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Kevin, only one of the following suppression/resistor components should be needed: wires, spark plugs, rotor, or cap (if Autolite). Be careful not to have more than one component in your ignition system. Does your alternator use a condenser for noise suppression like generators have? Next time you run your engine go in the house and turn on a TV and radio and see what noise these items pick up from your running engine. Ignition noise will be like a popping sound, and generator noise will be more like static and will vary with engine speed. Just some suggestions.

(o{I}o)

Quote:

Why do new cars use both resistor wires and plugs?

I'm wondering if I actually have a non-resistor rotor. I'll check everything this evening with the radio in my garage. Is Would it be more sensitive on the AM band to this type of interference?

After doing some Google searching people have reported that Packard 440 wire is notorious for broadcasting EMI/RFI. It's really only used in racing and off-road applications anymore. Basically the interference is tripping the induction sensor in the timing light from over 5' away. I am going to try a set of new plugs and see if that helps to reduce the bleed. If not I guess I will end up replacing the wires. Which is a shame as they look great on the car. But I guess I can't go around acting as radio jammer to all the neighbors.

Also that degree of EMI/RFI it is supposed to be pretty nasty to solid-state devices. So that would create an issue for some of the other components that are going to get installed in the car (Hidden radio, alarm, etc).

What type of wire is everyone else using?

Anyone have any thoughts on what I observed with the transmission? Broken parking pawl? This is on a Gear-Start BTW.

Just the friction in planetary will allow rotation of wheels with no resistance in air if pawl not catching so that is where that is probably coming from. Pawl is possibly broken or binding and could cause issue and could also be early design where the teeth would wear and round off so as not catch in gear--but would have to be horribly worn, burred or jammed to not engage at all. I think symptoms point to engagement mechanism since pawl apparently isn't going into gear at all rather than slipping out under load.

If pawl OK, then it is engaged by a roller assy which is pinned to the manual lever shaft. When engaging park, it rotates and pushes the pawl against a spring into mesh. It sounds as if not enough rotation is there to push all the way up so it is possible the pin has broken or loosened on shaft. Also possible the pot metal piece has worn or broken so engagement roller that engages the pawl has dropped so it can't push pawl high enough. Worn roller supports were an issue in early units.

When you take the pan off to check, also look above the pawl lever for a small pin extending from the rear of case in lever path. That is supposed to catch the pawl and prevent it from slamming so hard and high into gear it won't release--but very weak and frequently breaks which can lead to not being able to get out of park.

Kevin -

Check the shift linkage to be sure that the shift lever in the tranny is able to go all the way into Park. It may be just a hair too short to let the pawl engage.

Just a thought...

Doug

Good thought! If too short or long it wouldn't pull all the way into park because that's all spring and roller lever but would get all the forward gears -- not sure if short it would reach all the way into reverse though.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will have to drop the pan and see what is going on with the pawl. I had better order a spare transmission gasket just incase it is needed. If the pawl itself is broken, is that replaceable without dropping the transmission?


So a little more tinkering today. I replaced the AC-45's spark plugs with AC-R45's gapped at .028 and the EMI interference seamed to drop a lot. No difference in the motor performance. Still idles nicely.

Since I was pulling out the plugs to change them, I decided to check the cylinder compression and here is the report.

CYL - READING
===========
1 - 119
2 - 120
3 - 120
4 - 120
5 - 118
6 - 119
7 - 121
8 - 121

Pretty good for a motor with 87,000 miles on the odometer! With those readings, I am positive this motor has been torn into before.

I have noticed that it occasional stumbles when I give it a quick burst of acceleration. So I still need to tinker with the carburetor. I rebuilt it a while back with a fresh kit, but I may need to go back through all the adjustments.

Neighbor came over to day as he must have heard that I got it running and he was surprised how nicely it started and how quiet/smooth it was at idle.

I checked the Service Manual and I cannot locate what the optimal engine compression (PSI) reading is supposed to be. Any ideas?

Not sure how my readings would be affected since I have a 1951/52 288 AT Head on the motor.

EDIT: After reading the section in the manual on running a compression check, I may recheck this tomorrow as I didn't prop open the carb throttle or remove all the plugs before the test. So that may have affected the readings I got. I checked it as I was replacing each spark plug at a time as I didn't want to mix up the wiring. I will just label everything tomorrow and retest.

IF u know the compression ratio such as 8:1 then multiply 8 x atmospheric pressure (about 16 psi). 8 x 16 psi = 128 psi. THis works close enuf for rock'n roll up to about 10:1 CR where a minor fudge factor has to be accounted for.

I'd say the readings u got as posted earlier are just fine.


Be sure to mark in some permanant way #1 post on distributor cap. If u memmorize the firing order then u will never have to worry about getting the plug wires mixed up. This is very inportant for road side or emergency or fast diagnosis when the wires have to be removed all at once.

I put a silver or yellow painted stripe on mine. A small cablle tie around the distributor boot of the #1 wire. Or memmorize the posistion of the #1 plug terminal of the cap relative to some engine component.