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Hello. I am the proud new owner of a 1954 Packard clipper deluxe 327. I am new to this engine. It fires up and runs but it's very choppy. And it has no power when accelerating. When I shift it into gear the idle becomes very choppy and shakes the whole car.....
I noticed that the distributor turns a little when the engine revs up. Is this normal? Any info or things to check on or look at.

The car been converted to 12 volt already and was running well before it sat. I has sat for a few years with little run time. I have had the car for a week and have only driven it a few miles.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

G'day hotrodslp,
Congratulations on your Packard purchase and to PackardInfo. I'll leave your questions to the more experienced and knowledgeable here to answer, instead, I have a request of you! Could you please include your '54 Clipper Deluxe in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo?

Congratulations and welcome.

There's two types of distributors used. If the vacuum advance is mounted directly to dist and arm goes inside the unit as in the top photo, then no it doesn't turn. Advance is all internal. If vacuum advance is on a plate and arm connects to a slot like affair on the outside of unit as per bottom photo, then yes the body does turn.

There is an item that can be found on both called an octane adjuster. On those you loosen a bolt or screw and manually turn the distributor a few degrees. That changes the timing for the quality of gas used as indicated by retard or advance timing marks on a little indicator plate.

If the car has sat for a long period, would wonder how the carb and gas supply and plugs might be and if one or the other might be contributing to your rough running. Carb might have varnished up or old gas??

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That was quick! So hotrodslp for including your '54 Clipper Deluxe Touring Sedan in the Packard Owner's Registry.

I have the bottom one. So I figured it would be something where it visibly adjusts itself. Where is the octane adjuster? The plugs look like they could use a change. New gas in it. But idk if the carb is gunked up. I did spray some carb cleaner in it. It might could use a rebuild....

Was looking at documentation and Packard marketing name is "Fuel Compensator".

Location depends on dist and year. On some, can be closer down by the block just above where clamp bolts are. A plate with either a slot or just a pointer aimed toward an indicator plate. If not there, look at the distributor on that slotted piece where the vacuum advance link goes and see if there are indicator marks on the outside curve. Not 100% sure it was still used on all in 54.

l makes sense.. i wil try adjusting the distributor via the slot there on the bottom with the screw....
for 87 octane should i advance or retard the timing? seemed like it was stumbling when advancing so i was going to try and retard the timing....

ill post results if/when i get it running good....

It fires up and runs but it's very choppy. And it has no power when accelerating. When I shift it into gear the idle becomes very choppy and shakes the whole car.....

Those don't sound to me like symptoms of ignition timing being off a few degrees and I suspect your problem is elsewhere. But even so you should properly set the timing. It's best done with a timing light but if you don't have one it's easily enough done by just just advancing the spark in small increments (rotating the distributor body in the opposite direction to the rotor rotation) to where you just have the slightest trace of preignition or "spark knock" on hard acceleration.

But if your engine runs as poorly as I deduce from your description, you might be better served to first give the engine a compression test and if that's OK, then a really good thorough tune-up; starting with clean connections at the battery and ground strap, new points, condensor, rotor, distributor cap, perhaps the high tension wires and plugs. If the symptoms are worse with a warm engine, you might consider substituting a new coil. If you still have the symptoms after all that, then it's time to check the fuel system, pump pressure, filters, check for vacuum leaks, etc. Once you get it to idle smoothly (assuming the compression is good), then it's time to set the ignition timing.

Ok will check compression. What is an acceptable psi for these engines? I don't even know factory compression ratio for the 54 327?

Definitely am going I invest in plugs and condensor/points. Also, since the car is 12 volt now I prolly should get a decent coil that I know to be good.
Thanks for all the great info!

Since it's been converted to 12v, make sure a ballast resistor either external or integral with the coil has been installed. One of our posters just went thru some issues because none was there.