Thanks for the kind words, man! I have seen one Packard, I think it was a 51, with a really, really nice chop.... It looked very period correct. Everything else was kept stock. My car will never have anything that radical done to it, though! We have a 50 Ford for doing that to. LOL! I plan to shave the trim forward of the quarters, and move the spearheaded to the door. The fins have been shaved, as have the reverse lights (I am keeping the lenses for another project, the placement of them was terrible) and I'm looking for a set of 53 Buick headlight bezels. I'm only doing mods that someone my age could've afforded in the late 50s, early 60s.

Yep, I'm a senior at McKinleyville High School this year. All the pics were taken at school. I'm grateful we have such a kool teacher that would let us work on projects there! My buddy has a 67 Nova in there that we're doing a bunch of bodywork to. And as a class project we're build a Model A sedan-turned-pheaton, however slow moving it is (It's only a body and frame so far. Has potential, though, and will be a sweet hot rod!).

Today I was able to finish a test early and get into shop to do a little work. Didn't have a whole lot of time, but I wired up the ignition and got the coil mounted. Tomorrow I'll be able to get in the during metal shop and put it on the lift to put in the trans crossmember, shift & clutch linkage, and install the drive shaft. Hopefully I'll have time to add oil and do a comp test, but that might have to wait til next week.

Anyhow, here's a pic of the trim mocked up!

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Hahahaha yeah, it's not exactly a stock resto.... I want this build to look like a mild Kustom you might've seen on the street around 58-62. I've seen a lot of gold engines in the little books from that time period. I think it looks classy enough to be in a Packard.... At least it's not grabber green or something awful like that!!! LOL

Here are some pics of the install... Only bummer is I can't work on it again until next Wednesday.... Finals week means no auto shop the test of the week, and It's a four day weekend. Never thought I would be bummed about a vacation! Hahahaha!

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Old thread, but new motor...

I am now putting a 180hp 327 into my car. Is 6 degrees BTDC still a good start for this motor? This one has all the timing marks on the damper...

Thanks in advance!!!

Cleaned up my block for paint to day and found the numbers.

Looks like it is a 327 from a '53 Cavalier/Mayfair/Caribbean. 5 main, hydro lifters...

Does anyone out there have any more info on this engine? I'd like to know all I can about it. Power output (HP and torque), what model it's out of, things to look out for, etc...

Any help is greatly appriciated!! Many thanks!!!!

Here is the engine all painted up. Just about ready to go!!! All that's left is hooking up the tranny.... Hopefully by the end of tomorrow the engine will be in the car and I can start hooking up the rest of it.

I've been wanted to do straight lakes pipes on this car... How well do these motors handle being straight piped? Do they need much back pressure?

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Flames at HP for sure!! LOL

Guess I should've specified... The motor isn't new-new, just new to me. It's out of a '54 that was a driver. When I took the old engine out I removed the whole core support, which was a total pain! Wish now I would've cut and rewelded as you did. Woulda been way less hassle. The chains are like that for moving it around with no trans on it... I found a kool old Chilton's manual at school that shows where to mount the chain in the perfect spot. Was sure interesting pulling the motor last year at school with none of us knowing how to deal with such a behemoth piece of iron!

The first pic is of the engine, almost ready to get dropped in (I use the term dropped in lightly... The chain hoist at school can barely lift the thing). Before it goes in I'm going to paint the block and oil pan black, and the head and air cleaner are going to be the same gold 'flake as the side covers. I'm still debating weather or not to paint the firewall black or leave it white so it's easy to see anything I drop, wires, etc... What do you guys think?

The other pic is of my car, Jezebel, all taken apart for reassembly (minus the hood being taken off, that's for tomorrow). I'll post more pics as it progresses along. Only have 2 hours a day during school to work on 'er. Luckily Wednesday is the start of finals week and I'll have a solid 4 hours to work!

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I haven't posted in a long while, mostly due to my Packard sitting dormant in my driveway for almost a year, but I'm finally making some headway. For those that don't know, I broke my old 327 internally some how (never opened it up, but sounded and felt like a rod) and the brother of a friend graciously traded me my old motor for a runner out of a project parts car he had. I don't know if you're on this site but thank you a million times again!!! Anyways, the new motor has been in the shop at school for the past year, on the floor, not doing anything. Finally, after many skinned knuckles and broken bolt extractions, the ol' Thunderbolt is ready to go back in the car!!!

Today I towed the car to school and got the front end all disassembled to get ready for the motor. All I have left is putting the motor mounts and the transmission back on, and she'll be cruisin' again!! I can tell she sure missed being on the road.


I will post pics tonight when I get them uploaded on my computer.

I'll give them a try. Do you know the dimensions (inner, outer, and depth) for the bearing I need?

Thanks for the info! Does this mean I'll have a hard time finding one at the machine supply shop in town? They are cheap and right down the road from me... Is buying one from a retailer like Kanter the only option?