Dyneto starter & generator rewinding etc.

[Jeffrey Black]

Hello, I am restoring a '34 Packard super8 & I have just taken my starter & generator to be rebuilt & converted to 12v. The units are Dyneto, are there any suppliers of parts for these items, or can anyone please tell me what other restorers do about a rebuild for these?

I can see there are plenty of these cars restored in the USA, so there is some way around the problems it seems. 

I am in Australia.

Regards,Jeff Black.

[DavidMc]

Jeff,

Whereabouts in Australia are you, help might be available closer to home.

David  

(Sydney)

[SSMcDonald]

I recommend the car remain with 6Volt. That said. The Owen Dyneto guru of the world is Glenn Cheaney (Gcheaney@aol.com). 5770 East Midland, Wichita, Kansas 67216. He did both my generator & starter for my '27 343.   He may have passed on by now.

 

[Packardkiwi]

You do not have to rewind the starter motor to suit 12 volt.

Connect a Bendix spring in series with the motor terminal. You will find that the voltage then drops to about 6 volt during starting. if you do not do this and put the full 12 volt on you risk smashing up the Bendix mechanism.

 

Re. the generator, you can get the field windings rewound to suit 12 volt and if not already use a modern regulator to control the field. You can leave the armature as it is but the current output will be less.

 

By the way, I am looking for a big 8 generator armature for my 640 as the excising one is damaged beyond repair.

I run a 12 Volt alternator off the output shaft of the gearbox at present but would like to go back to the generator setup if possible.

If you are interested in the alternator setup I can provide you with a DXF drawing for the "piggyback" pulley mounted on the output flange. (if 1935 gear box output arrangement is the same as the 1929 one, I am not sure about this).

[HH56]

On 4/9/2017 at 10:54 PM, Packardkiwi said:

I run a 12 Volt alternator off the output shaft of the gearbox at present

That is an interesting approach and maybe something to consider for those wanting to have AC yet keep the electrical at 6v and engine compt as original looking as possible (aside from the compressor).  Several who didn't want to convert have added a second 12v battery to run only the AC using varying approaches to keeping it charged.  Extra alternators run off an extra groove in the compressor pulley is one approach as well as running the alternator off the same belt as the generator is another. Others just periodically recharge the battery manually using a battery charger.  I would think a small alternator hidden under the car could work nicely in that situation. Any issues with the alternator running backwards when going in reverse and does the 29 have a driveshaft with a sliding coupling or flange at the transmission end?  If not that slide action might be a show stopper on some of the later cars but would still like to know more about how you did it if you have any photos you could post. 

Edited April 11, 2017 by HH56 (see edit history)

[Packardkiwi]

Here is a picture of the alternator drive setup on our 640. I used a Japanese alternator driven by a M section V belt. Alternators can run in both directions.

The driveshaft is not the original Packard one as the car is fitted with a Mitchel overdrive.The gearbox output flange is original.The piggy back pulley is mounted on the gearbox side of the flange.

 

By the way, an advantage of changing to 12 volt is that the availability of an electronic ignition conversion is much greater .I fitted a Pertronics chip in the distributor. Never had to re time the ignition since.

[HH56]

Thanks for posting the photo.  I think a smaller permanent magnet alternator could be made to fit and work nicely in the more confined space of a later car.