Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

A sure-fire way of having a great bonfire for all the neighbors to enjoy is to try starting a car with the air cleaner off. When a car is running well and used often it's no problem, but working on it you have excess fuel in the intake manifold/carb area and dpossible stuck valves and off timing. A "backfire" thus caused will ignite the fuel, fire comes out the car throat and often if you have the samll/big can you used to pour gas in with, the vapors waft across the engine and KABOOM!!

Ther is really no problem with doing it this way, just keep some sticks and a few bags of marshmallows handy and enjoy the party.

If you're not in the party mood, replace the air cleaner when starting it and at least tighten the bolt/clamp a little. I've seen air cleaners go flying from a backfire.

My suggestion. Get everything in order, cleaned/new points,new condenser ( they go bad just sitting)put the air cleaner on. connect a 12 battery to the 6v clamp on the battery and make th final collection to a motor part lke the generator bracket making sure that the polarity is correct. Pull the linkage from under the hood and it will probably start very quickly and run terribly until yuou get it "blown out". disconnect the 12V asap at teh generator bracket. VEry important as the gases coming off the 6V battery are explosive and you do not want a spark at the battery.. Wear safety glasses, have a fire extinguisher nearby if you forgo the marshmallows.

Happy motoring

I agree with Fred on the backfire fire danger. I started my 69 land cruiser on fire back in my college days using wd40 down the carb throat. I put it out using my soon to be ex- girlfriend's coat.

G'day Chris,

Just want to you and your '53 Clipper Deluxe Club Sedan to PackardInfo.

Agreed on the backfire issues... Thanks for bringing that up. Kind of stupid of me hut? I did have a fire extinguisher ready though. Not sure I understand the 12V battery though, won't that burn up a regulator/generator/starter in short order? Are you thinking cranking amps? I was going to use a 6v red top in parrallel with my 6v to increase cranking amps. That should do the same thing without endangering my electrical system shouldn't it?


And thank you all for the warm welcome. My Grandfather owned NUMEROUS Packards over the years, and my Dad has around 20 or so. I am very glad to finally have grown up enough to join the ranks of Packard enthusiasts.

I have used 12V to start my 6V cars in situations like yours
or when startign a newly rebuilt motor. Only problem I ever had was I burned out a few interior bulbs, so now I make sure the doors are closed and the headlights off.

Plus to Plus, minus to minus and disconnect it when it catches. The cars with the carb startign switch are a blessing, no jumping in and out to disconnect the battery etc etc.

It spins the motor very fast and overcomes weak spark, weak fuel pump, leaky valves, neuritis , neuralgia and the heartbreak of psoriasis.

After it's running you can diagnose it's weaknesses

Thinking on the gravity fuel system, if the float/needle was stuck OPEN instead of closed, there'd be nothing to stop the gravity system from literally just pouring fuel into the engine once the carb was fuel, no?

Would be flooded about 10 seconds after hooking up the fuel to the carb and no amount of cranking or power is going to get it to run then AND you'd be washing down the cylinder walls and clean walls = bad for metal wear and would lower compression by getting rid of the oil there. Would be even harder to start. Plus the oil would now be diluted with a decent amount of gasoline, which wouldn't be healthy at all.


When i get an older car i intend to keep, i take the carb off and down to a gentleman in Youngstown, Arnie Benchwick. (Benchwick's carbs). I'm about to take a carb for my 67 pontiac down actually, and he just did one for my packard.

He's reknown for his work. He took my 2 barrel from the gunkiest grossest carb you ever saw to factory new in a couple days. Everything was perfect. He's one of those guys that just seems to already know everything about a carb before you tell him. Knew mine was a packard carb when i yanked it out of the grimy box and it looked like a ball of junk. Have had a few done by him and EVERY single one ran amazing with just adjusting the idle. Painted parts are painted and bare parts are bare, and the assembly is decently but lightly lubed.

It was just under $200 for labor, parts, tax, etc. I know a kit is only $50 and you can do it yourself, but his work is surely art and when it's done i KNOW i can rule out the carb as the source of any issues.


Anyways, if i suspect a carb issue, instead of fixing just a leaky gasket or just an accelerator pump, i get the whole thing done and forget it.

Fuel,ignition and compression. If you've poured a small amount of gas in carb or used starter fluid with no result I think it's time to move to compression and ignition. It doesn't take that long to pull the plugs, prop the carb open and do a compression test.
In your first post I thought you meant you had replaced points,cap and rotor? As Owen said oxidation of old points cap or rotor could be a problem. The condenser definitely should be replaced as old as it is.

Agree on the ignition system I wanted to get it running first, but maybe it's better to just replace it. Kind of thinking that I am flooding the engine. #1 plug was awefully wet (gas).

Going to do the following, in this order... check compression and spark plug gap on all 8 and shoot a little oil down each cylinder, replace points, cap, rotor, condensor. disconnect throttle linkage (so I don't flood it), Parallel 2 6v batteries (really don't like putting 12 volts to the old regulator). check that accelerator pump is working, put air cleaner back on, and try again. If it's still flooding it, I'll pull the carb and put a kit in it (I've rebuilt many a 2bbl).

Boy Scouts ate up my evening tonight, but tomorrow looks good.

Can anyone tell me the proper dwell? I found point gap .016, plug gap .025, and timing 6deg BTDC. I'm at 6000ft, so probably want to run about 10-12deg BTDC once I get it running decently.

Also, where can I get good spark plug wires? Terrel Machine said they don't sell them any more. I understand you can only use solid core wires?

I made my own out of some bulk Packard 440 wire. But the usual vendors sells them I believe.

You can use a remote starter switch to avoid having to push the accelerator pedal to engage the starter. Just hook-up one of the remote switch leads to each of the the carburetor switch terminals. The ignition must be on for this, but it lets you use the starter separately from the accelerator. In my opinion this starter switch design was not the best - a separate starter button would have been better, but that is the way Packard (and others) did it then.

(o{I}o)