Re: Did Chevy consider Packard V8 BB Design?

Posted by Craig Hendrickson On 2008/10/1 17:29:27

Interesting thread.

Thanks Jack for all the detail.

There are several design flaws with the Packard V-8 which probably made it a "dead player" in the above cited study, despite being big and cheap.

Putting aside weight and strength issues for drag and NASCAR engines (not really a problem on the street), IMO, the intake and exhaust port placement, i.e., valve-order-in-head is the biggest drawback to performance. This has been discussed elsewhere, but at least Pontiac (among those GM experts cited above), had a way to "solve" the siamesed center exhaust port problem. See Pontiac's 1968-70 Ram Air IV, 1971-72 455HO and 1973-74 455SD "round port" (exhaust) heads. No such modification could have been applied to the original Packard design. Packard V-8 heads would have required a complete redesign, ala the Pontiac Ram Air V (303, 366 and 400).

Also interesting is John Delorean's migration from Packard to Pontiac, although apparently there was no real transfer of engine tech, the two engine designs being developed more or less in parallel.

Craig