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OK, I helped him and I kid you not the 8 volt battery was hooked up backwards and it still worked three days ago, I saw it start and run like that. It does seem to start and run better now with the 6 volt hooked up correctly.

Also, there is a some kind of metal line that goes down from below where the exhaust manifold is. It seems to be some kind of fuel line overflow? We've noticed fuel dripping out of it sometimes and when the engine was cut off today fuel came out in a small stream and then dripped for about 10 seconds. I've never seen anything like it but then again I'm no Packard expert.

Sounds like an intake manifold drain. See previous discussion here.

The only guy I knew who used 8 volt batteries was an old time used car dealer. You need to put a ballast resistor to protect lights, but no used car dealer would ever think about that so all the lights in his cars were blown out.

If you want to overspin the starter then the 6-12 is an option. Old timers used those too, but I will refrain from names and stories in the absence of a cocktail party.

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I am curious about this phenomenon. How is it possible for a batter hooked up "backwards" to turn a starter the correct direction?

Could this car have been "switched" to a negative ground?

Stock Packards are not polarity sensitive. Unless something solid state has been added such as a radio vibrator replacement or some versions of instrument voltage regulators, the only thing the driver might notice is the generator may not charge right away and if there is an ammeter it will read incorrectly. Granted, the spark will be less efficient since it will be trying to jump from the shell to the center but generally the engine will still run OK. Multitudes have been reversed accidentally by inattentive mechanics and no one was the wiser.

Starter and most heater motors of the era don't care. Motor direction is determined by the relationship between the armature and the field coils. That doesn't change since in an ordinary motor it's determined internally. Most later Packard reversible motors have two separate field coils wound opposite each other. Only one coil is used at a time so one or the other coil is selected to determine the direction. Other early reversible motors Packard used such as the prewar era deluxe heater/defroster combinations had 4 wires exiting -- two for the field and two for the armature. Relationship or direction was determined by the switch inter-connection.

Modern car electric motors typically have a permanent magnet for the field and the armature is connected via the switch one way or the other to determine direction. That type motor might notice a battery reversal but then other more important things would notice first -- probably by letting some smoke out.

I ran an 8 volt battery in my 38 Six Richards for 5 years and it was an absolute disaster. The 38 Six has a non-temperature compensated voltage regulator which starts out at 10.5 volts cold to maintain the 9.6 volts necessary to keep the 8 volt battery charged. It was not possible to put the lights on within one minute of starting or they didn't last very long at all. Also if you have the generator output going thrugh your dash ammeter as per original wiring, then be prepared to get some heat through any non perfect connections. I went back to 6v and have had no problems since.
I would strongly suggest not going for 8 volts. I fitted a higher torque starter motor from a 50's eight and it spins over very quickly. Good luck whichever way you go. PT

I don't know if all 6 volt Packard's are positive ground but I know for a fact that my 1954 Cavalier is positive ground.

My car has a Delco-Remy electrical system.

The braided, big heavy, flat, cable is always ground regardless of the ground polarity in all of the cars of this era. All of the ones I had my hands under the hood used the flat cable for ground.

The battery post connectors are two different sizes and I have not been able to find the proper nice brass battery post clamps. I believe the ones you can get are for the smaller post and can be reamed out to fit the big post properly.

My 54 had one big ole 6 volt battery originally, which I don't believe is made these days but I have an Optima 1000 CA Glass-Mat for the 6 volt and this leaves room on the shelf for the 12 volt battery for the add on air conditioning.

AIs I keep whining, I have not determined where the Flat, braided cable, ground, battery positive cable gets landed. I thought one of the bolts at the generator bracket, I don't think the car frame although I expect there were some small braided ground cables between the engine, frame, and body.

I also thought possibly the battery ground cable did bolt to the frame and there was another short flat cable over by the starter to the frame.

My battery ground cable is currently bolted to the engine block by the front mounting bolt for the oil filter (yes it is snugged down tight). There is a lighter ground cable from the frame to this filter bolt.

If anybody know where the real place is please speak up

Jm

I don't know if all 6 volt Packard's are positive ground but I know for a fact that my 1954 Cavalier is positive ground.

All are positive ground at least back to 1923.

nice brass battery post clamps

Never seen an OEM one in brass, they are all some sort of white metal alloy of lead.

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Have you checked the 51-54 shop manual? There are a couple of photographic illustrations in the Electrical section that show the ground cable attached to the motor - near the generator, but on the backside of the water pump assembly.

In fact, a check of the water pump details in the parts book (Gr. 5.1909) shows a washer specifically for the battery ground cable, used in conjunction with the cover bolts - for all years 51-54. The scan of that page is rather blurry in that area, but it looks like the washer and all of the cover bolts are 5/16". In contrast, the bolt for the generator adjusting strap (Gr. 4.0701) to the front of the water pump is 3/8".

First, if the battery was installed backwards, you want to re-polarize the generator.

In looking through the schematic for my 54, I didn't see anything that would be polarity sensitive including the tube radio (original vibrator).

The voltage regulator is polarity sensitive because of the makeup of the voltage relay contacts, there is lotsa chatter about this in the Delco and Autolite information on this web site, recommended reading.

My 1922 model T ford has it original battery cables which I where I first became educated to the size of the wire needed to crank a 6 volt car.

The battery is under the back floor board, and trust me it will crank the engine on a day it is too cold to turn it over with the hand crank hanging out the front.

The battery connector clamps are Brass and I believe soft soldered to the cables. No strap as I recall.

I have had other cars with 6 volt electrical and none had those lead / white metal clamps.

Seems like the only thing available is the lead type clamps .

I looked through the shop manual for my Packard and couldn't tell where ground landed so far, I was in hope someone had an unmolested car and could tell me.

Jim