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

Kts68,

A few more thoughts:

Did the starter function OK when the car was put away for storage?

If it did, I'd focus on an area that could have been degraded during storage.

For example, corrosion on areas that would lead to higher resistance and lower current to the starter.

I'd check the connections to the floor board starter switch also.

If you have or can borrow a clamp on DC current meter you can measure the current draw of the starter, you should have between 600 - 700 amps.

The earliest starter specs. I have are for a '31 826 - 845 and list the following:

Brush tension, 56 - 60 oz.
No load current, 60 amps, 6 volts @ 4500 rpm.
Lock test, 730 amps, 3.6 volts, 29.2 ft.-lbs torque.

Regards,

Dave

Thanks for the extra suggestions and advice.

The car starts ok now although the cranking is very slow. I guess that its it down to the new battery not having the same current available as the old ones did.

Before I stripped the distributer etc it was never necessary to retard the spark at all - I never needed to touch the control. Now I do have to retard it in order to get the motor to spin on startup. Once it fires I advance the spark and away it goes.

Strange how we sometimes have to learn a new starting technique after we've messed with the setup.