Re: 282, 288, 327, 356

Posted by su8overdrive On 2024/7/13 7:05:26

My apologies, 1stElim, for assuming you were a rod/custom guy. Saw the line about '60s Fords on your opening post, assumed you were considering such a V-8.

As mentioned in my first reply, the four extra main bearings in the 1940-50 356 were superfluous, but included because Packard's competitors would pounce on that. The 356 was otherwise an enlarged 282 (One-Twenty) with the Wilcox Rich hydraulic valve lifters Cadillac had since '36. Since the 288/327 introduced for '48 was only a revision of the '35 257 (identical bore/stroke as the Olds inline 8), '36-'47 282, Ross is right, the nine mains in the 327 were a marketing gambit, a dated one, since the entire industry other than Packard and Pontiac, who both stuck with inline L-heads through '54, was by the early '50s focused on ohv V-8s.

No, no, no. Do not two tone that jaunty club coupe. No Packards junior or senior 1935-40 were two-toned. Look at their bodies. To do so screams yahoo.

Color. I spent three weeks agonizing whether to paint my originally black '40 Packard Blue, Blackhawk gray luminescent, or Sea Cloud gray. The first won simply as i was not long out of college, all this was new to me, and i wanted the most Packard a Packard possible. In retrospect, had i picked Blackhawk gray, i might've had it longer'n 1974-83. Esp. were it a sporty club coupe. Note yours is in Phoenixville, PA, not far from the College Hill/Easton my pictured 120 from; cylinder head on the rear floor, three pistons and rods in the trunk, heater, no radio.

With rebuilt engine, new wiring harness, painted, drove it from Easton to my old greater NYC, then down to Colonial Williamsburg, Charlotte, I-40 to Barstow, CA, somehow to I-5 north, picked up 680N to Walnut Creek in Feb.,'76 w/ $300 to my name in travelers' checks in five and a half days.

Sold as you see it above in '83 because side view, rear 3/4 had that generic look like a '38 Buick, whose hood louvers Packard copied after that year Buick ended Packard's consecutive 1935-37 Gallop Poll Most Beautiful Car. Packard regained that title for 1939, but don't know who won 1940-47 and would like to. Doubt Packard won in '40 because of GM's racy new C bodies, certainly not '41 when Packard was box office poison, their new Clipper not introduced 'til April, '41, used car inventories traditionally lowest that month their hedge. Ford did the same with their reskinned Falcon in '64.

Color can make or break a car. Take your time, study Packard's 1940 paint chart. If you share my preference for understatement, get the basic bale hood ornament, black walls and one of those grays, a light gray interior for contrast, nothing else beyond OD. You rarely saw fog/driving lights on cars of any price in the day. I was young, so had those, and the fold down rear trunk guard.

You lease heavy equipment or are an excavator? After selling to a local early middle-aged exec, he divorced a couple years later, it wound up owned by a wonderful couple, Lelio and Georgia Giorgi, Lelio an effusive gent whose company dug the Moscone Center, the biggest excavation in San Francisco history. Lelio raved about the car whenever i saw him and his charming wife at some show with it. He'd always compliment me on how well and thoroughly i'd had it rebuilt, how strong it ran, a cut above most concoursmobiles.

However, he liked the earlier Art Deco looks of a '36 LaSalle, so sold "my"/his '40 120 to buy a '36 LaSalle sedan Neil Young had tired of.

But after driving the LaSalle, he realized it wasn't in the same road car league, not as finely engineered as the Packard, so bought another '40 120 sedan, Inverness green, which was nice, but as Lelio volunteered, not nearly as good as mine had been. Georgia always laughed, reminded me how Lelio kicked himself for selling my Packard and buying Young's LaSalle, which as you know was only a gussied Oldsmobile straight eight.

Skip Laguna maroon. It's common and blah. Like Niagara gray you may as well leave it in primer. Whatever you do, no Cuban tan, Miami sand. Hohum, done to death.

Retorque the head and manifold engine warm a couple times after rebuilding. Don't overdo the manifold nuts. You want it able to expand and contract. Make sure the manifold heat control valve free and adjusted per shop manual. Fresh grease in the distributor cup so your shaft doesn't wear.

You'll win the race.