I believe i have a 320 head. Maybe 2wo heads of unkown origin. It's real ez to get to but i'll have to look at it later on tonite.

Thanks for the info. The one clean crank I have on hand has a 4 and a B stamped back to back, meaning one is upside down to the other. I believe this crank came from a 374". Any ideas as to what the B correlates?

I have one reliable sighting of 320" forged cranks and supposedly, they had smaller counterweights than did the 352". Randy, did you notice any physical differences between your forging and castings? Obviously, with solid crankpins, it should weigh more than the 56# of the cast crank with hollow crankpins. The solid pins would add several ounces to the rotating weight, so the counterweights should have to be larger to compensate. If anyone ever has one out of a car, weigh it! On second thought, I know where there are a couple. I'll see if I can get one weighed by phone.

thnx, jack vines

"There are several notations about crankshafts ..... notes that cranks balanced for the 4 inch bore have a "4" stamped onto a milled surface ..."

Does the SC actually use the word "balanced" ???

Is there a difference in the piston skirt or overall piston height between 320 and 352 and 374 that is NOT a function of diameter????

What i'm getting at is that the crank difference between one stamped "4" and another stamped "3" mite be for piston/counterweight clearence and NOT balance.

Owen said it was an easy job and I should be able to do it by myself.

I said WHAT?

A minor success today vs yesterday. I installed a NOS distributor yesterday with points, rotor,cap and condenser already mounted. I've had this for some years just sitting on the shelf. The engine had a minor cough just once and we determined it had no spark. I pulled the dist and checked the points and regapped them to a snug .016. Using an ohmeter I checked that I was breaking/making continuity. When on the cam lobe it read infinity. When on the flat it read about .114? It should have read .000. I took a point file and gave it about a dozen good swipes. Now it reads .000. The points had oxidized. No shame for fifty plus year old points.
Just to make sure, I pulled the plugs and cranked it over to bring #1 up on compression. The shop manual says to bring pointer to about 6 degrees before TDC and install dist. This is the 55 portion of the shop manual. Should I have pointer on 10 degrees before TDC? Hmm? I dropped the dist in and double checked the one o'clock position. Installed the plugs and wires - made sure the oil pressure wire and temp wire were connected and went home for dinner.
Today with mechanic Barry's help I turned the key and pumped the accelerator. The engine cranked over and "Houston, we have ignition"!! I had the carbs set up as high as the screw would permit and it ran up to 2 grand on the tach. We backed it down to about 1700 and ran it in for a little over 20 minutes. It sounds good. I shut it down and checked the oil. It is right on the full mark. The tranny showed low so I added two quarts to it making a total of 11. The temp gauge never reached the halfway mark with an old rad in place. The four-core rad has a leak and I will take it up to the rad shop tomorrow. I can run through the gears tomorrow and verify the tranny engages. Then I can remove my faux left fender and mount the real one in place. Aah, I love it when a plan comes together.

No, there is no pocket in the floor and he didn't cut anything to make it fit. He said he mounted it in the exact same position as it was in the first convertible he had based on the template he made.

I also bought one from Philips and have it stored till I'm ready to swap the new one in. Owen said it was an easy job and I should be able to do it by myself.

Packard did not always follow this practice but did it enough to use as a judge. The casting number is one digit less than the part number. The part number for the 56 head after machining is 6480407, the part number on the casting is 6480406. I have seen other examples of Packard using this procedure.
The forged crank made of unobtanium and found only in a dark pit in South Bend is 440989. I have strong feelings that the forged crank exists because Studebaker ordered replacement cranks from their supplier who made nothing but forged cranks. Here is mine with the part number stamped on it.
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=205&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=140

Yes, Phillips is the guy who has made several small runs (25 units at a time) of the 55/56 Caribbean windshield with tint band. They go for $1000 - $1200 plus crating and shipping. I have one bought some years back, quality and fit was excellent.

got ahold of vic at phillips glass,easy to work with and now have new windshield in the 51. $450.00 plus shipping.thought that was pretty good.