OK, this is where we're at now. First of all, made a mistake in previous post, compressed air test showed possible leaking exhaust valve not intake valve. This turns out to be the case. Removed head and found mark on underside of head at the #6 exhaust valve location and #6 exhaust valve is bent! Bend, however, is towards opposite side of valve as mark on head so I assume valves like lifters rotate during normal running conditions? This is hard to believe as after many repeated measurements with a caliper I see a clearance of 0.005" plus the thickness of the head gasket. Measured the maximum open measurement of an exhaust valve face to the block face (.250") and the depth of the head combustion chamber casting from head face at the location of the exhaust valve at 0.30" plus approximately 0.004 or so of a compressed head gasket. Have no problem buying a new head but the thought that crosses my mine is there any way a hydraulic lifter can push valve higher under actual running oil pressure compared to oil pressure during testing? (Unable to load pictures of valve and head, message comes up that file size is too big.)

Finally got valve cover off for #5-8 cylinders. Used remote trigger and all 8 valves look straight and springs and keepers are in place and there was no clattering. Some of the lifters rotated a bit others did not. All parts and wall surfaces were very clean and appeared to be well oiled. So I guess now the head has to come back off and see what's happening?

Thanks, finally had success had to disconnect the water tube from the water pump which gave me enough room the lift the panel out the top. Yes, mine is one of the very early models thus the one piece. I'm going to have the panel cut in half at the local sheet metal shop and have a vertical tab spot welded to over lap the other half. West, since I want to make this look original, it appears from your photo that the split is along the first of the two center vertical groves? Do they over lap the entire way and are they screwed together? What additional screws and bolts if any were added in the split panel setup? Looked at your links and saw the picture of you sitting on the 180 club sedan, that's the Packard we are talking about here . What color was you dad's mine is Wilshire green?

Have one dim head lamp so it tried to remove the outer rim to replace lamp. Removed the screw at the bottom of the rim and can't get any movement on the rim at all. Tried twisting the blade of a screwdriver between the rim and the lower lamp body but nothing even budges, any ideas?
Thanks

Thanks, and of course, mine does have side mounts! Have removed the carburetor, fuel pump and the front lower corner of the splash apron still gets bound up against the radiator and the water pump discharge pipe. About ready to cut the front corner of the apron off. Will try you idea first, of trying to get it out over the shock absorber. Good grief!

Thanks everyone for the feed back. Yes, I believe the head was milled before as there was a .060 stamped on the head surface. Thought I had correctly used a micrometer and determined there was plenty of clearance between the valve and the head. There was carbon on the top of the combustion chamber which I wire brushed off. I did not see any valve marks in the carbon. The new head gasket seemed to be at least as thick as the original. The new gasket was copper and iron faced with a what appeared to be an asbestos filler. But yes, I should have also dry fitted the head as well.The next step is to see what's going on with the valves lifters, springs and keepers. Having a hard time getting clearance to get the inside fender cover off so in can inspect the valve trane. Has has anyone done this on a 40 with the 356 engine?

Just replaced leaking head gasket and on start up hear loud tapping noise which finally settled out. Head gasket seems to be holding well but running very rough at idle. Did compression test an #6 cylinder was "0". Other cylinders were 90 to 95 lbs. This was compared to 105 to 115 before new head gasket. Also had the head milled .012". Any ideas?

Re: 1940 180 with 356 engine

Postby Bill Butterworth ? Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:00 pm
Finally got around to taking head off. Some surprises, first it turned out to be just a one man job, that's the good news. The bad news is it was very difficult to get the head loose from one stud. It took about a half hour before I gave up and had lunch. First though before lunch I soaked the stud with BP Buster. Still had problems after lunch finally solved problem by putting nut back on stud and gently hitting it from all sides with a hammer, that did it. To remove the head by myself just worked the head up above the studs with a pair of 2x4's on edge one towards the front the other towards the back and used a piece plywood approximately 1'x2' resting on the 2'x4's and the finder with a towel and scrap piece of ridged foam to protect the fender. Then just rotated the head up on the plywood and slid it off! After all that concern the weight of the head was inconsequential. Now on to the cleaning and re installation.
Bill

JW, thanks good advise.
Bill

Have a badly leaking stem on the heater shut off valve. Has anyone had success in repacking the stem on this valve. Not sure if this valve is the original style or not. Is there a picture out there of the original type valve?
Bill