Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

7-20-14

Played with the car a little today. A while ago, I rewired the tach/dwell meter that I got at a garage sale. The wires insulation was all broken and missing in many areas.

The car starts right up, but acts like the throttle is sticking. I try to kick down the idle and it will rev faster. Sprayed some carb cleaner on the linkage and it helped somewhat.

Sometimes the car wants do die when it is idling. I would have to rest my foot on the gas to keep it going. After it warmed up a little, the car would finally keep running.

I disconnected the vacuum line on the carb going to the vacuum advance on the distributor.

Once I got the car to stay running and warmed up, I tried the tach/dwell meter. It appears to work! I lowered the idle down to 450 RPM. Sounded a little fast to me still, but I guess it is right.

I hooked my 12v timing light to a 12v battery and the sensor to the first cylinder (closest to the fan). Tried to look for the timing marks, but no show. Let the car cool off and started to use some sandpaper on the balancer. As luck would have it, the spot I started sanding had the timing marks! Cleaned it up some and rubbed my white marks a lot grease type marker to fillin the lines with white. A quick couple of wipes with a rag and the numbers and lines appeared nicely.

Warmed the car up again and used the timing light. Timing appears to be set at 6 degrees, which I think is correct.

I flipped my tach/dwell to dwell and it read: 41. Don't know what that means. My meter has a Point RES setting but nothing shows on the meter when I use it.

Now the idle is more behaved, but it hesitates when I press on the gas. Also the racing still occurs sometimes even when I let off the gas.

If your dwell meter is reading 41, then the points need to be adjusted. 30 degrees should be a good setting. The "Point RES" setting is to measure resistance across the distributor contact points when they are closed and the ignition switch is on. Usually these meters have an area indicated to show allowable resistance. This gives you a quick way to determine the condition of the points.

(o{}o)

I have never used a dwell meter and I probably should, sounds like they're a good idea.

As far as the racing goes - just a chance that the throttle linkages are sticking a bit, and maybe a few drops of heavy oil might free them (or some lithium grease maybe)? Could the choke mechanism be a bit sticky also?

Dwell angle is a measurement to verify that you've properly set the point gap. One full rotation of the distributor is 360 degrees, so the amount allocated to a single cylinder for an 8-cylinder engine is 45 degrees. A dwell of 41 degrees indicates that the points remain closed for 41 of the 45 degrees which is WAY OFF specification which is probably in the range of 28-32 degrees. So get out your feeler gauges and reset the points correctly which will also result in a change in timing so then you'll have to check that again.

Thanks guys, today I worked on getting parts off the '51. I hope to work on the '52 tomorrow. I'm itching to take it out for another spin, at least around the block a few times.

8-3-14

Started cutting out the roof on the '51. The more metal I cut away, the bigger the smile on my wife's face! My original idea was to cut around the windshield so that I would have a metal frame around it to offer support and protection. Now I'm wondering if I'm making unnecessary work for myself.

In between letting my air compressor catch up while cutting up the '51, I did some adjustments on the '52. I checked the points and they sure felt like they were set right at .016. I tried making it a little tighter and it was at 12 degrees. Made it looser and it went to 14 degrees. Took pics of my meter for you guys to see. Maybe I am reading it wrong? If I go any crazier with the points they will be no where near .016 gap. Then I remember reading some people saying 12v meters give false readings on 6v and you have to double the number. Is that true? My meter does not say 12v or 6v.

I transferred my oil sender from the '51 to the '52. Now the oil light works on the dash.

My car is still racing when I press on the gas. I put a bunch of grease on all the pivot points for the accelerator linkage. I noticed the link from the gas pedal area to the linkage that goes across the engine was held together with electrical wire! I took the proper connector off the '51 and greased it. The car does not race as bad as it did. If I press gently the engine seems to stay high. If I "goose" the gas, it goes back down. Maybe the grease needs to work itself in or my return spring is getting weak.

Attach file:

---

  (79.49 KB)


  (59.22 KB)

Maybe the grease needs to work itself in or my return spring is getting weak.

Lube and good alignment of things is important. Make sure your bracket rubber is good like Ross mentions in another thread.

Not sure where your return spring is located but if still the original down by the pedal, I have seen more than one car with an added spring up on the linkage hooked up in all kind of strange ways. Those original springs must have appeared to be weak after some use to other people too. Have you also verified the pedal isn't getting caught on carpet or the linkage hasn't been adjusted improperly at one of the turnbuckles so the throttle plates can't fully return.

Feeler gauge or dwell meter should be equally good for accurate point setting. As long as the points are new and smooth the results will be the same. If the points are old, worn or rough the dwell meter will be more accurate.

Is there a setting for 4 or 6 cylinders? Some dwell tachs tell you to use the 4 cyl setting for 8 cylinders, and double it.

Dwell refers to the percentage of time the points are closed.

8-6-14

Thanks guys. On the accelerator racing issue, I do have some rubber behind the bracket on the firewall, but that does not appear to be the main issue. It is getting better and easier to kick down so the grease may be doing something.

I noticed since I have been tinkering with the dwell, the car takes more gas pedal priming pumps to start. I used to pump 2-3 times, turn the ignition key, and press the gas pedal for an almost instant start. If I do that now, it cranks and cranks before finally starting. If I give it 5-6 pumps, it turns over some and then fires.

My meter has a 4, 6 & 8 cylinder setting. Maybe I will try putting it on 4 and doubling the result. It could be that my dwell meter does not work right. Maybe there was nothing wrong with the points in the first place. If all else fails, I will use the feel gauge to set it as that seems to be the best way to be accurate.

Today I removed the front wire loom crosses the top of the radiator that connects the junction blocks. I plan on creating a new one, even though the wires do not look bad. Might as well as have all new wires throughout the car since most have been replaced.

I also removed my grill so I can rewire the parking lights. For fun, I put the '51 grill on the car. I think it looks pretty good. Gives it a more distinguished look IMO. It shines up more than the original grill too. I'll have fun swapping them out from time to time to keep it interesting.

Attach file:

---

  (118.38 KB)

Over the last couple of weeks I made a new front harness that joins the junction blocks on both fenders. I also rewired the parking lights in the '52 grill and reinstalled it. Now my left turn signal is working great. Nice and bright. The right turn signal still flashes quickly telling me there is still a wire problem.

I still need to rewire the headlights, but I'm not sure how to recreate the rubber seal that holds the wires. I found some vinyl tubing for the parking lights that worked pretty well.

Now my attention will need to be turned toward the rear of the car. My harness is based on my '51 and I noticed some differences. I'm wondering if it is a difference between '51 and '52 or between a 200 and a 200 deluxe.

1. On the '51 200, the rear reading light switch is located on the passenger side pillar. In the text in the 51-54 manual under courtesy lights, it says the switch is on the right pillar. The wire diagram for '51 and '52 show it on the drivers side (left) pillar. On the '52 deluxe, the switch is on the drivers side. Was this changed during '51 production? Both cars look like original wiring.

2. The '51 200 does not have rear pillar switches to turn on the rear reading light when the doors are opened. The wire diagram and text indicate it should have them. Was this only on higher models?