Hot rod mag engine masters- Packard engine!

[73c34me]

Just got the new hot rod mag w/ the engine masters coverage. Loved the vintage class, featuring a PACKARD! Any connection to our forum resident Packard expert?

[PackardV8]

Yes, I partnered on that build. Had a schedule conflict which prevented me from entering so I supplied many of the hard parts used.

[Sparksalot]

Fun stuff! Huffing and puffing is all that any cylinders we've ever touched can do. When the hanging on Packard bought Studebaker to last a few minutes more Studebaker had a V8 with a clamp bolt at the wrist pin.

[panic]

And Chevrolet still had them in 1962.

[73c34me]

I really enjoyed learning about this. Thank you for your contributions to make it happen!

Yes, I partnered on that build. Had a schedule conflict which prevented me from entering so I supplied many of the hard parts used.

[Dan Timberlake]

And Chevrolet still had them in 1962.

Small point -

Appears Chevy used a bolt to clamp the 6 cylinders' split rod eye tigh on the wrist pin..
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/sh ... m0636.html

Studebaker V8s used a bolt with a taper machined in one side to wedge the wrist pin against the rod eye.
http://ebid.s3.amazonaws.com/upload_big ... 37-248.jpg
In the 30s and early 40s Studebaker rods has a longitudinal split , perhaps to provide some extra flexibility, to let the eye conform to the thick walled pin.
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/MloAAOSwa ... s-l500.jpg


Not sure how Packard did it. Pages i6 thru 18 here suggests In 1955 Packard V8s used bushed rods and some kind of lock rings in the piston.
http://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/d ... Engine.pdf

[PackardV8]

Yes, Studebaker used a wedged bolt. I've converted several to SBF Ford diameter pressed pins and the rod works find. Don't think the vertically split with clamping bolt would work with pressed pins.

Yes, the Packard V8 used conventional bushed rods and circlips in the pistons to retain the pin. I've removed the bushings, honed the ID to BBF and used Ford truck pistons with pressed pins.

ja

[pdq67]

Yes, I partnered on that build. Had a schedule conflict which prevented me from entering so I supplied many of the hard parts used.

Jack,

How much will the big Packard overbore??

pdq67

[Truckedup]

The Willys Jeep flathead and later F head 4 cylinder used from the early 50's till about 71 had pinch bolts on the rod small ends.

[psychomotors]

Just read the articles last night and enjoyed all the vintage engine builds. Very interesting stuff.

[PackardV8]

Yes, I partnered on that build. Had a schedule conflict which prevented me from entering so I supplied many of the hard parts used.

Jack, How much will the big Packard overbore?? pdq67

The Packard V8 came in 320" (3.8125"), 352" (4.00") and 374" (4.125"); each was a different casting, so cylinder wall thickness averages ..275"-.300" in all of them. Back when, I bored some .250" over and they ran and lived. However, the block is so tall, the cylinders are long and the cooling systems have had fifty years to rust, so these days I don't bore more than .125".

I had one really bad situation where a .060" bore opened a hole in a rear cylinder. Evidently the block had sat upright for years and moisture had collected back there. It was fortunate the hole opened, rather than being hidden just beneath the surface of the bore. A sleeve fixed it, but I no longer trust sonic testers to find that one weak area.

FWIW, Adney Brown is finishing up a 3.875" welded stroker forged crank for me and with a bore of 4.185" it will be a 427".

[Outlaw383]

That should be a nice build ! I remember as a kid my father had a 42 or 43 Packard
that he had held onto for years. It had an inline 8 cylinder . That was a BIG car.

[rapidride2]

My father had a 1955 Packard 400 in the mid 70s. He also had a 40s packard limo in the early 70s that was rumored to once be actress Tallulah Bankheads old car. A literal BEAST of a car.

[PackardV8]

For many years now, we make and sell a kit to convert the Packard V8 to accept an Oldsmobile oil pump. Each time we sell all the stock, I think everyone who's ever going to build a Packard V8 must already have one, but without any advertising whatsoever, the next batch sells.

(A bit OT, but the warehouse from whom we buy the Olds pumps said, "You guys must be the largest Oldsmobile V8 rebuilder around. You buy more of those pumps than any of our other customers." He didn't believe me when I told him the Olds pumps were going on Packard V8s in Scandanavia, Tasmania and all regions in between.)

We also can rebuild the Packard V8 oil pump, using NOS Melling rebuild kits for the early Cadillac OHV8. Those kits are NLA, so when the few remaining on the shelf are used, that option will require rethinking. We've saved all the old Packard parts to pick over, should that ever become necessary.

[Schurkey]

Are you saving the vacuum pump that's built-into the Packard oil pump?

I've heard that the vacuum pump was a "feature" they should have left out--or at least not combined it with the oil pump.