Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Hi. My 327 is all out of whack. I known what the firing order is, but does anyone have a diagram that shows which is which on the cap? Im not sure if its out of time because I got wires crossed or what at the cap. Does the distributor turn clock wise or counter clockwise? Now she back fires and the engine shakes really bad when trying to start. I think the previous owner had the plug wires crossed. I replaced them, one at a time. Getting fire and getting gas. Any help would be great. I cant open pdf's for some reason so any images need to be jpegs. Thanks

Here is a cut from the 54 wiring diagram showing the ign plug wires. You can download the entire diagram from the literature section if you want the rest.

Note that it shows the #1 plug position at 7:00 but that will only be if the distributor was installed per factory instructions. In real life you need to verify someone hasn't installed it off a tooth or two or even 180 out and moved wires to compensate. Dist rotates CCW on most Packards.

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Richard, the engine can run properly with the #1 wire in any position. You can eliminate all the uncertainty about whether the distributor is installed as it was at the factory or not by just going back to basics.

Hit the starter button while you observe which direction the engine and distributor rotates in. Then remove #1 spark plug, hold your finger over the hole and slowly rotate the engine in it's proper direction until you feel compression against your finger - stop when the pointer is at TDC or a few degrees before. Remove the distributor cap, #1 plug wire should be just over the tip of the rotor. If it isn't put it there are install the rest of wires in firing order sequence (in the direction is which the rotor rotates).

If you find the wires are exactly 180? out of position, you could alternatively remove the distributor, rotate the shaft 1/2 turn and reinstall. Either will result in the same net result.

Thank you very much. I will try this asap. You guys are the best !

Ok. A couple of more dumb questions concerning the timing. 1. How far down do the pistons go when moving top to bottom? It seems like only an inch or so when I am trying to find tdc.
2. It seems like when I rotate the engine and check tdc on number one, its never in the same spot on the distributor. 3. Do I need to take into account the position of number one concerning the vaccum advance?
I am sorry for pestering you guys with all the questions but I do appreciate the help. I called a garage to see if they could work on it and they laughed at me and said, good luck.

288 stroke is 3 3/4 and the 327 is 4 1/4 inches. From one compression stroke stopped at TDC It has to make two complete revolutions for the next compression stroke to be at TDC. You cannot feel or place anything in the hole to indicate piston position because a valve is directly under the plug hole.

It can hard by yourself but after you make sure there can be no spark, remove the #1 plug, place your finger or a coin or maybe even a cork over the hole and crank or turn the engine clockwise as looking from the front until you start feeling pressure or the coin or cork is pushed or popped off. When that happens you know you are on compression and it is a matter of keep turning in the same direction until the timing marks indicate TDC.

Don't reverse direction when positioning for TDC because any wear in the timing chain or anything else will come into play. If that wear is enough then the dist will be off by a few degrees. When you are sure it is on compression and indicating TDC then look at the dist and do what is needed with wires or rotation to get #1 plug wire in the correct spot to fire at that position.

You don't need to have #1 in the hole where the book shows but you do need to keep the distributor body and position in the general area where the vacuum advance is shown or positioned. The connecting metal tube is stiff and not able to allow much flexibility of more than a few degrees as to where the advance can be positioned and still connect.

Thank you Howard. I did not know what I thought was the top of the piston was a valve. I thought things were messed up because it barely moved.
Where is the timing mark ? I cleaned the crank, not easy to get to or see, as I am sure you know, and can't see any marks. Since the car is not running at all now it makes life so much harder. Life would be easier with a shop manual, but since I do not have internet except on my phone, no access to a computer, or mmoney to spare on buying a book, I am in a pickle. Thank you for the information. Don't know what I would do without you all.

Here are some photos of an engine showing the basics. These photos are of an earlier engine but yours will have the essentially the same look or setup. Engines had variations so the shape of the vibration damper and pointer may be different but the instructions are the same. Instead of an actual pointer your engine may have a flat piece of metal with a straight line stamped across it which would be the indicator instead of a pointer. On others the edge of the flat portion directly above the degree line stamping is the indicator. The stamping on the vibration damper may be painted over and very faint so you may have to really look for them. Once you do find them then it helps to use a dab of paint or the chalk at the proper spot.

In following their instructions, for your engine you would set the pointer on the 6 degree BTDC mark instead of TDC. Closest hole in the cap above wherever the rotor lines up will be #1 hole and then rotate the dist so the rotor is under and points just open at that spot. You can make a test light by using an ordinary 6v bulb and wrapping a piece of wire around the base shell for one lead to connect to ground. You can either use another piece of wire to touch the end contact for the second lead or just touch the end of the bulb to the dist terminal. Wrap the base shell of the bulb with some tape leaving just the bottom button contact exposed so you don't accidentally short.

If you have one you can also use a volt ohm meter to determine when the points just open. You can use the volt scale with the leads between ground and the dist terminal in place of the bulb. When the points are closed it will read 0 volts and when the points open it will read 6v.

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Thanks again. I will do that as soon as it stops raining.

If the degrees marked on the front pulley for your engine are anything like the degrees marked on my 48 2262 (288cid) then u will have to look very close and very hard for the degree marks on the crank pulley.

THe marks on my engine are barely visible. VERY lightly stamped.
Nearly impossible to read without an excellent and direct light source.

Very poor quality manufacturing.