Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Get a Heavy Duty Cole Hersee switch. You can mount one through firewall so you can turn on and off without lifting the hood.

Quote:
I second BigKev's recommendation of getting a heavy duty Cole-Hersee switch and mounting it so you can operate it without lifting the hood. Here is one such heavy duty switch but they have other variations too. The maximum amp capacity is the important spec for 6v. Typical 12v switches have much lower amp ratings. Ebay vendors and sometimes Napa or Amazon carries Cole-Hersee.




Your body is very similar to the later models so you may also have an unused punch out location just to the side of the emergency brake mechanism. I used that location to mount my switch but if you don't have a punch out maybe there is space to make a hole. Not wanting to bend down and flip the lever I went a step farther and made a bracket, shaft and adapter to extend things so I could mount a knob next to and behind the emergency brake handle.
















Electrically the ground side was interrupted but rather than run a long ground back up to the original connection location at the front of the block I used a shorter cable and connected to a bolt closer to the starter.

Quote:

And that should be mounted on the ground side, correct? So it'll be ground post -> switch at firewall -> somewhere on the engine block?

Quote:

I personally recommend the ground side. If you interrupt the hot side and ground is still connected a dropped or misplaced tool near the battery and hold down or the cutoff switch could hit the hot terminal and any nearby metal to still cause damage. If the ground side is open there is nothing the tool could hit that would likely cause a problem other than directly across the other battery or switch terminal. Of course any aftermarket items that needed a constant "keep memory alive" power if fed directly from a pigtail on the battery terminal or cutoff switch would have to be taken into consideration if the ground is interrupted.

I really need to get the battery switch dealt with. Too many false starts from taking the ground cable on and off. I'm also thinking my braided ground cable may not be large enough to handle the current. I think I may mount the switch to the splash panel and use 2/0 quality-made cables.

I went to pick up one of my daughters from soccer practice tonight. Had to mess with the ground cable a couple times in order to get the car started. Then when I climbed back in after I got it started the driver's door wouldn't latch. The latch on the door side just spins now, and the outside door handle button has zero resistance. I had to hold it closed all the way home.




I'm not sure what happened inside, but I'm going to have to disassemble the door again to get to it. Not looking forward to that...putting the pins back in the handles is the worst part.

I suspect you will find a broken spring. I don't have a good photo of a 54 latch showing the spring but aside from the physical layout being a bit different and the mechanism more covered the functionality is very similar to a 55-6 latch. The black spring circled in red on the 56 photo is what I suspect. It pushes against one end of the latching cam to push the other end down into the teeth attached to the outside toothed wheel that mates with the striker. That is all that keeps the door locked. When you push the outside button or move the inside handle another piece pushes down on the spring end of the latching cam to lift the other end out of the teeth and let the wheel spin.

If it is a spring, some of the Ford and GM vendors have various door latch springs and kits that might be similar enough to yours to work.

The door latch shouldn’t be painted so maybe strip it off while it’s apart.

I might have an extra part I can give you. Send a picture. Not sure though.

Thanks Howard for the pictures, that really helps to clarify it. I'll see about digging into it this coming week. I'm essentially out of town the this weekend and next, then the weekend following is the big show here in town. So I'm on a bit of a time crunch. Not sure when I'll be able to get it done.

Don - I wondered about painting the latch. Nearly every picture I looked at had the latch painted, and I couldn't tell if the paint there was original or not. I suspect it wasn't. So I may throw it in the sandblaster when I pull it off.

HPH - Thanks, I'll let you know. If I can find a new one that will work I will likely go with that. But as mentioned above I'm on a serious time crunch and I don't know that I'll get anything in time. I do have my parts car that should have a spring....but it's condition is likely far worse than what was in my car.

-Kevin

I would use a rotary wire brush or even chemicals to remove the paint rather than the sandblaster. You already learned the hard way how insidious the sand is when it gets into things!