Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Minor point but it could be a '49 leftover that's sold as a '50. They made some '50s too according to the Neal book. All seem to have the same numbers unfortunately. That's maybe where the carb ID confusion comes from in the books. A crazy period '48-'50
I'd bypass the carb starter until I got the choke straightened out, then work on the starter. That way you're not frustrated trying to do both at the same time, if it's hard to start/dying out. It should have a thermal choke tubed off the exhaust manifold. I had to replace that. Common to rot off. Somewhere I have those Carter manuals. Can't recall if WDO or WDG on mine. Might be on here too.
I'd look for some good pictures from that model to compare to. If it's the wrong model carb for the linkage, wasting time or have to adapt.

Glancing back through the thread I am a little befuddled. As you begin to open the throttle to start the car the choke plate should swing shut and the fast idle cam will likewise swing under the adjusting screw. Sometimes the wee tiny torsion spring that is supposed to lift the idle cam is AWOL.

Your car will not give a hoot about having a Custom Eight carb on it. It might run a little rich at certain speeds. A WDO is a WDO

If the choke isn't working loosen the two retaining screws and turn the choke housing til the choke plate will snap lightly shut when you open the throttle just a bit. Opening the throttle will let the fast idle cam swing under the adjusting screw when the choke plate is shut. As Jim mentions, make sure your tube to the choke stove in the manifold is OK.

Start the car and see if it would like more choke or less choke. Adjust the choke housing slightly in the suitable direction. The index marks on the housing are often not reliable at this late date. If the fast idle is not sufficient then adjust the fast idle screw.

All of this is perhaps a 5 minute job and will be little aided by having the manuals.

Thank you. I did some more investigating on this site. I found and down loaded a PDF. The Packard manual was of the general tuning of the 21 and 22 series Packard's there was a good pictorial with instructions on the choke settings and the set up of many of the Carter Carbs.
The reason I was going to purchase a Carter manual for this particular Carb was because it was a Kanter rebuilt Carb. Many of the forum members suggested I go through and re-check all the settings. Not to impugn Kanter's work. But I agree, it wouldn't be a bad idea.
As the recent day time temperatures are in the negative range and this car is in unheated storage. I'll be putting this off for a while.

I also found some WDO instructions that were in an old (15th Edition) Motors Manual that look to be a copy of the Carter rebuild info provided on the Carter carburetor sheets.

Not sure of the exact publish date on the manual but as Ross said a WDO is a WDO. I suspect that with the exception of jet size and some minor adjustments for the various engines the WDOs were the same in all other respects from introduction until end of mfg. Even if the instructions are old they should be pertinent enough to see if anything is missing.

Also throwing in a bit from the manual on adjustments for various engines.

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