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OK, so I feel kinda dumb having to ask this but every time I THINK I know something about cars (like that the NEGATIVE side of the battery is the ground, not on my Packard!) this car proves me wrong, so, how do I advance the timing a touch? I marked EXACTLY where it is now on the distributor and the block, I loosened the hold down bolt, I loosened the OTHER hold down (they don't make 'em like they used to!) and I still only get 1/4 clockwise turn and it returns where it was, do these have to be running to move them or is there some other Packard trick that I don't know about? Thanks. Steve

I know one thing, if this car is not running by next weekend I will be selling it. I park GM's in my driveway and they run PERFECT! I won't have any rag a$$ non runners!

A 1/4 turn? Of the distributor? Why are you doing that?

I hope the 1/4 turn is a typo, I'm guessing that a 48 setup is the same as my 38. Those 2 bolts allow adjustment for the fuel compensator(allows a few degrees of advance or retard). For major timing adjusting there is a screw clamp at the base of the dist, loosen the screw and you can turn the dist all over the place.

1/4 INCH of clockwise turn, sorry about that, I suck a typing when I am NOT tired. Thanks for the tip! Steve

Steve, in so far as starting is concerned, those engines are not particularly sensitive to timing, a couple of degrees either way isn't the difference between starting and not starting, and arbitrarily rotating the distributor 1/4 in would not, in my view be adviseable since you don't even know now where the timing is, you're just guessing it's not right. It was right enough for the engine to start and run before so unless you've changed it, it's right enough for it to start and run now.

Assuming you replaced the points and condensor as was suggested a couple of days ago, I'm not at this point convinced your problem is even ignition. I'm focusing on the symptom of backfiring thru the carburetor and it almost starts but as soon as you relax the starter, it fails to keep running - is that right? Backfire thru the intake indicates a very lean fuel mixture as others have already pointed out. You said your accelertor jets worked (the two streams of gas you saw when stroking the carb linkage), but Im now wondering if your carburetor main jets are plugged or severely restricted. "Kind of" fits the symptoms.

If you haven't yet replaced the points and condenser, or at least filed the points and replaced the condenser, it remains the first thing to do.

Dear NC:

Maybe the car isn't running because the timing is so far off it won't fire.

You can remove the hood by releasing both sides with the hood down and having two people lift it off. From there you can look for the timing marks on the damper. They may be hard to find. Mark them at 6 degrees and the line up with the distributor using a test light and rotating the distributor clock wise until the test light goes out. Bolt everything up and recheck with the motor running.

The Ignition Training Manual on the website here was very usefully for me in understanding how everything worked and how to get the points damn near perfect out of the gate.

All of the Serviceman's Training manuals are excellent primers and the Shop Manuals assumes you have already gone through them. They really contain all the missing info that you would expect to be in the Shop Manual.

Thanks!

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