Re: 1949 Custom Eight

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2013/10/16 13:57:45

These are topics with lots of person preferences in many directions. My opinions:

Your car has a low compression ratio and any gasoline above 87 octane is just wasting your money unless you want to advance your spark a bit beyond the factory recommendation which might give you 3-5 more horsepower, hardly worth the effort and expense IMO.

Your car has hydraulic lifters so detergent oil is a must, and before you use it, I'd recommend strongly that you drop the oil pan, clean it and oil pump pickup screen, and change the filter which is just a standard NAPA filter cartridge. As to which viscosity, it depends a bit on the ambient temperatures in the area the car will be operating. For warmer climates I'd consider a straight SAE 30 detergent, or perhaps SAE15-40 light diesel engine oil like Rotella or Delvac. If it will be consistently in a cooler climate SAE10-30 should be fine. I'd steer clear of SAE 10-40.

The transmission fluid closest to the formulation of the original Type A is Type F followed closely by Type FA and both are easily available. If you know it's been rebuilt with modern GM friction materials Dexron should be an OK choice.

When you describe your car, you should refer to it as a 23rd series 1949 to differentiate it from a 22nd series 1949. I've owned Custom 8s of both series - they are among the finest cars Packard made postwar and best of luck with it.