Re: Jeff's 48 Custom 8 Victoria Project
Posted by bigmoparjeff On 2013/7/1 0:25:22
Fast forward to springtime 2012. My lift was occupied all winter by a truck that I had bought for myself, which created a backlog of work on customer's daily drivers. Now with all that out of the way it was finally time to get the Packard into the shop. First on the list was to get the drivetrain out to assess the condition of the engine. The toughest part of the engine removal process was getting the transmission out of the car. It looks like it comes right out until you discover how long the input shaft is. When the trans bottoms out in the center of the X frame, there's still and inch or two of input shaft sticking into the bell housing. I ended up tipping the rear of the engine way down so the trans would go under the frame.
Disassembling the engine was straightforward, though I have to say it's quite a workout to remove the 38 head studs. We had been told that the car stuck a few valves, but I wasn't expecting to find three of the lifter bodies blown apart. Some of the cam lobes were chewed up, so a reconditioned cam was put on the shopping list, along with a timing set, all new bearings, rings, valve springs and a few other items. The car came with 8 new and 8 reconditioned valves, along with a gasket set. Going by the book, the engine could have used a re-bore with new pistons, but the new owner decided that we should be ok with just the new rings. It would have cost at least another $1300 for the parts and additional machine work. There was also some major damage to one of the valve seats, and it would have to be replaced. This meant that I was going to have to find a shop who had a machine that could handle the big Packard engine. I found that a machine shop only 15 minutes from me could handle the job, so I loaded up the block and brought it over. When I arrived at the shop I saw an older Packard engine that had recently been dropped off for repair. The block and crank were checked for cracks and found to be ok. To get the machine work done I would need new exhaust guides and I would need 16 good lifter bodies to go with the new cam. This is where the waiting game began. I ordered five used lifters from Kanter which took a couple weeks to arrive, then I sent all the lifters to Egge Machine to be reground. It would be many months before I would see my lifters again.
May to June 2012. Engine removal and disassembly.
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Disassembling the engine was straightforward, though I have to say it's quite a workout to remove the 38 head studs. We had been told that the car stuck a few valves, but I wasn't expecting to find three of the lifter bodies blown apart. Some of the cam lobes were chewed up, so a reconditioned cam was put on the shopping list, along with a timing set, all new bearings, rings, valve springs and a few other items. The car came with 8 new and 8 reconditioned valves, along with a gasket set. Going by the book, the engine could have used a re-bore with new pistons, but the new owner decided that we should be ok with just the new rings. It would have cost at least another $1300 for the parts and additional machine work. There was also some major damage to one of the valve seats, and it would have to be replaced. This meant that I was going to have to find a shop who had a machine that could handle the big Packard engine. I found that a machine shop only 15 minutes from me could handle the job, so I loaded up the block and brought it over. When I arrived at the shop I saw an older Packard engine that had recently been dropped off for repair. The block and crank were checked for cracks and found to be ok. To get the machine work done I would need new exhaust guides and I would need 16 good lifter bodies to go with the new cam. This is where the waiting game began. I ordered five used lifters from Kanter which took a couple weeks to arrive, then I sent all the lifters to Egge Machine to be reground. It would be many months before I would see my lifters again.
May to June 2012. Engine removal and disassembly.
Attach file:
(82.96 KB)
(62.31 KB)
(71.42 KB)
(95.05 KB)
(83.78 KB)
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(73.07 KB)
(128.50 KB)
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