OK. That's good to know. That area was pretty rusty so I'll try to clean it up some more and double check those numbers. Thanks.

I finally got around to wire brushing the engine number off on the '54 so I could read it and now I am kind of stumped. The number on the block above the starter starts with H400. If I understand it correctly, that would make the motor a '49. Can anyone verify that? Additionally, the
transmission does not have a dipstick that comes up into the engine compartment.

Anyhoo, work is progressing on the '51. We got the new valve guide in today, finished cutting and grinding valve seats, and got half the valves back in before stopping for the day. I'm hoping to be able to try firing her up next weekend possibly.

Yep. I've already done that. My dad has a really nice old valve grinder and everything needed to do a complete valve job so that's what I did. Ground the valves, cut and refaced the seats and started putting everything back together this afternoon. Reinstalling the valves has been a little trying. I don't think I have quite the right spring compressor, but am making due with what we have. We got half the valves in today before we quit. Hopefully we can have everything back together and ready to try firing up by the end of next weekend.

So today we finally got around to working on getting the cracked valve guide out. My dad made a driver on his big metal lathe that worked really sweet. I ordered a new guide from Merritt's and have it sitting in the freezer. Hopefully it goes in tomorrow as easily as the old one came out!

Thanks for the replies. I will definitely scour the old posts and see what I can find. Owen, I was looking at the service manual and they had a specific tool for pressing in the new guide that had a collar that bottoms out against either the head or valve seat, not sure which, that insured the new guide was driven to the right depth. I guess I'll just measure the old one and try the get it close and then check clearances as you suggested. Thanks!

I also posted this question on my blog but I thought more people might see it here. I have a 1951 200 with a 288 engine that has a cracked valve guide that needs replaced. Is there anyone else who has done this that would care to share any tips or tricks to this job? I read through the service manual which of course lists some special tools which I don't have. The main thing I'm concerned with is how do I make sure I have the new guide driven into the right depth without the appropriate tool?

Jim--the engine in the '54 is a 327. It is cast on the head. Does that mean this is probably not the original engine in this car or did they also use the 327 in this car? Another thought I had, the '54 has an ultramatic in it. Is this the same transmission as the ultramatic in my '51 or do they differ in some way?

On the subject of the power brakes, it seems that consensus is to stick with the stock manual brakes. Thanks for the opinions guys. Good to know!

Thank you all for the welcome and the tips. Today we got both the manifolds and the carburetor off. Blew out all rust and gunk and generally cleaned things up. I did find out the fuel pump is working so that's a plus. Bad news is after cleaning things out a bit we discovered a cracked valve guide. Has anyone out there ever had to pull and replace one. Is there a specialty tool for this. If I could see a pic of the appropriate tool, I could probably fabricate something, but right now, I can't quite visualize what its going to take to get it out. I also should have mentioned earlier that I also have a 1954 parts car. Not sure what model. VN# on doorplate is 5452-2990. maybe someone can give me some more info on that. I'm not sure what all will interchange from the 1954 to 1951. One of the things the '54 has is power brakes. Does anyone know if I could make the power brake booster from the '54 work on my '51?

I tried to post a picture along with my registry entry, but I couldn't get it to work for some reason. I will email you a photo when I get a chance. Thanks.

Hi everyone. I just purchased my first Packard at an auction recently. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. There were several 50s era Packards as well as some Henry J's there with this one being in the best condition of the lot. None were even bringing close to junk price and were being bought up by scrappers. This car has some rust on it, mainly the rear quarters, but the floor pans, trunk and frame are solid. It has a 288 with Ultramatic transmission. What caught my attention is how straight the car is. There is hardly a ding on it anywhere. It is in original condition and is complete, with no missing parts. The odometer is showing 61,000. I just didn't want to see this car go to the crusher. Anyway, I bought it for practically nothing, and hauled it home. The paperwork with the car indicates it has not been licensed since 1970. The first thing my dad and I did after getting it home was check to see if the engine was free. It wasn't locked up, but it wasn't free either, so off came the head. All of the pistons were free, but all the valves but one were stuck solid. So we took off the valve covers and sprayed everything down with lube top and bottom every day for a week. Long story short, with a lot of sweat and elbow grease, we finally got all the valves out. I ground all the valves on my dad's valve grinder (they all needed just a little touch up), and that's as far as we've gotten so far. The starter does work and will turn the motor over. This weekend I'm hoping to clean up the valve seats, put everything back together and see if it will fire. This is going to be a pretty big project I think just to get her roadworthy. Pretty much every wire has been rotted off or chewed off the car, so I know its going to need complete rewiring at somepoint, but for now I just like to see if the motor and transmission are good. I'll keep posting as I go along!

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