Packard Forum Index » Modification Discussion

Parts availability depends who made the distributor, mostly Autolite and Delco. Bosch was common in europe. They kind of go through generations. Same used for several years before upgrade. There probably were others earlier on, not that familiar with prewar. Never researched that one.
The point contacts and the follower are what go bad, and they can be replaced/rebuilt, so long as the spring arm is good. Condensers are pretty common, used in other services. But the reason they're not making them, is the electronic conversion is more reliable and less costly. No moving parts - no wear. Encapsulated so no oxidation. Silicone wire insulation, lasts indefinitely. The more that convert, the less points will sell. So we do it to ourselves, by not buying regularly like the 10 year thing.
Caps/rotors are just cast phenolic and could be made/molded rather easily then the inside is machined. Some of the earlier ones maybe a type of hard rubber. Need a pattern and tooling. The tooling is where you lay out the bucks, and how many caps are you going to sell, so OD can buy one cheaper? The dilemma; invest to make more and sell for less in a shrinking market? In another generation or two, no one will know what a Packard is anyway.
When the last part is used, I wouldn't put it past some smart guy to adapt a modern distributor head to an old bottom. Machine and pin the shafts, a couple adapters, and you're in business. Spray paint to match.

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BTDT with adapting a GM Oldsmobile V8 HEI unit. It's much easier and more cost-efficient to adapt a Mopar solid state trigger to an Autolite or Pertronix to a Delco.

jack vines

Quote from above post#1:
" ... is the electronic conversion is more reliable and less costly. No moving parts"

Oh really???? Maybe need to do a price comparison chart between points ign parts and e-ign parts.

About the cheapest i have ever bought a e-ign CONTOL MODULE is $25 and that was 10 years ago for 1st-gen GM e-ign.

I've used up at least 6 Ford modules and 10 - 20 Mopar module over the last 30 years and that is in JUST my own vehicles.

Each module to the tune of $30 to $60 EACH.

Double the price to carry a spare and BETTER TEST THE SPARE TO MAKE SURE IT WORKS before stowage.

Next problem is a warranty claim on a bad module. I won't bore with the details.

NEXT problem is that so many REPLACEMENT modules are NOW just some el-cheapo madde in Tiawana-Rica aftermarrket no-name brand piece of shit that will only last maybe 3 years and 25K miles at the max.

I have ALWAYS carried spare points, condenser, (usualy spare coil and cap) and rotor.

Also cary spare e-module. In the case of 1st-gen MoPar e-ignition then better carry AT LEAST THREE spare modules.

Go to Amazon or eBay and type in "ignition points". 10K hits and many of those suppliers have literaly beer cases full of ign points.

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WHY go to the trouble of chaanging distributor shafts or gears etc for e-ignition
Why not just modify the points mounting plate in the distributor to acceept something like a GM points that seem to be so plentiful.

All that should amount to (i've not tried it) is drilling and tapping maybe 2 holes in the points mounting plate to match the Gm or other points that are more plentiful in the market.

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...and a book of matches.