine rotates the wrong way. The gear on the base of the distributor mates with a gear which is cast or forged intergrally with the camshaft so incorrect rotation is simply impossible.

Ok, so my research says that the 55 Clipper Deluxe has the autolite distributor and not the Delco. The tune up data shows the autolite rotor turns clockwise. Mine turns counter-clockwise as I discovered when attempting to install new cap/rotor/wires.

The thing is, the rotor is correct for the autolite distributor because I accidently bought the delco rotor first and it was way different. So I'm pretty sure it's a autolite distributor. I'm confused because the wire layout for autolite goes clockwise. Backwards of the way this thing is spinning.

So what's the deal??