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Nice work. I would change the wiring back, e.g. so your radio works in ACC. The condenser is probably for the radio.

Not sure what modern switch was installed but 54 original switches should have been labeled the same as the modern variety. If your car had an older Packard switch, while functions are usually the same the old terminal ID was different. Packard GA is the same as modern ACC, Packard COIL is the same as modern IGN. Packard AM is the same as modern BAT.

In a typical 3 or 4 position ign switch the ACC terminal is hot with the key turned to either the left or right on direction but goes off if there is a 4th start position and the key is in that position to start the engine. IGN is hot only if the key is in the right or normal car running position and in the 4th start position.

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HPH - I think you're right on the condenser. I'll see if I can trace the other wires to see what they go to and if I can dump some of them.

Howard - the switch I have is labeled the same way as the '54 switch in the factory diagrams. I'm just trying to figure out how and why the previous owner wired it how he did. He hooked the two warning lights (oil and generator) to the ignition post and not the accessory. The only thing I can think of is maybe the accessory post was too full of other stuff? I still need to sort through that one and figure out what wires go where. There are four things on it currently, none of which are in the factory diagram.

I wonder if the ignition switch to starter wire is part of my starting problem. The set up he has makes no sense and the wire nut may be giving me poor connection. Either way I probably still need to rebuild the starter.

Clippers should have the Bendix type starters with small solenoid but if it has the large pinion shift solenoid type those pull a lot of current thru the ign switch. In addition to sometimes adding and powering heavy draw accessories from the switch which causes them to overheat, 54-56 Packard switches seem to be a bit underrated for the large solenoid current and have failed with symptoms of sticking or erratic action. That has often been traced to a burned or melted starter contact. You can see that result in the photos of the switch above where the small starter contact on the diagonal strip has a hole melted thru what should be a solid rounded surface contact like the others. To alleviate this issue some have added a relay in the start circuit to take the heavy solenoid current out of the switch. If there is anything in the start wiring that seems strange perhaps something like that was added.

On radio cars there are up to about 4 radio condensers. On the generator, regulator, ignition system, and ignition switch/radio body.

Obviously the “ignition condenser” as I write above is not to be confused with the actual distributor condenser.

Didn't feel like sanding tonight so I threw some parts in the sandblast cabinet and got them cleaned up. All the mounting screws for the dash, mounts for the trim on the front seat, steering column mount and speaker grille. Rattle can primer and paint for most of them. I left the dash bolts bare because I'm pretty sure that would interfere with the grounding.

Over the past week I finished up prepping the door jambs to repaint. Lots of sanding and lots of masking. I think masking was the worst part, honestly.



After cleaning the jambs I sprayed two coats of high build primer






After curing for 4 hours I scuffed up the primer gently with a red scotchbrite pad, and leveled out some areas with 400 sandpaper. Mixed up the blue single stage and shot two coats.



This is where I'm disappointed. I knew the blue was going to be off (I've used it before) but I was hoping it would look better than it does. I have the original paint code from when the outside of the car was painted 20 years ago (GM metallic blue mix 38144) and the closest the paint shop could give me was GM Bright Blue WA9222. I even took the fuel door for them to match to and nothing was close. On a numerical scale where 0 is a dead match and the higher numbers are off, the closest they could get me was 25, which apparently is wildly off. When the doors are closed you can't see it, and it isn't terribly noticeable when the doors are open, but against the new windlace and the redone door panels it is pretty jarring.









Not really sure what to do at this point besides carry on and get the interior put back together. If I can't get a color match to the body paint then my options are pretty limited. I thought it would be easier to get a match, but I guess not.

On the bright side at least I got rid of all the flaking paint, rust, and paint runs that where there before.

-Kevin

In the photos it looks great and certainly better than peeling paint! The VIN plate should be bare metal, though, and not painted. On the rear speaker grille, I believe I have some of that material in stainless made by the original manufacturer.

Thanks Don. The pictures are from further away and from typical viewing angles, so it's not terribly noticeable. I'll get a picture of the windlace next to the jamb and you'll see what I'm talking about....the blue is very different.

I had tape over the VIN plate in the picture that I hadn't yet removed. It had been spray painted over before, so I cleaned all that off. Still need to polish it though.

The speaker grille cleaned up nicely and should be fine with some paint. I'm waiting to reinstall all the interior trim until I get a new trim screw set from Max Merritt. All my old screws are rusted and I'm missing most of the stainless washers as well.

-Kevin

Help me understand this paint code thing.

Original paperwork that came with the car showed the paint code that was used. GM Met Blue Mix #38144.



Cross referencing that to modern paint on paintref.com shows that as GM code WA9222 and PPG 4110. Medium Blue or Bright Blue depending on the year.
https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplaym.cgi?williams=38144&cols=simpl&rows=200&syear=1996&smanuf=GM&smodel=Chevy%20Truck&sname=Medium%20Blue

The paint cans I got from the automotive paint shop have the above codes on it, but in addition to WA9222 they also have code 24 and 34.



Looking further into the 24 code I found two entries for GM under that code. Medium Blue and Light Blue, both with GM's code of WA4313.
https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplaym.cgi?gmcode=WA4313&rows=200&syear=1974&smanuf=GM&smodel=&sname=Light%20Blue

At least on the computer screen that last code looks closer to the actual color on the body. All the cross references for the original paint code are steering in a different direction, but is it possible that this other code is the correct one?

-Kevin