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

My '49 Custom 8 is running rough at high revs. I've done everything I can think of to get to the bottom of it but so far no joy. One of the things I did was replace the coil, because I remember having the same problem with my '50 Ford. So I just got a 6v coil from NAPA and I noticed when I removed the old coil it was soldered to the bracket half. So I had to tear that off and I then used that for the new coil. To make sure the coil case was grounded I removed the paint from a little spot on the coil and placed a short piece of wire between the bracket half and coil and ran the other end to one of the bolts securing the one bracket half to the other. I noticed that Max Merritt sells their coils with the bracket half attached to the coil. Did I screw up by buying the generic NAPA coil?

Max's coils may be NOS and for my two cents, unless the look is critical I would rather have new mfg whenever possible when it comes to electrical items. You can never be sure what age will do to insulating materials in the old items, particularly coils and condensers.

IIRC, Napa has two universal 6v coils at different price points. The Napa Echlin IC-7 has been used in many Packards and works quite well. The Mileage Plus version probably would too. I am using an IC-7 in my 47 356.

You could have used a universal bracket rather than risk damaging the coil with the excess heat of soldering but as long as it still functions you should be OK and saved a considerable amount of money with the Napa.

I didn't solder the wire to the new coil, I just stuck it in between the coil and the bracket. Then when I tighten the two clamps together the wire is pretty secure. But I was wondering if that may create more resistance than the original soldered arrangement.

That should be fine. I don't believe any Packard applications use an extra ground wire as the connection was frequently accomplished with the various feedback paths thru other components. Some of the old coils have the primary and secondary configured in series like a single winding autotransformer and the coils that did have a separate secondary winding with an internal ground to the case was grounded with just the connection between the bracket and coil case.

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Well then I'm back to square one I guess. I was reading through the training document for the WDO carb on my car and they have a troubleshooting section and one of the items they mention under High speed circuit complaints is a "restricted drilled vent hole". I assume this is the vent to atmosphere of the float bowl, but I can't find it anywhere. Anybody know where it is?

For venting, WDO uses "anti-percolator valves".