Re: 1950 3speed OD reliabilty ?

Posted by HH56 On 2015/8/17 21:21:35

IMO, your transmission setup will be quite reliable as long as it is in decent shape and hasn't been too neglected in the past.

Packard standard transmissions were quite robust and the OD should be a Borg-Warner R11 which was a well proven unit and used by many other mfgs besides Packard. The biggest issue with standard trans on the pre 51 Packards was the shift linkage. It is long heavy rods and lots of connections and wasn't designed for fast, sloppy or your typical speed shifting. Needs a bit of care and precision when changing gears to avoid issues with the linkage.

I'm not sure I would put a 6 cyl Chevy engine in as that sounds like quite an expense making it fit. Also sounds like a fairly small engine for a heavy car. Out of curiosity how does it compare to Packards 135 or 150 brake HP and 230 and 270 ft/lb on the Deluxe 288/327 engines.

I think I would find a proper Packard engine instead. The 288/327 family of engines has a very good reputation. It came in a 5 main version used in most models or a 9 main 327 version on 51-53 senior cars. The 9 main 327 was enlarged to 359 for 54 seniors but other than the bore and stroke, mechanically the engines were basically unchanged from the 1948 22nd series introduction until replaced by the V8 which was introduced in 55. Lots of cars and lots of miles with those engines.