Re: 1956 Packard (maybe 1955?) questions
Posted by BigKev On 2010/1/16 2:42:52
Posted at the request of Roscoe Stelford:
I am the owner of the Executive shown at Branson with the Packard Fuel Injection setup and I would like to ask Turbopackman about his experience with Packard Fuel Injection as he seems to have a question on its authenticity? How many have you seen that you can pass judgement if it is "cobbled together" or original?
"I'm thinking it's a collection of parts that someone cobbled together to try and pass off as a factory setup".
I acquired this setup in the mid 60's from a person in Detroit who got it from a former Packard employee. This person researched it and confirmed it was made by Packard.
In the early 70's a friend from Detroit put me in touch with another person who had some of the files from the engineer who worked on the project. Some of the information covered is listed below
Outline on the COMBUSTION RESEARCH PROGRAM from July 30, 1954
Pictures of different types installed in cars and on test stands
Graphs on test data on "fishhook results"
Reports on mileage and comparison with 2 barrel, 4 barrel and dual 4 barrel manifolds
In 1955 they contacted Thompson Products to discuss a tank mounted electric fuel pump under development to run at 6000 rpm and deliver 140 lbs of fuel per hour at pressures from 3.5 to 5 psi and to be installed thru a 4" opening in the top of the tank
Many advanced engineering reports about what they were developing for the future. One letter states "Since we have put most of our efforts into adoption of the American Bosch system to the Studebaker Golden Hawk and the Packard Caribbean"
A three page outline covering the "Proposed Packard Gas Injection program"
Phase I Experimental
Phase II Pre-production Consolidation
Phase III Production Project
Report # 374 from the Advanced Engineering office April 3, 1956 (33 pages)is very interesting it covers "ADAPTION OF THE AMERICAN BOSCH INJECTION SYSTEM TO THE 1956 PACKARD 352 ENGINE" Among other things it says "Some four-barrel production manifolds were cast with injection nozzle bosses using production pattern equipment and making temporary additions for this purpose"
"The two FI systems in the Branson pic I posted and the one in the SIA article, the original b&w picture are two different systems."."I still think this is a homemade unit made to resemble the factory experimentation."
yes it is 2 different systems if you look at the SIA picture credit I supplied that picture The picture shows a fabricated manifold with rubber covered steel lines
"That's what makes me think that there's a custom made "V" drive under that FI pump that drives it AND the distributor. I need better pics to be sure, but that's what my gut instinct tells me,"
does this picture help?
"I think that there's more than the pump that's been replaced, as the manifold itself looks like nothing more than a home-modified stock 4bbl intake. The reason I say this is by looking at the injector bungs, they just don't look like anything the factory would do, prototype or not. It just looks really cheaply done, and poorly at that".
The following pictures should attest to the quality of the "Injector bungs" The pump is the original we had the broken part machined and replaced. One thing you did not see, the distributor is an X model engineering sample. Hope this helps answer some of your questions. If you have any others I would be glad to try to answer them.
I am the owner of the Executive shown at Branson with the Packard Fuel Injection setup and I would like to ask Turbopackman about his experience with Packard Fuel Injection as he seems to have a question on its authenticity? How many have you seen that you can pass judgement if it is "cobbled together" or original?
"I'm thinking it's a collection of parts that someone cobbled together to try and pass off as a factory setup".
I acquired this setup in the mid 60's from a person in Detroit who got it from a former Packard employee. This person researched it and confirmed it was made by Packard.
In the early 70's a friend from Detroit put me in touch with another person who had some of the files from the engineer who worked on the project. Some of the information covered is listed below
Outline on the COMBUSTION RESEARCH PROGRAM from July 30, 1954
Pictures of different types installed in cars and on test stands
Graphs on test data on "fishhook results"
Reports on mileage and comparison with 2 barrel, 4 barrel and dual 4 barrel manifolds
In 1955 they contacted Thompson Products to discuss a tank mounted electric fuel pump under development to run at 6000 rpm and deliver 140 lbs of fuel per hour at pressures from 3.5 to 5 psi and to be installed thru a 4" opening in the top of the tank
Many advanced engineering reports about what they were developing for the future. One letter states "Since we have put most of our efforts into adoption of the American Bosch system to the Studebaker Golden Hawk and the Packard Caribbean"
A three page outline covering the "Proposed Packard Gas Injection program"
Phase I Experimental
Phase II Pre-production Consolidation
Phase III Production Project
Report # 374 from the Advanced Engineering office April 3, 1956 (33 pages)is very interesting it covers "ADAPTION OF THE AMERICAN BOSCH INJECTION SYSTEM TO THE 1956 PACKARD 352 ENGINE" Among other things it says "Some four-barrel production manifolds were cast with injection nozzle bosses using production pattern equipment and making temporary additions for this purpose"
"The two FI systems in the Branson pic I posted and the one in the SIA article, the original b&w picture are two different systems."."I still think this is a homemade unit made to resemble the factory experimentation."
yes it is 2 different systems if you look at the SIA picture credit I supplied that picture The picture shows a fabricated manifold with rubber covered steel lines
"That's what makes me think that there's a custom made "V" drive under that FI pump that drives it AND the distributor. I need better pics to be sure, but that's what my gut instinct tells me,"
does this picture help?
"I think that there's more than the pump that's been replaced, as the manifold itself looks like nothing more than a home-modified stock 4bbl intake. The reason I say this is by looking at the injector bungs, they just don't look like anything the factory would do, prototype or not. It just looks really cheaply done, and poorly at that".
The following pictures should attest to the quality of the "Injector bungs" The pump is the original we had the broken part machined and replaced. One thing you did not see, the distributor is an X model engineering sample. Hope this helps answer some of your questions. If you have any others I would be glad to try to answer them.
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