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I wonder how an alternator with it's electronic regulator would work in this situation. A relatively inexpensive 6v modern alternator might be worth trying but then getting the special made extra wide pulley for the 356 doubles or triples the price so maybe not inexpensive any more.

Maybe with all the money being spent on new generators and regulators that seem to keep failing, if the inexpensive alternator seemed to work then to keep the car looking original something like the Gener-Nator could be worth looking into. The Power Gen is not as expensive as the Gener-Nator so might also be an option but the same pulley issue is present there too. Mike (su8overdrive) has a modern looking alternator on his 47 Super along with an Optima battery and don't believe he has had any issues.

As I recall a fellow in Southern Calif was having similar issues with failing generator/regulators on his 22-23 series and the Gener-Nator conversion seems to have helped there.

My experience has been that a stock, 6 volt system works very well and is very reliable, provided that all parts are in good condition and of good quality. You can spend a lot of money and time trying to fix what ain't broke.

Everything I wrote was just wiped out when I tried to load a photo. It asked me to copy a code and then to sign in again. I didn't copy my text. Dang. Pix first this time.

Checking that VR is grounded. Grounding wire has been on there for 2 years.http://www.mktx.com/packard/VRGRD.MOV

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QUESTION: From photos, does anything physical appear to be wrong with the new Brillman VR? When polarizing the generator according to the instructions sent by Brillman for Chrysler/Willys with a drawing of a different VR, the spark was barely discernible, unlike the spark from my old VR now re-installed. (The cover is an original cover from several VRs ago.)

QUESTION: From photos, does anything physical appear to be wrong with the new Brillman VR? When polarizing the generator according to the instructions sent by Brillman for Chrysler/Willys with a drawing of a different VR, the spark was barely discernible, unlike the spark from my old VR now re-installed. (The cover is an original cover from several VRs ago.)

Mike suggested I get an alternator years ago and I got one from Antique Auto Battery, Youngstown, OH. Mike sent me pix of the installation showing the bracket I'd need, which I don't have.

I didn't want to go on an Easter egg hunt, but to summarize.

Generator functions. It was recently rebuilt by Jeff at Moose Motors and installed by Ross at Speedwell Garage. He verified it charges, but at the time the VR may have been faulty and the battery meter was shot. The battery meter was replaced and works. The generator charges as confirmed by grounding the FLD terminal and the Battery indicator showing positive charging.

VR is well grounded.

I'm going to test continuity of generator-to-VR wire, though I believe they are perfectly good.

I'm going to draw down the batter by turning on the radio, high beams and heater motors, then see if that's enough to make the VR recharge the battery. The batteries at the moment are fully green-light charged.

So what is suggested is
1. Revert to acid battery.
2. Just run one Optima with new working VR and see if that burns out. (The guys with one Optima probably don't drive their cars every day as I do. Maybe the Optimas last 15 years because they mostly are on a trickle charger in the garage. I don't know, either.)
3. Install the Alternator if I want 2 Optima batteries

Joe, one Optima battery should be all you need. The cranking capacity is more than the conventional batteries used originally. Nothing to lose here, try it with one Optima and see what happens. Good luck.

I would not draw down the battery or batteries. Have it/them fully charged and install the new regulator exactly as the instructions say.

I'd give one battery a try. One should be enough.

As for the regulator, it looks good to me. It has a nice heavy base and at least some copper in it. When mounting it, be sure it's on a flat surface, and do not tighten the mounting hardware extremely tight. If anything is done to bend or distort the base, it may cause problems. Don't drop the new regulator. It's a delicate device.

Starting the car normally will draw down the battery enough to cause the system to charge at at least several amps for a minute or so. After that, with lights and accessories off, the charge rate should diminish, if the car is moving at 25 MPH or more in high gear. Turning on accessories may cause the charge rate to increase. If turning on all accessories causes the rate to go negative at a road speed of 30 MPH or more, you may have more acessory load than the generator can safely support.

I would avoid trying to adjust the new regulator. It's a very touchy process. There's a very good article from about 1950 on auto genrator/regulator systems and how to manintain them. I'll try to post a link to it, if I can find it.

I don't see anything obviously wrong with the regulator but then not everything is in view. The addition of a time limit warning for holding the BAT to ARM connection when polarizing is new but otherwise the instructions are almost word for word what is in the 51 and later Packard service manuals.

With headlights, radio, and heater there should be enough load the charge indicator will move to the charge side although if the batteries are fully charged after the engine is started it may be brief and with exception of headlights only flicker as the accessory is turned on.

I am still a bit concerned about the Optimas in parallel. AGM batteries are somewhat sensitive and batteries in parallel as a rule need to be fairly closely matched. If the internal resistance differs substantially between the two one will get more current than needed while the other will remain essentially uncharged. That generally leads to issues with both batteries. Whether the excessive current draw by itself was enough to damage the regulator I cannot say since the current and voltage sections are supposed to limit the generator output to the specified and adjusted values.