Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Soldering the throttle arm onto the shaft is a way to take up play that sometime develops at the joint. The play is what keeps the carb from going to low idle--the arm hits the stop but the butterflies have not closed. That usually works pretty well and I have done it dozens of times in the last 35 years, many times right on the car. I would guess that your solder has jerked loose and you need to resolder or find another shaft and arm. Also good to check that the butterfly screws have not come loose in the last 69 years.

Personally I would just put a single 4 bbl on the car. It is far more enjoyable and and less headache causing. Then you can sell the dual setup to someone who is in need of the testosterone boost.

It's worth remembering that the HP on the Caribbeans was only 7% more than the Seniors, and that extra HP only shows up when you are at very high throttle and RPM (unsurprisingly). In other words, the torque curve is virtually the same across normal driving situations.

Sounds like a good winter project to swap the rear carb onto a manifold. Obviously the air cleaner will need swapped as well. You can reuse the entire linkage, though.