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

I second the suggestion of calling Scott Henningsen. at pac-carbs.com in Salinas, CA. He recently completely rebuilt my DL 51. He also commented that it is quite common to see these carbs modified over the years. Mine was a hodgepodge mixture of Cadillac and Packard DL51 parts. If your mixture T screw has been messed with, there may be other alterations as well.

Can you post a photo of your carb?

Well, I had the old girl out for a spin . I looked at the T turn and it was fully closed. Turned it out a turn and a half and seemed to run better. Checked compression and it was 75 across.
Went to a little show and shine in the park down the hill from me and was a hit. The mayor got to have his photo taken in the drivers seat.Should be in the local paper shortly.
The quest continues.

It seems that mixture screws in some carburetors only have a slight effect on the engine; however, the T mixture screw in the Detroit Lubricator Model 51 can really affect how well the engine runs- seems to have a significant impact.

Well, I sent the carb to Jeff at The Old Carb Doctor. He found a couple issues and dealt with them. Got a gas tank from a member that was in very nice condition. Got it running today and is much better. No big clouds of black smoke. Is a tad boggy on acceleration but I will play with that. Thanks to all for their suggestions.

I am curious as to what issues were found. Would you mind elaborating?

I had the same problem with my DL51 and one issue was the fingers on the replacement vanes were too long so they would jam and the metering head would get stuck partly open. Thus when the car was at idle. it ran rich and smelly. Same symptoms as yours.

Vanes were stuck, T turn was stuck, probably to do with the vanes. Seems to be ok now. Somehow managed to put a quart of water in the tank. That was fun.
Went out today and seems fine. Just have to keep an eye on the sediment bowl.
Now to sort out charging.

I continued to have problems with throttle response . Bought a carb on line that was total piece of junk. Spray can over haul. Bowl had a crack and leaked . Seller said as is, where is. Bought one of Scotts carbs, beautiful. Problem solved.

Clearances were just too big, just plain worn out. But to be fair, a big source of pain was the coil. I wired a new one in in series with the old one. Started instantly and was more perky. While running, I disconnected the new one and idle dropped 50 to 100 revs and sounded flat. I removed old coil, connected a jumper to the unused acc terminal and connected that to new coil bat term. Connected old pts wire to new coil and Bob's your uncle. Probably has had both carb and coil problems for a while. Previous owner has passed so I can't ask him what he has done. I only rode in it once years ago and it went very well so I knew it should run again. Have been out a few times and it was fun.