Howard,

Yes, that was a decent picture posted earlier. I do like the way yours is lined up though. It shows the wiring in place and the simplicity of the hookup.

One thing I still wonder about is how the regulator is attached and grounded? Since the manual says it is essential that is has a good ground, I would think there would be a couple of mounting screws on the metal case, like the circuit breakers have. It doesn't look like it has a very secure mounting, and I don't see a ground wire?

Many thanks HH and Don!

The info on the regulator is priceless. At least I know what I'm looking for and what should be happening electrically. I don't know what the other side of the regulator looks like, but should be able to figure out when I find it: it'll be by "feel" rather than "sight" anyway, I reckon. The manual warns that it must have a good ground, and I have a pretty good aim with WD40, so that will be my first line of attack.

The vacuum advance might be part of the hesitation, but I agree that it's probably just not worth pursuing too much. Who knows, someday one of us might accidentally find out what is causing it and post the solution.

Until then, I have found that smooth takeoffs and shifts are mostly the driver's responsibility. A gentle foot when pressing for a startup from a full stop often eliminates the initial "flameout", and keeping just a touch of pressure on the accelerator between shifts smooths them out nicely. I'm my own "dashpot"! It's all part of the experience.

No, the Fuel gauge is not reading either. That is why I think it's in the wiring: not likely (although possible) that both the sending units or both the gauges are bad, They are both on the same regulator and breaker, though, so I'm thinking instrument panel connections. Hence, crawling around under the dash is imminent.

Now, for simpler (?) things.

Adjusted the idle mixture to 1-1/4 turns on both screws. No noticeable difference.

Second, looked at the wiring. Plug #8 was laying across the linkage bar at the back of the head (remember that thing?) and the plug connection was loose.

Not content to do one thing at a time, I re-routed the wiring and adjusted the (very inadequate and cracked) wire loom that is supposed to hold the wires up from the head. In so doing, I gained some clearance for the #8 plug wire. Tightened the connector.

Much improvement, to my amazement. Have not road-tested it yet. Fingers crossed.

Pics

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Thanks for your reply, Don. You got me to thinking. Hesitation can be an electrical thing, too. As I recall, insufficient spark advance can be the culprit. Now, if I can get my mechanic to dig out his timing light... I'm old school, doing it by ear. Your rough idle may have been the result of too much advance.

So often, we get fixated on one or the other: spark or gas. The same symptoms can often be caused by problems in either one, or both.

I'm going to set the idle jets between the specs at 1-1/4 turn. (Specs say 1 to 1-1/2.) If that doesn't work, I'm check the timing. If that doesn't work, go after the carb again.

NOTE: The thing starts like it has electronic ignition, so I hope it's not an electrical thing. It acts exactly like the hesitation you get with an old EGR valve equipped car when the exhaust gas valve opened too fast.

Anyone know how to test a Temp sending unit without taking it off? It looks pretty gnarly.

I'm going to wiggle some more wires under the instrument panel, too, especially the voltage regulator for the Temp and Fuel gauges. Both of them being out at the same time and wired on the same circuit is mighty suspicious.

Thanks for the fuel line routing pic and vapor lock/percolation info HH.

I have added a spray bottle with water in it to my insta-kit on the floor behind the drivers seat, along with my fire extinguisher. Hosing down the line and float bowl doesn't hurt. I will also now try spraying the filter/pump/and low pressure line. If that doesn't cut it, pulling the air cleaner and dribbling a bit of gas in the air horn will often get it running long enough to pass the bubble.
NOTE: If you add gas ALWAYS have the extinguisher ready. If you don't have an extinguisher, don't mess with the gas. (That's my advice, anyway.) Usually, it's best to just use the water and wait. Patience pays.

Now a couple of things:

1. Still no reading on fuel and temp gauges. I have located and PB Blastered the temp sending unit. I figure this is the easiest to remove and test to verify if the gauges themselves, or power to the gauges (see above postings) are the culprit or if its the sending unit(s). The temp is the easiest sending unit to get at.

Now, the $64,000 question: Has anyone removed this sending unit and replaced it? How tough is it to get out of the head? (For anyone wondering where it is, you can see it in my pic of the accelerator linkage above. On the right side of the head back near the firewall.)

2. Off-idle hesitation and bogging! This was a problem before, then kind of went away, now is worse again. Have tried bumping up the idle, running the idle jets richer, etc. It is less bothersome with the O.D. on. In fact, the car in general shifts better and drives smoother with the O.D. on, even in town. But I hesitate to leave it on in town due to the extra wear and heat build-up on the brakes.

I remember the old "dash pots" used on carbureted cars that eased the accelerator back instead of just slamming the carb closed when shifting. I can kind of do this with my foot, but I doubt Packard designed their cars to have this sort of drivability problem!

Any thoughts on either of these topics much appreciated.

Quote:

If you're referring to my oil pressure light coming on, that's completely figured out. The old pressure sending unit was leaking a bit, so got a new one from NAPA. Right after that, I had trouble with the light coming on at speed. It would go out after starting and while idling. (??) Put the old one back in and, whoopee, it worked fine. All I can figure out is the new sending unit had the wrong pressure setting, but why it came on and stayed on at higher rpms, and went out at lower ones is a mystery.

I plan to put a nice coat of #2 Permatex on the body of the old sender, which seeps oil. I bet that'll fix it. (It's not leaking from the threads.)

The blackwall idea has its merits. Especially as it gives me a chance to try out radials and compare them with the bias tires on there now. This car looks particularly good with its 3 1/4" wide whites. I don't know if it's as "period correct" as it could be, but it really sets it off. Some people opted for the snazzy look even on the less highbrow cars, and liked it back then, too.

As far as wheel covers, I like the dog dish hubcaps a lot. Simple and understated. They'd look even better if the wheels were painted better. Looks like they were an afterthought, and show both original and new paint. One reason the white walls are set off so nicely is the white part of the wide white ends right next to the wheel.

Blackwalls will make this baby look quite like a police car, as I said earlier. I don't mind that a bit. If I find a set of radials with raised white letters, I'll really have fun. An instant hot rod that I can change back to the conservative period look easily.

The consensus on radial size is that the 235 75 is the closest to the L78. This size is probably more appropriate to the wider senior wheels, but I think it looks good, and like I said, I can live with the speedometer misread. The math isn't too hard. 5 MPH slow at 30 means about 10 MPH off at 60 and about 15 MPH off at 90, which is about as fast as I'll ever want to go. None of the speed limits are over 75-- yet-- and I try to avoid freeways.

I'll probably get a set of radials before a trip I am planning to take in July. About 120 miles each way.

Here are a couple of pics with other little things I've discovered, which may be of help.

The first is my baby. The prop for the bar that crosses over the head to the rest of the accelerator linkage. It's only temporary-- unless it works. The piece of tapered rubber I put in there has one disadvantage, a hole in the middle of it. I filled the hole with the most handy object I had, a cap and cork from a (empty) bottle of Wild Turkey. One disadvantage is that the little metal bushing on the bar is not against the cap, so it can't turn like it should.

The second is a pretty good hint for those of you that have misfiring problems. The vacuum line from the distributor was routed UNDER the plug wires and touching them. I pulled the wires, pushed down the vacuum line down ( which looks like it was the correct, original placement) and routed the wires over it. One was still too close, so I wrapped electrical tap around the vacuum line at that spot just to make sure.

The third shows a lucky brake. I just happened to have the gas line insulation from my old Dodge pickup laying around. I thought, hm, and it fit the Packard line and ran all the way from the glass bowl to the place where the line (unfortunatel) runs over the heater hose. I had put duct tape around the heater hos for insulation, but was still getting vapor lock in the line, and probably percolation in the carb bowl We'll see. I'm carrying a spray bottle of water along just in case.

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Thanks, Don, where'd you get your springs? You can PM me if you like.

Well, read 'em and weep. These are all that I found. Boy, are there a lot of tire jockeys out there who claim to sell whitewall tires and don't.

http://www.dbtires.com/crossreference.html
http://www.lucasclassictires.com/225-75R15-Sierra-15-WW-blem-S22515.htm
https://www.bridgestonetyres.com.au/bridgestone-r230
https://www.cokertire.com/catalog/product/view/id/974/s/l78-15-coker-classic-3-whitewall-tire/category/2/
https://www.universaltire.com/l78-15-coker-classic-3-whitewall.html
https://www.universaltire.com/l78-15-coker-classic-4-whitewall.html
http://www.lucasclassictires.com/800-15-General-Dual-90-3WW-179p.htm
http://www.lucasclassictires.com/L78-15-Royalton-3-WW-L78153.htm
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mtt-90000000178/overview/

Some of these are just for fun. I'd love to have Mickey Thompsons, for instance, but they wouldn't look quite right I'm afraid.

I'm leaning toward what HH said earlier. Just get a set of 235 75 15 radial blackwalls for now. With the dog-dish hubcaps, it'll look kind of police car-ish.

Sorry if it's not considered kosher to put all those links in a post.

I'm NOT endorsing any of them. They're just various whitewalls, mostly bias ply, that would be likely to fit my car.

They're all "oversize" for the Clipper, to be consistent with my current L78 15 tires, which look good and fill up the wheel wells nice. Some of the links show the same tires, but from different dealers.

The closest radial tire to L78 size is the 235 75, I believe.