Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Fellow Packard team.

I have finally exhausted all of my NOS and good used field coils to continue rebuilding the motors with bad fields. I have 4 motors and am dead in the water. These are not to be found, I have even had Delco OBS Depot look into them and any supper-session cross over,,,,Nope....I have looked at having new fields made but it is not cost effective to the daily drivers.

With that said, I am working on an aftermarket motor that I have machined to match the original T/L. It will spin the gear box at 2800rpms with over 2-1/2 horses. I will be testing on my cars shortly.

If their would be interest in an aftermarket motor, I believe I can turn these out right around $300.

Thoughts/Opinions?

Probably only need about a 1 HP motor at the max. I can spin my TL witha speedhandle and homemade socket. Another option might be a 12v battery operated drill motor. Those are usualy available at about $70.00 ??? Remove battery and wire directly to oem wireing harness. Some change to the reversing trigger probably needed and an adaapter housing.

I'll have to admit that I am stunned. In 23 years of working on Packards full time and owning TL cars all the way back to the seventies, I have never ever had a bad motor and can not recall ever changing one, much less fiddling with the field coils. I have had the brush holders stick and the armatures dirty.

In any event, the motor only consumes 12 v X 20 amps = 240 watts at max draw, that is less than 1/4 horse. It is also not a particularly fast turning motor at no load. You don't want a fast motor as it will repeatedly overshoot the level position as it coasts down.

Usually I find the winding's just need a little cleaning and resealing in some areas. I have 4 in house now that I have one good coil, the others have cracked the insulation and grounded on the case and shorted open. I had my crusty old Delco tech double check and verify, he though we maybe able to save them but no avail, they are wide open.

Ross has far more experience with TL systems than I do, but I also am flabbergasted by Troy's findings. Of all the folks I know who drive and tour regularly with the TL cars, and there are quite a few of them, I've never heard of a TL motor failing due to field coils, or for that matter for any other reason. At one time I had 7 or 8 of these units pulled from junkers and all those motors were functional and in good condition - at most a cleaning of the commutator and new brushes being all that was required. Have you talked with Jason at AER about rewinding fields - I believe he does that type of work.

Firld coils are bad??? ok, so then what would it take to REwind the field coils with new wire????

Might need to do some research to determine if some combination of field coils from a starter motorr or generator motor might be adaptable from side to side of the TL motor.
Some more indepth research on the coils and theeir particular wireing probabaly needs to happen.

The 240 watts that Ross cites above is about 1/3 hp. so anything 1/2 to even 1 full HP should be far more than needed. TH PROBLEM with trying to use anything over 1-1/2 hp mite put to much strain on the electrical circuitry and switches of the TL system. Not sure about the overloading draaw of an excessively large motor but it is something that DOES need to be considered.

I have no idea what t he RPM rating is for the OEM TL motor. But as Ross indicates above any retro fit motor should not spin too fast. I'm guessing twice OEM RPM is probably ok but anything faster than that could cause problems.

Fully agreed, I can get the correct frame size in various hp and rpm. After no replacement coils were found I was looking at taking a correct size CW CCW sets and making two bi-directional sets. The problem is taking to make one is more than buying the aftermarket motor.

Still pondering I am talking with a coil own today on options.

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I expect the downside to the aftermarket motor will be looks. It may function beautifully but with a minimal amount of effort the motor can still be seen. It could conceivably be judged in some tight situations so it might be a tough sell to those who want nothing but a factory look or component on their car.

Another possible advantage of the 12v battery operated drill drill motor. Hide it inside oem TL motor housing.