I was never able to get the HF timing light to work on my 54. It would trigger even if not clipped to the plug wire. I ended up using an old school one that plugs inline into the plug wire.

As far as the district, pop off the cap and see if there is excessive side to side play anywhere.

Put some shims under the screws?

They would probably bend back into shape but I would be afraid to try.

The flashes will change speed and timing may be affected if the engine speed is not steady. You can check valve action with a compression test, which I would suggest you do. Compression pressure readings should be within 10% from lowest to highest. It's possible the timing light is not working correctly. The distributor shaft bushings can wear enough to allow the shaft to wobble slightly, which causes the point gap to change enough to affect timing. The shaft that the rotor attaches to should move freely with no discernable side play. A problem with the mechanical advance unit could cause the same problem. Broken or weak springs in the mechanical advance unit could cause erratic timing. * I'd double check the plug wires to make sure they are all seated correctly and in the correct firing order. It's easy to mix them up.

I believe the initial timing should be set at 5 to 7 degrees before TDC with the engine idling smoothly at about 500 RPM. At a faster idle or with a rough idle, it may be difficult to set the timing correctly since the mechanical advance may be coming into play or slack in the timing chain could cause erratic timing.

Layer 3 glued.

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Wat never liked louvers. Now, little doors in an old hood . . . there's the ticket!!!

Windshield in, trim back on and managed to save my inspection sticker.

I had the glass company repair and install the windshield and the guy that does their classics said he sanded a couple of the edges that were a bit sharp and he said this is the hardest glass he's seen. Is that a Packard thing?

Now, what to do about these uneven visors....

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Well.......at least he didn't cut holes in the dash for the extra gauges!! Take the console out, remove the tach mounted on the steering column, and fix the torsion level, and it would be a decent driver. I could live with the louvers in the hood, although I don't particularly like them.

As a follow-up from my post yesterday (post #2 in this thread).......

I pulled out the Shop Manual Supplement for the '58 Packard. If your car has the original distributor, it will be a Delco 1110864. If that's the case, using the distributor number lookup on the Pertronix site, you would need either a Pertronix 1183 Ignitor, or a Pertronix 91183 Ignitor II. (In my opinion, the Ignitor II has a lot of features that make it worth the extra cost, but you would need to research it and decide.)

As Packard Don mentioned, the best thing would be to contact Pertronix via phone once you get your distributor number. Their cross reference from distributor number to Ignitor part number should be correct.

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55 Clipper Super Panama.

Speaking about the pink one: I know you said you're in KC but did you happen to get the car out of a desert? For sitting outside for 50 years there's very little rust, but the interior looks cooked from the desert heat.

I would ballpark the value around $1200 IMHO. The main value being in the brightwork. Biggest problem of course besides mechanicals is the interior degradation. Interiors are extremely expensive. And no title... (BTW, in Missouri bonded titles are fairly easy to get if you'd want.)

If you want to use this drivetrain in a hotrod, be aware that the automatic transmission is Packard-specific and you will need to find a Packard guy to work on it. Not the end of the world but don't just bring it to a random transmission shop or your cousin who rebuilt two Hydramatics before and expect it to work well. I'm assuming you want an automatic in your rod?

Honestly a decent use for this car would be if you wanted to get the mechanicals going then resto-mod the interior. Redoing the interior properly would cost more than the whole rest of the car, but some cheap alternatives could make it look way sportier.

Anyway, if you're parting it out, let us know. I might want a few pieces.

By the way, what's the VIN? The plate is in front of the driver door jamb when you open the door.

Interesting bumper guards but next to Rita Hayworth ... forget the car.


source: overdrive.fi

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