Re: straight 8 upgrades

Posted by su8overdrive On 2022/4/26 18:51:00

These endless questions about "hopping up" engines that were at the head of the class in their day makes us think that, at heart, most those posing such queries are better served in the ranks of "retrorods," ad nauseum, where you wind up with what antique furniture dealers call a "married piece;" neither fish nor fowl.

Perhaps best to do a little soul searching, ask yourself if you really want a period car, are drawn to its engineering, lines, charm.

Because a properly rebuilt Packard, or for that matter, Hudson, Buick, stove bolt Chevy, Delahaye, Pierce, Plymouth; anything is a treat.

Because most old cars are woefully undergeared since high gear flexibility still the mark of refinement, esp. with monied owners who came of age when Dobbin still principal transport, taller rear axles/overdrive panacea. Adding slightly taller non-overdrive rear axles to overdrive cars was often done at Hudson agencies in California after the war to cope with longer, faster, better roads.
My '47 Super also has a higher compression head, but this was suggested by Packard in the dealer-issued Service Counselors for owners who wanted a little more oomph.

Advance your timing. For example, most i know with 356-ci, even 282 engines, are running 9 or 10 degrees BTDC with no pinging, modern gas burning cleaner.

Focus on using any major brand 10W/30 motor oil for i.c. not Diesel engines, use DOT-5 silicone brake fluid, radial tires, an Optima battery, even a bolt-in, 6-volt, 50-amp alternator is a nice upgrade and what Packard would've installed had they been around a few years later, already used in tow trucks, emergency equipment.

Run straight reverse osmosis (never distilled) water without antifreeze if your car never subjected to two consecutive nights of a hard freeze (30 or below), which lets you advance the timing for more pep.

If you're rebuilding an engine, porting, blueprinting not a bad idea, but overkill, and you can always lighten your flywheel, but that's more than enough.

And take a page from Railton and Bentley Continental--- lose weight.

Try setting up the complete car correctly, including worn linkages, everything fettled and skip the cowboy crap, some of which inevitable from those who read all this heroic rubbish about some brand of automobile, only to drive one and realize it's not as east or convenient as a Camry or Accord.

Friends with '59 Ferrari Berlinetta and Pinanfarina coupes, a '63 Lusso, laugh that a 25-year-old stick Civic in good shape can out-accelerate, out-corner, stop better. But that's not why they own them.
My girlfriend's well-tended '01 Miata is a vastly better car than the Lotus that inspired it. Time moves on. What do you really want?

We don't have these cars to drive to Safeway, not that we can't once in a blue moon.

Look around. Note the Packards we see at local shows, meets, for sale online. Most of them are garish, circus wagon colors, two-tones that never remotely were, doused with every ridiculous option intended to help dealers turn a few more bucks.

Packard's soul has been all but lost years before the sudden concern for the long rotting factory.

Enough of this nonsense.