Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Not sure which book you were reading as there is no carb switch for 55-6 but if you refer to list of special tools in service manual, technically you don't need any-just made life a bit easier for those that did it daily. Don't think any come with kits available today. The wire gauges can be substituted with music wire or even drill bits. the bending tools with pliers etc. Eyeball will suffice for the float gauge which centered the floats and ruler for the drop adj. About only thing you will need is a can of carb cleaner or dip and the rebuild kit.

A couple of words of caution. Make sure you follow the manual for your particular carb and when disassembling, be extra extra careful to account for any tiny ball valves & springs which drop out and may or may not be in kit. The rebuild is not terribly hard, but if anything lost or messed up can get you in worse shape than now & may need a mechanic with tuneup scope & equipt to get things right again.

JeffM,
I would advise to pay close attention to HH56's statement:
"A couple of words of caution. Make sure you follow the manual for your particular carb and when disassembling, be extra extra careful to account for any tiny ball valves & springs which drop out and may or may not be in kit. The rebuild is not terribly hard, but if anything lost or messed up can get you in worse shape than now",
and would add to make sure you get the correct kit for your carb. The identificaton number should be on the tag mounted to one of the corner screws on the carb body.
It has been my experience that some kits come with cardboard "gauges" for adjusting the floats, but most auto stores sell a small ruler with a sliding "T bar" that can be used. I was a certified mechanic for years before moving into the IT field, and my tool box had at least two of those at all times. One other hint is that you will save yourself a lot of headaches if you clamp a piece of 24 to your workbench to act as a raised platform while working on the carb (with the base and linkage attached).
HTH,
John

Jeff is reading the Packard Carburetion Service Training Manual that covers the theory and basic operation of Carbs in general. I sent him a link for that as he had high level questions on how a carb actually worked. The training manuals (manual of them are on the website that cover various subjects) make a great primer for those that want to know how thinks work. The carburetion and the ignition ones I found very useful when I started out.

Also 1953 was the last year for the Carb starter switch. 1954 had a key start. But the 1954 Ignition switch has a bad habit of getting stuck in the start postition, so they were redesigned for 55. That is way the '54 switches are hard to come by today, as many of the old stock was used to replace "stuck" swtiches.

That was good advice about being very careful to account for small balls and springs that fall out during disassembly. Suppose that happens to me, and the first sign I get is when a small ball or spring is sitting on the counter. Do the kit instructions tell you where they fell from?

The kit should come with a disassembly chart/diagram that shows the order that it should come apart in. When done, and everything is clean, just reverse the order.

Kind of a "rebuild by numbers".