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

I think the coil on a 120B, which is currently installed on the engine block, is over heating and cutting out. Were there 120Bs where the coil was installed on the firewall? If so, does someone out there know where it was placed (a picture would be nice)?

bolted to head is correct.
cutting out possibly related to the wire encased in from the ignition switch...common problem of 80 year old cotton wire deteriorating/shorting out.

Have I seen mounted on firewall? Yes.

Is it necessary to relocate. No.

NEW Replacement coils, however, are not available with the bracket, so best plan is to get a new cheap 6v coil, temporarily placed and see if it solves a COIL problem. if it still cuts out, gonna have to do surgery on your ignition switch to replace the wire....

Can't speak to senior 30s cars but for what it is worth, first photos I find showing a firewall coil on smaller engines appear to be for 41. I believe 41 must be the first year Packard placed coils on the firewall in any of the other models.

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Flackmaster is correct about the wire deteriorating inside the casing, this is what my brother's Model A wire looked like when I took it out of the casing, no wonder he had trouble starting it! (Typical Class A mechanic, fix everybody's car but your own!)
New 10 AWG wire and a clean casing fixed it right up.
I think you can get a coil load tested to be sure it is okay, you may have to look to find an old guy like me, but who is a real mechanic with a 6V tester!
On my own car I just got a length of shielded cable from Restoration Supply and ran that from the switch to the new universal 6V coil. Not original I grant you, but works sweet.
John Ulrich sells the original style coils with the cap if you want original.

Bob J.

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  non original coil wiring.JPG (1,488.12 KB)

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I think that Howard is correct about 1941 being the first year although I don’t recall what my 1901A had as I never really worked on its engine due to it already running well when I bought it. On my 1940 110s, though, it was on the engine with the shielded cable running to the ignition switch and I still have a couple of the coils (replacements, not originals) in my shop.

I had to do the ignition switch surgery on my dad's '38. It was not fun. But Flack speaks the truth about the fragility of the cotton-wrapped wires in the shielded cable. My advice is to go ahead and replace the wire in the cable, and modify the ignition switch to accept the new wire. It's not a fun job. But then again, the alternative is to risk a major short. The wire in our '38 shorted out randomly and just about caught fire. We're just lucky that we caught it in time before it did major damage. It managed to burn the paint off the head by how hot it got.

I ended up replacing the coil too because the car kept cutting out randomly. Removing the old coil from the head mount took some work.

-Kevin

I'll be taking Flack's approach and see what happens with a new, generic 6 volt coil.

"Surgery" was mentioned on replacing the wire inside the shielded cable. Briefly what does that involve. I have about 10 ft. of 12 gauge shield wire on hand. Do all I need to do is add connectors at each end?

The end that goes into ignition swtich is pretty much crimped internally and usually involves using a cutoff wheel to separate.

with a mirror, take a look a the back of the ignition switch...pot metal crimped together at 3-4 points. Fussy job to disassemble (carefully) and replace the wire. Epoxy back together. No one will ever see how much epoxy you used...

procedure has been documented here a couple times, searching may find it, but I'm not very good at that....

Here's what the '38 ignition switch looked like on the back:



The shielded cable is part of the rear of the switch. Everything is pot metal and crimped together. It was a real chore getting the back off. I couldn't get the shielded cable undone from the rear plate, so I just cut it.



I couldn't get the wire out of the rest of the cable since it was melted in place. So I ended up using a bare wire instead.



I ended up drilling and tapping the brass where the original wire attached. That was tough to do. I was unable to solder to it.



I had to cut of the back of the ignition switch so there would be no shorting against the wire.



The switch is back in place and so far has given me no issues. I don't want to do that job again though.

-Kevin