Distibuter Timing Cautions
All Packards share engine designs employing a long, looong stroke compared to a relatively small bore. These engines develop a lot of torque at low rpm.
Often, it's assumed that better economy and efficiency can be had by setting initial distributer timing at the most advanced setting recommended for a given engine, or even fudging a degree or two of advance From specs intended for higher compression engines of similar design.
Curb this impulse if economy is your goal.
Packards respond adversely to setting initial timing too far advanced. Octane 'ping' or pre-ignition is not always readily apparent. Detonation can result in broken piston rings, and while a "snappier" performance might result, you can gain a mile or two per gallon by retarding the setting a degree or so, and still not hurt performance.
The greatly changed nature of today's fuels make setting the initial timing more critical than ever.
Your distributer has a quick adjustment feature for changing the timing setting to match octane; play with it and see what improved response you can get from your Packard.
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