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I am working on a 1938 Packard Super 8, the car came to me to fix. I primarily work on English cars so you will have to forgive me with my lack of knowledge on these beautiful motorcars. The initial problem was a bad battery which was easy, after installing the battery and squirting starting fluid down the carb she fired right up, I took her for a drive and found it to be missing a little. After I came back I turned her off and had my morning cup of tea, I went back out to start her and no joy. I decided to change the points, condensor, cap and plugs. Because the car was stood for about 3 months I rebuilt the stromberg carb and the mechanical fuel pump, I figured I would give her a good overhaul. After doing all this the car will not start, I have spark from the coil and I have spark from all spark plugs when I lay the plugs out. The firing order is correct. The manual states that the timing marks are on the flywheel, I have looked everywhere but I cant find any. The only marks I can find is a 0 on the front pulley with a pointer on the front of the engine, which I would assume are the timing marks, I aligned the 0 with the pointer, #1 piston on the firing stroke, #1 being the front of the engine with the rotor pointing at #1 wire and no firing. The manual says 6 degrees before TDC which I have tried by setting just before 0. I have squirted starting fluid down the carb while moving the distributor slightly and still no firing. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Kevin.

Run a compression test ,wet and dry.
You have (good?)spark and(good?) fuel.

It's possible you may have a bad condesor ?
Alot of great mechanics have pulled their hair out over a new condensor that was faulty.

I don't know about the super 8 but on my 38 standard 8 there is a hole in the bell housing below and to the right of the starter. You have to take out the fender liner and stick your head in there.

Thankyou for your reply, the compression I have is between 110 and 120 across the 8 cylinders, I have a great spark which would not be there with a bad condensor and the points would be burnt. Gas is new.

Thankyou
I will look tomorrow.

Quote:G'day Kevin,
First, to PackardInfo.

Second, have you perused the 1937-1938 Shop Manual available for download from the Packard Literature and Manuals section here on PackardInfo?

Third, a request. If it's OK with the '38's owner, could you please include his '38 Super 8 in the Packard Owner's Registry here, together with a pic, any known history and how it was acquired?

G'day mate
The Packard I am working on is a Super 8 convertible, at the moment the owner is in Europe, as soon he comes back I will get the info. I looked up the workshop manual and I will download it tonight, thanks Kevin the limey, dont hold it against me.

I checked underneath the starter this morning and found no cover plate or opening for timing marks, I will look in the manual.

I did notice that there is quite a lot of play in the distributor rotor back and forth, which is about half an inch. I removed the distributor and found that the play is not in the distributor itself but in the drive between the bottom of the distributor peg and whatever drives the distributor, any thoughts anyone, Kevin.

Following an engine rebuild on my '40 8cyl, my mechanic and I looked for a timing hole on the bell housing. None to be found! What's going on here? Is this typical? Being a pro, my mechanic set the timing an old fashioned way. He got it right on the first try.

That kind of play in the rotor is too much. Did I understand you to say the play was in the rod beneath the distributor? If so, this rod is connected to the distributor gear on the camshaft. Make not of the direction of the slot in this shaft and pull it out of the cylinder block. Check the end of this shaft to determine if it has worn. If it isn't, the play may be in the gear itself. I hope not. The only way to replace/repair this gear is to split the block and replace it.

I would suggest that there is no need to worry about the play in the extension shaft which goes from the distributor to the top of the oil pump drive. It drives in one direction only and has no effect once the timing is set. The fact that you started the car and drove it indicated that there can't be too much wrong with the initial settings. The timing marks are usually on the vibration damper , but if they are not ( some engines have a pulley only), then you have to remove the starter motor and use the timing marks on the flywheel. Best regards Peter Toet