Re: 51 Patrician - Advice on next step

Posted by Larry51 On 2013/8/31 20:41:39

Good to see another '51 Packard having some attention paid to it, especially a Patrician.

You'll find the full Workshop Manual is available here online. Very helpful and will assist you in getting the engine working again (provided there is no catastrophic problem with it). You can do most tasks with the engine in place, right up to fitting new bearings, pistons and rings etc with oil pan removed. Initially free up any stuck valves/lifters, assess again and if the engine appears viable you could slip the head back on 'temporarily' and re-test compression. With a squirt of oil in each bore, a healthy reading would show perhaps just ring wear and/or poorly seated valves as being the problem. You could initially just lap the valves in if they didn't need seat/valve refacing.

Lets hope the readings improve from your initial ones. They could do so if engine has been sitting for a very long time.

First thing to do if and when you get it started is attach an oil pressure gauge to ensure pressure is reasonable. As mentioned the oil strainer gauze on pick-up can be blocked so cleaning that is advisable.

There are quite a few Ultramatic experts on this forum so when the time comes you can expect help! Sufficient to say that Ultramatics are quite reliable, and parts including full rebuild kits are available. Removing the oil pan enables a quick assessment of what could be wrong. The usual indicators like pieces of lining, metal filings or shards, loads of sludge, colour of fluid, etc would tell a story. Manual (here online) is excellent. If it doesn't work there are many ways to isolate a problem, including doing a series of pressure tests etc. Manual has good detail. Best of luck with the investigations.