Re: V-8 engine design flaws

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2010/1/23 18:18:07

You'll probably get a lot of divergent opinions on this, I'll give mine based on my 56 V8 and experiences of other local owners.

The Torsion Level was remarkably trouble free except for moisture/corrosion on the unprotected electrical components under the car. Pretty simple to repair. The 56 version was improved.

Twin Ultramatic was probably about as good as any of it's contemporaries (early PowerFlite was no bargain) as long as driven sensibly - it did not have much tolerance for a heavy diet of jack-rabbit starts. The 56 units were considerably improved.

I believe GM built more 265 Chevy V8s in their first 3 weeks than Packard built theirs in 2 years, and they (Chevy) had some teething issues too. Experiences vary but it seems pretty obvious that the oil pump could have been better designed, though it's easy enough to remedy if needed. My own v8 has 91,000 miles, never worked on as far as I can tell, original oil pump, bearings with acceptable clearances, quiet lifters, and great oil pressure. Yet there is plenty of evidence to say that problems can begin to give symptoms as early as 40,000 miles on other cars. Certainly individual owner's experiences vary considerably.