Re: Top Speeds

Posted by su8overdrive On 2023/2/17 21:25:30

John Fogarty/CCR-- The single best thing you can do for a Packard, any old car, is add overdrive, which is better than a high speed rear axle alone, because you reserve around town and steep hill tractability, it easier on your clutch/pressure plate. Since your car left the factory without overdrive-- first available in Packards your year -- you'll have a slightly taller final drive ratio than one delivered with overdrive. Far better in today's world, since in 1939, high gear flexibility was the mark of refinement, people liked to get into high and leave it there, and speed limits vastly lower.
In short, it's hard to overgear a Packard, but a real drag to run out of gears and you can always shift down or kick it out of overdrive.

Jeff Adkins, Moose Motors, Penngrove, CA, (Petaluma, in the North Bay Area) will have what you need. (707) 792-9985, packardguy54@sbcglobal.net. Tell him Mike Scott referred you. Tho' your car's optional overdrive was mechanical R-6, the electrical R-9 of 1940 through early '48, R-11 later '48 through '54 are better, R-11s slightly simplified, more plentiful so less money.

You'll have a car you can easily cruise 60-70 all day, less engine wear, better fuel economy, a more relaxed proposition, no downside.

A runner up for best thing for an old car would be radial tires.

Otherwise, double aught (00) solid copper battery cables, available at any big rig supply house, ends crimped and soldered, battery disconnect switch, the Cole Hersee brass marine sort available at any NAPA store or online ideal, rated for far more amps than your starter draws. Mount it on the floor just in front of the driver's seat. Avoid the cheap battery post mounted switches which require opening and closing your hood.

Flush with alcohol your brake system, use only DOT-5 silicone brake fluid since it is non-hydroscopic; will not draw moisture from the ambient air, which is what corrodes master and brake cylinders. Regardless of brand, all made by Dow-Corning. The USPS and military fleets use nothing but.

Part of a complete tune up in the day was checking head and manifold torque. Do so engine warm with accurate torque wrench. Do not overdo, esp. the manifold nuts because you want it snug but able to expand and contract.

Make sure your manifold heat control valve free. Introduce some graphite powder via kerosene to work it into both ends.

Drive car, relax. Your engine was flogged night and day in heavy 141-inch wheelbased 1948-50 bathtub New York City taxis, in boats 1947-51, after that in White trucks, a durable little mill. If never exposed to a hard freeze (two consecutive nights below 30 with wind chill factor), avoid antifreeze like the plague. Use only reverse osmosis water, available in gallon jugs at CVS, Rite Aid, etc. and a good rust/corrosion inhibitor like www.no-rosion.com or Red Line Water Wetter. For all you need to know about cooling system health, read the tech link on No-Rosion's site.

Like all inline sixes, your 245 is in perfect inherent balance. A wise auld mechanic's approach was to adjust valves .007-.009 intake, .010 -.012 with a go/no go feeler gauge since a trace of valve click better than scorched valves.
I long had a '40 One Twenty and the six essentially the same minus two cylinders and it ran like the wind. Your old body style has better ergonomics than the Clippers.

In the day, a Packard service dept. in most good sized towns, and any general garage able to adjust valves, aiming for dead silent valve train understandable, but even then, smarter to set them a trace loose. Once done, you can forget about them. You may be okay already, but check them.

10W/30 motor oil, any name brand, no ZDDP additives necessary since zinc levels back to where they were in the '70s and you can search for expanded debunking of that in the tab upper right home page here.

Keep it simple. There are some knowledgeable gents here who can provide specific info on any facet of your '39 Six.

In answer to your question as to personal speeds, be prepared, if you get answers, for the usual testosterone bump ups. Again, common sense. Listen to your engine, "feel" your car. I once got 22.5 mpg from my '40 120, 4.09 per non-overdrive models(in place of stumpier 4.36 & OD), 2.95:1 overall OD engaged, Denman bias plies 32 psi cold inc. much 65 mph cruising. Yes, really.

My '47 Super, having the 356 engine, is a slattern, a lush. With 1941-42 Buick Century/Roadmaster, 1940-47 356-engined Packards w/ OD on standard 127" wb the only cars of the Forties able to best the ton off a showroom floor. Being comfortable at 70+ is mute, unless empty roads, because brakes that were good then, even into the '60s, no match for today's four-wheel power discs w/ ABS driven by distracted, texting, cellphone nattering folk w/ no conception of the most basic physics.