Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I have Belden carbon cables on the Duchess, made from a universal set, and I hate everything about them. The look, the blue color, the inability to access the connectors, etc.

Who makes a great set of ignition cables for a 1940-50 356 engine?

(I like the ones that stick straight up, not bent at 90 degrees, and have a low-resistance metal core.)

Thanks for your recommendation.

Joe

I'll leave to others as to who purveys the best cosmetics, but make sure you find ignition wires that are 100% copper.
My '47 Super has genuine, decent, black ignition wire from a then 60-year-old auto electric shop now long gone, installed back in the '80s.

Out here in Kaleefornyuh, you could, as recently as the '80s, find in many auto parts emporiums, pure copper ignition wire sold "for off road use only." As i recall, it was safety cone orange, stamped Packard 440, ironically part of what's left of James Ward Packard's original company.

None of this helps you, but i just want to urge you and others to accept nothing but pure copper ignition wire. None of that ubiquitous carbon suppresor junk.
Anyone following Cardinal Santana's detailed saga knows he's among those wanting his car to run as well as it looks.

I went to NAPA and bought a spool of Packard 440 copper ignition wire along with the metal clips to crimp on each end.Took old wires off and cut the new wire to match.Put metal clips on and everything looks NOS.

I made my own out of Packard 440 wire. They look great and I was able to make each wire the correct length.

I bought my set about 5 years ago, ready to install (no bends in the connectors... except for the one under the a/c compressor), from Potomac Packard. I don't know if they're copper or not....

Hi Joe,

Try Brillman for ignition wires and terminals. Sorry I don't have his contact information in my head right now, but I will look for it. He has original type wire and correct terminals for our Packards.

(o[]o)

Edit: www.brillman.com will get you to the home page.

I buy from Brillman rather regularly, good vendor.

brillman.com/store/

Cole Ignition up in NYS, a long-time supplier of ignition wire sets, is also still in the business. But honestly, for sets as simple as these it's amost as easy to just make up your own as others have suggested. Everything you need is at NAPA and probably other good auto supply stores.

JW and OD, Brillman looks like a great resource. I honestly could not find any Packard 440 wire at NAPA. I go in fairly regularly, but they always have to search around for an old catalog to help me. Their online search needs lots of work. Search for ignition cables, you get hundreds of sets of one brand. Search for spark plug wires and you get hundreds of sets, like 60 pages, of one other brand. I just gave up.

I decided to call Potomac and they are shipping a set on Monday.

Thanks for the inputs.

Joe
Did you ask J.P. if his are copper?

Yes, he told me they are copper, made to original engineering specs. Since many original coils are replaced, they ask for the length of the current coil-to- distributor cable, so they can make it to the length needed. All the ends are straight, unless you have AC, in which case the No. 1 cable has a bent end to fit under the AC, as mentioned.

The repro set I bought in the 80s had rubber boots over the spark plugs. I'm not sure if these will come that way since I read that originally there were no boots over the spark plugs. A couple of boots on that previous set melted around the bottom.

That set was replaced by these Belden carbon ones. The only question is Will the new Potomac ones work with electronic ignition if I switch to that Petronix device later. I read somewhere that the RF and EMI from the wires that can interfere with the radio, without a suppressor, can confuse the electronic ignition.

More to contemplate. I currently cannot get the Duchess to start. Vaughn has been over to help me, but we haven't figured out why. I don't want to have it towed to a shop, so waiting for the new wires, then will go step by step.