Greetings, Men-Who-Own-One,

Just pulled down a 374" with STD bore and found .003" OS piston pins. Anyone ever seen this from the factory? If not, wonder why anyone would ream pistons and rods and not rebore?

Second thought: I've got a dozen V8s in stock. When disassembled, seven of them have had some crank work; either mains, rods or both .010", but not one of them was rebored.

Third item: For at least twenty years Kanter has listed .003" and .006" OS V8 piston pins in their catalog and more recently, on line. Last week, I ordered three sets. The salesman called back and said they didn't have them and probably never did. He said as far as he or any of the salesmen could remember, I was the first ever to ask for them.

thnx, jack vines

Last set from Terrill Machine was $115 for mains and $96 for rods. Kanter gets $132 for mains and $113.60 for rods.

I've looked at every interchange in the books and nothing seems to fit. Finding the right ID is easy, but then the OD is slightly different, or the locating tangs are in the wrong location.

BTW, I need one-only .010" rod bearing. Somehow, I've got an old set with only seven. Anyone have a lonesome rod bearing at a $10 price?

thnx, jack vines

Rod bearings or main bearings is bearings, if they are of the correct OD, ID and width. However, can't picture any rod bearing which would work as the rear main/thrust bearing. Since the rear main is available only as part of the set, what would be the point? FWIW, other than the exorbitant cost, the King main bearing set we have is as good as the best we could hope to find.

Now, rod bearings are another thing entirely. I'd rather find some main bearings as rod bearing replacements. I haven't yet had any trouble with the white-box-Made-in-Taiwan rod bearings, but I'm building a couple of high-horsepower engines. Prolly, we'd all probably be more comfortable with a known-quality supplier. However, same problem - to get eight rod bearings, we'd have to buy two sets of V8 mains or three sets of 4-cyl bearings and throw away the thrust bearing(s).

thnx, jack vines

I respectfully offer another opinion to Eric's on this -"For that price you can buy custom forged pistons, and have a piston that's 1000 times better than anything that Egge, Silvolite, or anyone else who makes cast pistons."

IMHO, for 99% of all Packard V8s, the current best-science piston would be a hypereutectic cast piston. They could be fit to the same .0005"-.0015" as the OEM pistons.

Very few Packard V8 owners need or can use the strength of forged pistons and would not appreciate the cold start clatter common to the greater clearances forged pistons require.

thnx, jack vines

The formula says a 374" needs only 415 CFM @ 4800 RPMs. Packard did claim 20 more horsepower on the 374" Caribbean. Here are Packard's advertised horsepower figures:

374? w/1-4bbl - 290 HP @ 4500 - 400 lbs/ft torque @ 2900
374" w/2-4bbl - 310 hp @ 4800 - 405 lbs/ft torque @ 3000

My guess would be if in fact there were twenty more horsepower, it comes from the 2-4bbl intake being more efficient, not from the extra CFM. It would be interesting to put one on a dyno and see if the secondaries open and if so, how much. In theory the four primaries could supply sufficient air.

Very few stock Packard V8s will even turn 4800 RPMs. The valve springs were not up to controlling the long, heavy intake valves. The 352"s in many overdrive '56 Golden Hawks died trying. All three of the stick shifts I have pulled down showed evidence of dropped valves.

I just bought a 1956 Motor Trend with road test comparisons of the '56 Corvette, the '56 Thunderbird and the '56 GH. They made much of the Corvette 2-4bbl 265" having far too much carburetion for street driving. On that little 265", GM put two of the same Carter WCFBs used on the 352" Packard. The Golden Hawk was much quicker and faster than the Corvette and the Thunderbird.

thnx, jack vines

FWIW, the accepted formula says a 352" Packard can only ingest 366 CFM @ 4500 RPMs. Any carb larger than a 500 CFM will never fully open the secondaries. A 650 - 800 CFM effectively becomes an oversized 2-bbl.

thnx, jack vines

Kanter could cover 90+% of the need with 4.030" and 4.155" sizes. If a 352" needs to go more than .030" the blocks are still common as dirt, so just get another block, or bore it to 4.125" and use OEM 374" pistons. I have yet to open a 374" core which has been re-bored.

thnx, jack vines

Everything I know about the sizes comes from the Edelbrock web site I referenced above. Here is a copy:

THUNDER SERIES AVS? CARBURETOR
The next step up from our Performer Series Carburetors is our Thunder Series AVS? which was designed and calibrated to deliver optimum street performance in hundreds of applications. Primary and secondary booster clusters offer the most accurate and up-to-date calibration available for today's fuels and octane levels. The Thunder Series' unique Qwik-Tune Secondary Air Valve allows for limitless calibration of the secondary circuit with simple hand tools while on your vehicle. It can be easily adjusted - in seconds - to suit your application... no extra parts required to achieve optimum performance. They are available with either manual or electric choke in sizes of 500, 600, and 800 cfm (cubic feet per minute) for optimum performance for small-block or big-block V8s. Click here now for Thunder Series carburetor applications

Also, no knock on Edelbrock - any carb can have problems. I've probably rebuilt fifty AFBs and Edelbrocks. Some of them had been used, abused, left out in the rain until they were unsalvagable junk. One rare AFB from the R2 Studebaker took $450 in parts and labor by the time I got it back in shape.

thnx, jack vines

An Edelbrock can be made to fit, with fiddling with an adapter plate and the throttle linkage.

Question: How do you know the Edelbrock is in any better condition than your present carb? Lot of work if it has its own issues.

Minor point, "double-pumper" is not correct terminology for any Edelbrock Thunder series carbs. Also, AFAIK, they only come in 500, 600 and 800 CCFM.http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_new/mc/carbs_acc/carbs_access_main.shtml

thnx, jack vines

Hi, Don,

These are just plain old Egge's with the infamous "MadDogMarkUP" attached for eBay selling costs.

AFAIK, there are NONE other than Egge Packard V8 pistons out there.


thnx, jack vines