Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

yeah I can't get this thing to go any lower unless I manually shove the linkage on the carb and hold it. then I can get down around 600. but with the idle screw all the way out and not touching I'm sitting at 750. i have the idle mixture screws about 1 1/2 turns out or just right when it started to run well. pretty sure this carb needs some serious help.

if all else fails....i may just have to set timing by ear again and see if i can get the rpms lower. but i think waiting for the carb to return is best.

also doesn't feel like I'm getting much vacuum at idle either. when I just disconnected the VA and felt the end with it running it barely was sucking on my finger.

i'll have to go back, but I thought I read the mechanical advance doesn't hit in until 1200 on the 37. I'm sure I'm wrong though.

why wont yours go below 500? and do you think it was a good test putting the new gauge in the top of the radiator? not sure what margin of error to give it since its not in the head.

Attach file:

---

  (27.04 KB)

37 specs in the Sept 1. 1936 service letter says 120C spark advance begins at 600 rpm on the Autolite dist..

I don't know for sure why idle won't go down. One of the other guys that had a 47 carb and a Daytona rebuild says there was a warp in the bottom plate or they had left out an O ring -- don't remember without rechecking the email he sent -- and there was a vacuum leak in his carb. I haven't had the ambition to remove my newly rebuilt carb and see if I have the same issue.

As long as the bulb was fully submerged that location should give a fairly accurate reading.

I knew I was wrong.

yes bulb was submerged.

I know there is a leak in my carb at the shaft for sure.

Blessings on your carb for a healthy recovery!

I think I was getting 1200 from the fact that when I rev the motor to that and set the timing gun to show me 7 degrees of advance...the timing goes back to 2 graduations. pretty nice little feature on my timing gun. but what I should have been doing was reving to 600 or so and have the gun show me 4 degrees of advance. make me wonder just how low Packard really wanted the idle to be in order to get the advance to start at 600.

the service letter says 7 degrees for timing, but that is the standard head. HC is 4 degrees.

and I just saw in my technical service data book for 1935-1941 JR series....that in Vol. 9-12 from 6/35 that for all 120 they changed the spark advance from 5 degrees to 7 degrees. no idea if this applies to 120 from 37, but I assume so. idk. just reading stuff. you know...Packarding.

all and all we will see when the carb comes back.

got new exhaust put on yesterday. it took a good while to get it all done properly. the hardest part was trying to figure out how to mate it to the exhaust manifold. I didn't like the way they did it on the old setup. they expanded the pipe and then welded in the original size pipe to fit up in the manifold. the expanded pipe held the gasket and allowed the collar to pull the pipe up tight.

that wasn't my idea of a good way to do it, so while the exhaust shop was struggling a bit I asked him to try putting a bulge in the pipe. one side would allow the collar to pull the pipe up and the other side would seal into the manifold. kinda like the first step to making a brake line, only not bending the fold back in the second step. He used some copper paste to be sure of no leaks.

after it was said and done, the only leak I had was out of the shaft for the weighted flap in the manifold. no surprise there considering how old and worn out. either a rebush and refit or welding the holes shut and removing the flapper will be in the future. good news is no leaks at the connection with the pipe....

looking over the old setup...whoever did that was just an apprentice I think. the exhaust in the front was like 2.5" and from the back of the muffler it was 1.25" there were tons of welds.....no comment.....

I also had him make the system in two pieces with a clamp after the muffler so I could drop it all down instead of it just being welded. since there is a clamp right before it passes through the frame, this will allow me to take the front or rear portion down respectively.

the muffler was actually the same brand, just a different part number. its slightly throaty out the back, but very quiet in the car and in the front.

I had him reuse the tailpipe tip I got from autozone for 8 bucks. he expanded it and welded it on, instead of using those bolts it came with to clamp it on. I like the tip as it was cheap and keeps the exhaust off the bumper.

I also had a chance to look at the rear shocks. the linkage is in sad shape. the rubber is all pretty much gone. i'll have to look at that at some point. the top of the linkage is pretty much metal on metal and just flops around.

today is reconnecting the headlights as the connectors I ordered should be here today. I wanted to beable to take the front clip off without cutting the wiring harness again and since I already cut it...good time to put in a connector.

I took a pic of the car on the lift through a mirror he had on the wall for some reason. I thought it made a good pic.

Attach file:

---

  (26.13 KB)


  (25.91 KB)


  (22.53 KB)


  (32.48 KB)


  (22.55 KB)


  (19.00 KB)


  (23.85 KB)


  (46.17 KB)


  (53.82 KB)


  (38.52 KB)


  (31.16 KB)


  (30.74 KB)


  (20.31 KB)


  (15.50 KB)

Quote:

That tail pipe size doesn't sound unusual for Packard and maybe others too. Large exhaust and small tail pipe. 47s show two different sizes. For my 356 engine it is 2 1/2 exhaust and 1 3/4 tail but there is another tail listed for the smaller engine models. IIRC that was 1 1/2 but could have been 1 1/4. Believe there was a discussion on this topic some years back when another poster was surprised at his small tail pipe. Guess we are all used to the fairly large sizes used today.

"I took a pic of the car on the lift through a mirror he had on the wall for some reason. I thought it made a good pic."

Certainly does, gets away from just nuts and bolts and over to the artistic

I thought I read somewhere the exhaust was 2.25. Guess they meant the front part only? And the tail is separate? I'll have to go back and look. I think it was that 9/1 letter I got it from.

Connector for the headlights came today. They sent the wrong female end....farts.

If it wasn't for my head and the lights reflecting it would have been even better!

The "improved" manifold to exhaust pipe joint you have made will not last. Packard used the construction you found on all non-classic 35-54 except 40-50 Customs and it worked very well. The exhaust system flexes and the goop you used will fail. Packard was not as stupid as you think.

The pipe between the exhaust manifold and the muffler is commonly called the exhaust header or exhaust pipe. The pipe after the muffler is the tail pipe and it can be a smaller diameter because as the gases cool the occupy less volume.