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hello there fellow packard people. i have a question. i am a recent newby to the packard club, i have a 1952 packard 25th series 200
touring edition with a 288 straight 8 motor in it. i cant seem to get the firing order correct / i cant get it to crank. it gets good spark, there is good compression,
i have new plugs wires, points, coil, and rotor button, but it sounds like its firing in the wrong order or something.... can anyone possibly help me with this
situation?? thanks a million

Firing order is 1-6-2-5-8-3-7-4. Distributor rotates CCW and here is a section of 1952 wiring diagram showing distributor wire connections (if dist is indexed per service manual) with #1 at recommended spot per timing marks.

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If your distributor is in the standard position, number one is at the 6:30 position on the dist cap. The order, going counterclockwise is 1 6 2 5 8 3 7 4 .

If that does not solve the problem real quick, then it is possible that your dist. is in a non standard position. You will have to crank the engine over with #1 plug out. Lay a penny over the plug hole. Bump the engine with the starter a little at a time til the penny lifts. You are now on #1 compression stroke. By hand bring the engine to the 6 degree mark on the vibration damper. Your points should just be opening, and the rotor will be pointing to number one.

Just for reference the factory installed position is with the vac advance pointing out to the left and the axis just about horizontal. # 1 is then at 6:30. But many of these cars have been diddled so # 1 could be anywhere.

Ross, beat me to it, but I was thinking that perhaps your distro is installed 180 degrees off.

Also, this might not be timing, although it's the best place to start. Could be carb related.

Put a timing light on #1 plug and see if it fires in the right place or close to it. For fuel look inside the carb and see if the accelerator pumps inject gas into the manifold.

It was already mentioned, but the distributor rotor rotates counter clockwise. I missed that once many years ago. Hope you can get her running soon.
Ah...this is an 8 year old post!?