Re: Engine & Gearbox Rebuild

Posted by humanpotatohybrid On 2024/7/5 7:35:34

Jazz,

First of all, you CAN get parts in Australia. It's just that your mechanic does not know the Packard vendors.

It was my understanding that that car was in good mechanical condition. So what symptoms developed? There's 2 things here, engine and transmission.

These engines tend to be very reliable once they run well. I suspect you are running it either on too low of an octane, or the oil pump is giving you problems. Too low octane will cause pinging, and poor oil pressure or quality will cause noisy tappets which is more the sound you are describing. If this is the case, installing the Oldsmobile oil pump conversion is all that is required.

On your trans, you have the push button transmission. So I need to know how you are going into gear. Were you hitting D and the transmission did not want to upshift? It possible the motor linkage is a bit out of adjustment and you actually went into Low. Did you try driving in H?

First thing to fix is the engine issues. Make sure you are running it on high octane fuel. Then, if you have noisy tappets, you need to just replace the oil pump with that conversion.

What is somewhat alarming to me is that your mechanic is suggesting rebuilds/swaps without even properly troubleshooting your issues. I would suggest finding a different mechanic that can tell you what is ACTUALLY wrong with your engine, and we can help you from there. Once the engine is good, we can figure out the transmission.

I would call up shops specializing in classic cars saying along the lines of:
"Hi, I have a 56 Packard. The engine is making a noise that sounds like...

"I can source whatever parts are needed for it, I just need it diagnosed properly, then I can get you what's needed for the repair and I have a service manual you can use."

You could even direct them here if you want... the V8 engines are obscure to most people but very common in Packard-land.

Eventually you will find one that can work on it. The engines especially are very typical of the time. The Ultramatics not so, so it's best if we get the engine happy, then we can troubleshoot the transmission problem.

P.S. Have you joined the Packard club and the Australia chapter? That's who would know what shops to use. Not sure there's any Ultramatic specialists over there but surely there's more V8 engine cars that have needed work in the past.

P.P.S. Kev gave good advice, for a MANUAL transmission. (Since you called it a gearbox in the title of your post, that implies it's a manual.) Anyway, please do NOT flush it with gear oil... that's all... FYI your Ultramatic needs Type F fluid. But the fluid in it is likely still good.