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I'd strongly recommend setting your idle mixture with a vacuum gauge. It's a more sensitive method than a tach or your ears, at least my ears.

Back to the comment about the plug wires shorting or being in close proximity to the air filter tunnel on the 359 engine, didn't that engine use right-angle connectors for that very reason? I didn't check the parts book but IIRC the 359 engine had a different part # for the plug wires.

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If the fuel gauge reads correctly then you can assume the instrument regulator is OK and the problem is with the temp gauge or sender. If both gauges are off then the regulator is suspect. Reading too low usually indicates the regulator voltage out is low and is not at the specified 5v. Reading too high and the regulator is not cutting the voltage at all and is putting out 6 or more volts. 6v car gauges are somewhat forgiving of higher voltage but on a 12v car usually the gauge heaters will burn open if they see the full 12v longer than a few seconds.

There is no really good way to test the temp sender in the car but if the engine is cold, disconnect the wire and measure the resistance thru the sender to ground. To have the needle on C the sender resistance needs to be somewhere around 75 ohms.

Testing the response of the sender is the hard part on the car. To have the needle on H the resistance needs to be around 10 ohms but to get close to that point either the engine has to be quite hot or the sender needs to be in some water that is at the boiling point. I don't know exactly there the top end of the Packard sender was but frequently 220 or 240 degrees is where the gauge is supposed to have reached the Hot indication.

Guy,
I'm sorry but I totally missed your question of 6/29 regarding where I got my springs. The outfit is called ESPO Springs 'N Things, website www.springsnthings.com. They wind coil springs to order, so it took them less than a week to ship my order. They told me that they have the car specs. on computer, and the computer directs the winding of the coil. Their price was well below our Big Two Packard parts houses and their quality is excellent.

O_D,
The wires have to be at a 90 degree angle to fit under the air filter housing. The #4 wire developed a crack in the wire boot where it bends and that was the source of the arcing. The filter left side mounting bracket is slotted so I'll be remounting that as high as I can above those wires. I've also double insulated #4 & 5 wires where they pass under the housing to hopefully prevent a recurrence.

No, the Fuel gauge is not reading either. That is why I think it's in the wiring: not likely (although possible) that both the sending units or both the gauges are bad, They are both on the same regulator and breaker, though, so I'm thinking instrument panel connections. Hence, crawling around under the dash is imminent.

Now, for simpler (?) things.

Adjusted the idle mixture to 1-1/4 turns on both screws. No noticeable difference.

Second, looked at the wiring. Plug #8 was laying across the linkage bar at the back of the head (remember that thing?) and the plug connection was loose.

Not content to do one thing at a time, I re-routed the wiring and adjusted the (very inadequate and cracked) wire loom that is supposed to hold the wires up from the head. In so doing, I gained some clearance for the #8 plug wire. Tightened the connector.

Much improvement, to my amazement. Have not road-tested it yet. Fingers crossed.

Pics

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Since both gauges are not working I would verify that you have voltage at the regulator. The 6v input is the terminal toward center and with the meter leads between that terminal and the cluster as ground there should be 6.3v or battery voltage coming from a circuit breaker next to the regulator when the key is on.

The terminal toward the end is to the instruments and is a pulsing output which because of the frequency and length of pulses will average 5v to the gauges if the regulator is working. The frequency and duration of the pulses depend on the load so is not a fixed number. Without a very fast responding meter or an oscilloscope you will probably not be able to get any kind of decent reading at that terminal although being 6v you might because the pulses will be fairly wide. It is hard to do any internal measurements because of the construction.

If the meter display tries to read and you can get some kind of voltage reading on that end terminal that is a good sign. If you see a constant 6v out that is an indication the heater element might be burned open and regulator is not functioning. If you see no voltage at all then it could be the meter or possibly the contact points are burned or otherwise damaged. In either case swapping to a known good regulator is the procedure.

Here are a couple of photos showing what the reg looks like inside and what the output looks like at 12.6v input. On 6v the height of the pulses would be just over 1 division on the scope and the pulses should be much wider.

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Guy,
I found your comment about vacuum advance to be quite illuminating and thought-provoking. The 359 engines are prone to pinging due to an over-exuberant vacuum advance. This affects only the 359's so you needn't be concerned about it in your Clipper. My car was plagued with it and it worsened in warmer weather. Ross Miller advised to put a couple of washers in the vacuum advance spring housing to, as he said, slow the advance down. That took care of 99% of the pinging; it's now a very rare occurrence and brief in duration when it does happen. So if I can find no other cause for the off-idle stumble, I'm just going to leave it be; it's not that bad to raise a fuss over it. I'm not touching the vacuum advance.

I see your spark plug wire terminals are all 90 degree-angled. Mine are vertical with the exception of #4 & 5 as mentioned above. With the terminals sticking straight up the wires don't lie on the engine head and they don't come anywhere near the vacuum advance tube or the throttle linkage. When you're ready to replace those wires you might want to get a straight terminal set to pre-empt rub-throughs and arcing.

Many thanks HH and Don!

The info on the regulator is priceless. At least I know what I'm looking for and what should be happening electrically. I don't know what the other side of the regulator looks like, but should be able to figure out when I find it: it'll be by "feel" rather than "sight" anyway, I reckon. The manual warns that it must have a good ground, and I have a pretty good aim with WD40, so that will be my first line of attack.

The vacuum advance might be part of the hesitation, but I agree that it's probably just not worth pursuing too much. Who knows, someday one of us might accidentally find out what is causing it and post the solution.

Until then, I have found that smooth takeoffs and shifts are mostly the driver's responsibility. A gentle foot when pressing for a startup from a full stop often eliminates the initial "flameout", and keeping just a touch of pressure on the accelerator between shifts smooths them out nicely. I'm my own "dashpot"! It's all part of the experience.

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HA52 posted a photo of a 52 cluster earlier in the thread that shows the regulator very well. Here is a small portion of it for illustration. Your cluster will be slightly different in the back but the regulator and circuit breakers should be mounted in a very similar fashion and I believe in almost in the same location. I don't remember which breaker the power will be coming from but think it will be the one nearest the door.

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Howard,

Yes, that was a decent picture posted earlier. I do like the way yours is lined up though. It shows the wiring in place and the simplicity of the hookup.

One thing I still wonder about is how the regulator is attached and grounded? Since the manual says it is essential that is has a good ground, I would think there would be a couple of mounting screws on the metal case, like the circuit breakers have. It doesn't look like it has a very secure mounting, and I don't see a ground wire?

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There is a tab on both ends of the regulator with a hole for a screw. In the photo above the regulator screws are shared with one end of the CBs located on either side of the regulator. Those screws into the cluster provide the ground. The part of the regulator case having the mounting ears is crimped onto the other side and crimps complete the ground to the back or working side where there is a rivet thru the case to carry the ground inside to where it is needed.

As long as your cluster has a good ground and the regulator is screwed on then it is grounded. If your cluster is one where half the mounting screws are out or loose so it can be easily removed to change bulbs that could be an issue. If the overall dash illumination lights that come on with the headlight switch work then the cluster ground should be OK.