Thanks, Mike, very good to know.

I don't recommend drilling and tapping the head for 14mm plugs. Reason being that you will not get good thread length as the 10mm plugs had a very short thread length. The 14 mm plugs will then stick through the head too far and be in danger of being struck by the exhaust valve. Of course you can fix that with a thick copper washer under the plug but that is a bit cheesy for a racing engine.

A good bet is to find the latest head you can find as Packard finessed the combustion chambers year by year for flow and turbulence. The 54s are different than 53s, even tho rated for the same compression on the 327s.

Hi Mike: I get the bushings from the local auto parts store, they run about $50 for a set. NAPA # 274-8889 Want some?

The spring liner is about 1.5--2.0 mm thick. It should be available near you from someone who does springs.

I just checked a set of Grants, a brand I have installed in the straight eights dozens of times with perfect success. The top and second ring both measured .162 wide, so your new rings will work just fine.

Your old ones have worn that much as they are supposed to.

If I recall you had complained in another post of very slow cranking after installing the new rings. That is hardly surprising as there can be a lot of friction before the new rings seat. That being said, there are three things that can help:

1-make sure the grooves are completely free of carbon as a little bit will make the rings stand proud.

2- don't hone the cylinders with coarse stones. I often go back by hand with a red scuffy pad to smooth the finish in the cylinders after honing. Then clean the bores with soap and water vigorously. The pistons slide down the bore noticeably easier.

3) I always use a mixture of half oil and half STP as a cylinder lube, and in the piston grooves as well. The stuff is darn slippery. I even pour a bit on top of the pistons just before putting the head on. This gives great compression for an easy if somewhat smokey startup.

I really don't believe it is the same car. Pay particular note where the window sills meet the windshield pillar. On the Peron car the sill turns up to form a radius there, and have beautiful grained moldings. Not so on the yellow car. And who would take out the beautiful red leather and put in cracked diaper brown leather? Notice also that the Peron car shows very little sheet metal above the windshield glass. The Peterson car has much more.

There is some sort of fooling going on here.

Here are some shots of the hood process. I use 2 hoods to do it and end up with something much lighter and stronger than the "real" Carry-beans hood. No hood prop is necessary. I gently work the top hood layer with a hammer and dolly to sharpen the existing creases and then trim the edges of the top layer to fit the bottom hood. The top layer ends up sitting about 1.5" further to the rear than the bottom. In one of the photos you can see where I cut holes in the bottom hood to blow cool air down on the carb, and onto the approximate area of the air filter (cross the engine type).

Attach file:

---

  (96.37 KB)


  (89.06 KB)


  (84.37 KB)


  (90.78 KB)


  (86.27 KB)


  (91.01 KB)

A couple more "in service" photos. Was in wintry north central PA last week to look at a Kaiser Traveler. Tried out some snow covered back roads in the Thousanddollarwonder. Old girl did great.

Second photo was this afternoon when my buddy and I went to Carlisle to pick up a motorcycle he just bought. I can report that Torsion Level still levels the load and smooths the road.

Attach file:

---

  (87.35 KB)


  (113.78 KB)

That car probably has a 3.23. The only thing taller that Packard offered was a 3.07 on the Deluxe with Ultra--and I have never seen one yet.

I'm not sure what you are after. With a 502 engine you aren't worried about gas mileage are you? Your bigger worry is twisting off those axle shafts. You would probably be better off putting a Ford axle under it.

very impressed with the bodywork. Looks like you saved one most of us couldn't. Love the orange. Not so sure about the dark grey top--how 'bout cream so the car looks like a Dreamscicle?

A nice thing to do for your rear springs is to put new spring liner in between the leaves--especially if they are squeaking. You can probably find that in Germany as it nothing more than polypropylene sheet if I recall. You want the rubbing surfaces of the leaves to be smooth and shiny. New spring eye bushings are also cheap and will add a lot to the smoothness of the ride.