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I'm looking to replace my wires and spark plugs in the old 51 in hopes of getting it fired up. I'm not sure of what type or size plugs and wires to get. Or what gap the plugs are to be set to. If anyone can help I'll appreciate it. Locally there is a napa, autozone, and Oriely's. Thanks

I get my spark plugs from them my local Autozone. They will give you the gap of the plugs when you buy them. As far as wires, I got a generic wire set from Farm and Fleet, but I'm sure Autozone would have that as well. I believe Autozone also had the distributor cap and rotor if you want to replace that as well.

Wires and rotor, you MIGHT be able to get at Autozone. Points and condensor however, definately NOT. I purchased my points off of ebay. I did find a couple of condensors at NAPA, but its not the one here in my town. You may want to consider replacing these parts as well. (Check out your coil too!)

Points, condensor, rotor, cap, coil, voltage regulator and more are mostly readily available at NAPA though you may want to have the part numbers for them and will probably need to wait for overnight delivery. The chart giving the current NAPA numbers is on this site several times, but I'll post it again. You'll have to know if you have Delco or AutoLite equipment. If you don't have a NAPA, I've also enclosed the Standard Igntion chart, I believe most of these numbers are still current.

Spark plug gap is given in the owner's manual which is on this website I'm sure, also in the specifications. Almost certainly it's 0.025". The AutoLite spark plug finder on the AutoLite website will identify the right current plug, either AL 303 or 308 as I recall, also AC 46 which I believe is readily available though in a resistor plug style.

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O_D, thanks for re-posting the Echlin parts catalog pages. I downloaded them this time. Valuable resource for hunting down common ignition parts.

(o{I}o)

You're quite welcome, John. I do have some other complete Echlin catalogs with brake switches, door jam switches, overdrive kickdown switches, circuit breakers, directional signal parts, flashers, fuse blocks and holders, headlight switches and relays, horn relays, ignition switches, starter switches and relays, temp sending units and the like. I'll make an effort to post those pages as the occasion arises. When I first got this catalog perhaps 15 years ago, I went out and purchased at least one of every item for my car still in production and I wonder how much longer NAPA will continue to offer some of these items. They've already discontinued the 1932-36 Packard generator control, and others may follow sooner than we'd like. I'd recommend to everyone who intends to keep their car on the road to begin to lay in a stock of such items now while they're readily available and inexpensive, even simple things like starter and generator bushings and brush sets.

These old parts catalogs are gems - when folks see them at flea markets and the like I recommend buying them. I've some others, AC fuel pumps, lines, filters, bowls, and the like, also some very complete old Wagner Lockheed catalogs. Even where the #s have been superceeded, the old number often cross-checks to a modern #.

PS - if you've got a mid-30s and back car, another great resource which you see occasionally at flea markets is the Standard Auto-Electricians Manual, I have Edition T which covers from about 1929 thru 1935 and in addition to wiring diagrams has adjustment & repair procedures for almost every electrical feature of the era. Another great series to keep an eye out for at flea markets and the like is the Universal Catalog of Original Equipment Service Parts which covers the OEM numbers and most all internal service parts for everything from breaker points to windshield wipers.

Yes O_D thanks for posting that. Now that I think of it, I did get my cap and rotor through NAPA and it had to be ordered for next day delivery.

Dave are you sure on the AC-46 plugs? I always thought it was a AC-45?

Also you can still find non-resistor spark plugs at a tractor supply store as there are still commonly used in agricultural applications.

Kev, the 45 and 46 are so extremely close in heat range that you can consider them interchangeable 99.99% of the time. Depending on engine condition and how it's driven, sometimes a single heat range hotter or colder will be suggested by examination of the plugs after a 1000 miles or so of use. Since many collector cars see more low speed driving than they did when new, I prefer the slighter hotter plug.

Last time I shopped I couldn't find non-resistor plugs from AC so I switched to AutoLite 308 for the 51-54 Eights which is the same plug I use in 32-34 Eights and Super Eights. My own feeling though others may have different experiences is that resistor plugs perform just fine in these cars, but I wouldn't recommend using them in conjunction with resistor high tension wires.

EDIT - I just checked the recommendation in my 1962 AC catalog, it suggests AC46 for all 1951-53 and AC44 for all 1954. I'd still suggest, regardless of your first choice, driving the car for a while in what you expect will be it's typical mode of use, and then examining the plugs and using that as a reference for a final plug choice.

While we are on this subject, I came across this in SC-Vol21 No10 while looking for references to Dealers.

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