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

Quote:

I would be curious about how the RPM reading with the reflective tape on the belt would compare to a reading with the tape directly on the vibration damper. I would place the tape maybe opposite the timing marks on the damper metal because I think there could be room for error reading the belt. The diameter of the groove on the damper and where in the groove the belt is making contact would change the speed of belt travel making it slower or faster and reading differently from the actual RPM. Any belt slippage could also affect the reading if the belt was a bit loose.

The crankshaft will make three or four revolutions for every turn of the belt--think of the difference in circumference of the belt vs the pulley. Your marker must be on the crank pulley.

Made that adjustment tonight. Woof. Changed everything. Basically starting the tuning process over. Thank you so much for pointing this out.

Can't thank the people on here enough. I should've known better with the tape placement. I've never heard the engine sound like that, and really ran rough down there for a bit. I redid everything. Reset the timing, reset the idle, ended up finding the plugs had fouled out again, so replaced those, switched air cleaners (was using a small 2bbl air cleaner, switched to a larger 11-inch 2bbl air cleaner - really wish I had the air cleaner that's supposed to go on this engine), and fought the mixture screws for that just-right combination of vacuum and smooth idle. Goodness, but here was the result from today's drive:https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/contents/view?contentsToken=1675958464868LzMwgZm¤tIndex=1&linkUrlVersion=V1

We might just be on the right track? Maybe.

Sounds pretty quiet!