Thanks HH. That looks like mine, but the my bowl has a brown coating on the inside (varnished fuel I suspect) so I can't even see through it. If they originally came with a rubber gasket, I may have to try the oven thing first. I don't think 250 degrees should hurt anything, do you?
John

This may be a dumb question, but I have to ask before I damage something. On my 55 V8, the fuel filter bowl that attaches to the front of the carb, is impossible to open (so far). I have removed the clamp and soaked the joint with Rusteater and PB Blaster over the period of two weeks and I still cant separate the glass bowl from the metal housing. I suspect that the bowl just sits in a recess of the housing, with a gasket, but I want to make sure it's not screwed in. I've tried twisting it, tapping with a screwdriver handle, soaking, etc., all to no avail. I'm considering trying to put it in the freezer for a while to see if that might brake the connection, or possible a low temp oven. I'm not worried about fumes since this thing has been dry for at least 5 years.
Thanks,
John

A quick search in the I'net shows that most Aluminum trans to engine torque specs are in the 35# range, and most Aluminum to Aluminum specs are around 25#.
If you were really worried, you could use the 35# and 25# settings and either use a thread sealer or drill and safety wire the bolts.
HTH,
John

Thanks for that info. I'll have to look into that conversion. I really didn't know that was available.
John

Where is the TL box located? Unfortunately, the underside of my car is not readily accessible at this time (too much stuff stacked around it), so I'm not able to crawl underneath to check. If I can "pinpoint" the location, I can then clear an access lane to be able to get the box removed. Thanks for the info on the TL motor. The wiring diagram really didn't tell much and the photo in the manual resembled a generator, but I wasn't sure.
I think I'm going to go with the universal harness and convert over to 12V negative ground, so as to avoid problems with future upgrades.
Thanks again for the info and I know I'll have many more questions before this project is complete.
John

BigKev,
Thanks for the info on the gaskets. I'm still hoping the issue regarding the Tri 5 Chevy gaskets is valid since they are only about $40 each. Sure would leave a lot of $ to spend on other areas. ;^)
John

I agree with your dad that any coil should work, to some degree, especially just to get it running. But, the ingnition system usually is designed with a certain "balance" between the engine compression, plug type, fuel type, and coil discharge. As you can figure, a higher compression engine would need a stronger spark to ignite the fuel/air mixture, ergo a richer fuel/air mixture would also require a hotter spark.
Have you checked to see if you have the correct rotor in the distributor? If you are getting spark from the center of the coil, the problem could be in the cap or rotor.
I personally would perform the following checks in order:
1. Good battery
2. Points properly gapped and condenser connected
3. Coil properly wired
4. Insert long spark plug wire into center tap of coil
5. Insert spark plug (properly gapped) in other end of wire
6. Make sure spark plug is making contact with engine ground
7. Spin motor with starter

You should see spark at the plug gap, if not try holding wire close to ground while spinning motor. If still no spark, then I would consider the coil to be bad.

The above tests should take no more than 5 minutes, and I have found through years of experience that it is usually the little things that mess you up; such as reversed wiring, poor connection, etc. Bear in mind also that these recommendations are based on the fact that you do have the basic electrical system wired in correct polarity. The coil output is generated by a collasping magnet field around the secondary windings caused by the points opening and removing the flow of current from the primary windings. I don't recall exactly what will happen if the coil is wired backwards, but I do seem to remember a severely reduced output.
John

Hank,
If I recall correctly, the coil output to the distributor should be in the neighborhood of 15 to 30 thousand volts. Most high performance ignition systems operate in the range of 50K volts. That's pretty hard to read with a handheld meter. I think I would first verify the wiring to make sure that the spark is being generated when the points open (btw, there should be very little spark at the points - If there is, that usually indicates a bad condensor), and that the polarity is correct. If the coil is producing spark then check the rotor. Easiest way to check coil spark is to remove the coil wire from the distributor cap and hold it next to the block while cranking the engine. If the spark jumps to the block, the coil has output. Some of the older rotors were built with a resistor in the flow path and that would sometimes fail. I'm not sure if the Packard had this or not, but it is another point of possible failure.
HTH,
John

(BELIeVE IT OR NOT.... i got to try it this morning. The Packard 5672 windshield will NOT fit a 57 Chevy 4 door sedan.

The 5672 windshield is 3/4" shorter vetrically than the opening of the Chevy. There is also significant curvature difference at the bottom curve at the corner.)

Could you check to see if the gasket from the Chevy fits the Packard windshield and body opening?
I've been trying to get my hands on a gasket, but most of my collector friends lost all of their old parts when Katrina hit. I am also trying to find a glass shop that is specializing in classics to see if they have a gasket in stock that I could try.

(HOWEVER, this doesnot rule out the possibility of other I'change. It ONLY rules out I'change between Packard sedan and 57 chevy 4 dr sedan. ALTHO the curvature misfit at the bottom corners is making it look less likely.)
I just find it hard to believe that Packard, with the way they used parts from other marques, would opt to design a windshield that was specific, at this point in their business life.
It may not be what we want to hear, but at least we can rule out an interchange for the 57 4 door...

Kudo's PackardV8 for trying this out.
John

PackardV8
(pos. or neg. ground does not effect the starter.)
I'm not positive, but I believe there should be no negative impact on the solenoid, however reversing polarity on the starter may have an impact on the direction it spins.

(What is an "EZ 21" wiring harness????)
As MrPushbutton stated, EZ21 is a universal wiring harness system used mostly by streetrodders. It has the advantage of additional circuits and the newer mini fuses.

(buy some wire and use the old loom as a pattern for the new loom. The only issue is terminals for places like the headlite sw., lighter stoplite sw. etc. I don't know where to get those terminals.)
My first impulse was to build a new harness by hand, since I have done this several times in the past, However, the current value of copper has driven the cost of primary wire up so high, that it is more cost effective to purchase a premade universal harness. Plus, most of the new universal harnesses are made using crosslinked wire which is easier to work with, is higher heat resistant, and lasts much longer.

BH
(Mind you this wrapping tape is for harnesses that had a vinyl covering. Harnesses in vehicles from earlier years used a fabric covering; some even had a fabric loom that was woven around the harness.)
I've been in the same boat with tape wrapped harnesses. My '55 does have the tape wrapped harness, and I would probably either reuse it if it was in better shape, or hand build a new one if copper was cheaper. But as I said earlier, I'm building a driver and want to add more options and reliability. I may use some of the split loom, or a combination of harness tape and heatshrink. One thing I learned is that electrical tape gets sticky really fast. There used to be a fiber based product called "Friction Tape" that relied on stretching the tape to activate a small quantity of adhesive, then wrapping it over itself for adhesion. This worked really well since it would stick to itself, but not to the actual wires. Unfortunately, it's pretty much impossible to find this stuff anymore, and it wouldn't look very good anyway since it was a sickly dark grey color with a matte fabric finish.

HH56
(A lot of cars accidentally had their batteries reversed with no ill effects on anything. The only thing I would think might warrant caution is if something like compensator switch or radio components have been modified or replaced with some of the modern solid state conversions some clubs are offering.)
I was more concerned about the instruments, radio, and torsion control system, and was hoping that someone had already run into the reversed battery issue and had some firsthand knowledge.

Thanks to all for the info, and please keep it coming. Although I've been working on cars since I was a teen, and am 60 now, there are always things to learn.
John