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

Does anyone know the factory spark plug wire lenght for the respective cylinder leads for a 47 Super (356)

RKO, I don't believe I ever read anything about spark plug specific wire lengths. Probably the only way would be to locate a very original car which may possibly still retain the original factory wires. There may also be an OEM wires set in a box on a shelf somewhere. When I replaced mine I purchased an aftermarket set which was old stock but not OEM Packard. They could easily be made up using a universal wire kit or one purchased from the usual Packard parts suppliers like Kanter or Max Merritt. Can you explain why this is important to you?

I found a vendor listing a made up set for all 46-50
8 cylinder Packard. I am darn sure that the block lenght is different for small eight and later series didn't have the coil through the firewall.

His set has the lenghts

11", 11", 12", 13", 16", 19", 22", 26" and the coil wire is 13"

I was hoping to get a set already made up.

Do you know if factory leads were 90 degrees to the plug

Rob

The 1948-50 small engine is very close in length to the 356 while the 46-47 282 engine is a shorter block. The coil wire will be too short at 13" for a firewall coil. The wires at the plug were straight on without a rubber boot if the picture in the 1947 Parts Book are correct.

Napa still carries wire core spark plug wire in bulk, plus the end connectors, so you can make them exactly the lenght you want. This is the way I used to do it when my Packard was just a 10 year old used car, as well as the way I did it last month.

Thats exactly how I made mine. Just buy some bulk plug wire, run a wire from the plug position one on the cap (push it into the cap terminal hole to help hold it), through the rubber holder block and out to plug 1. Leaving enough slack so the wire has a natural run and there are no sharp bends, but not laying on the engine and cut it off the bulk spool. Repeat with the the other 7 runs. Label the wires with a piece of tape to keep them in order, and then remove them and crimp on the the appropriate ends/boots. Reinstall the wires, done. Shouldn't take longer that an hour to make up your own custom made, perfect fit set.