Eric,


From the POR-15 website's "Standard Tank Sealer" page: it says their sealer is "impervious to all fuels, including the new Stage II fuels which have a high alcohol content." Hope that helps.

Scott

55ClipperGuy

I restored a really rusty tank with a POR15 gas tank repair kit. I had the tank boiled out at a radiator shop (hard to find one that would do it), then followed the instructions with the kit. It cost about $100 to get the tank boiled out, plus the POR15 kit ($75-80) and the price of some paint to re-shoot the outside of the tank. It was a bit labor intensive but I would do it that way again.


Scott

PapFranklin,

All these posts are sage advice. Especially cleaning out the pan/sump and running it for a while. I resurrected a 30 Chevy that went from 2psi oil pressure to 15psi after I pulled two inches of goo out of it's pan. IMHO once you get a few miles on your car, you need to check the compression. Equally diminished compression across all the cylinders is much more livable than one or two really low readings. That will give you some good data as to whether or not to embark on an expensive rebuild.

Just my

Scott

V8,

My next door neighbor is a cracker jack machinist. He put the piston on a surface block, skirt down and measured around the top. It was six thousandths off. Then he shimmed it at the skirt until the top was level with the block all the way around. He verified that the ring grooves were level as well. Then he touched off on both sides of the wrist pin hole, it was off six thousandths. The rod bearings weren't tapered, I already plastigaged them. To be fair, the engine had other issues; a bit of bad babbitt which I caught before it screwed anything up (on a different rod/piston) and some blow by between #2 and #3 cyl at the head gasket. Maybe a thrust bearing issue too, not too sure about that yet.

You don't have to worry about me getting rid of the piston, I am going to frame it...

Scott

V8,

I posted the pictures here and were told they were, no they aren't marked.

Scott

Hey Guys,

I am rebuilding my 1930 Std 8 to get a set of Egge pistons out of it. I pulled the engine down because it was knocking and found that one of the pistons was scuffing on the front and back which is somewhat distressing. I pulled that piston and had had it measured by a machinist with the right tools... The wrist pin hole was not bored parallel with the axis of the crank, it's off .006" (up and down) over it's short length. This engine was rebuilt in the late 1980's and has only 9,000 miles on the rebuild. I will be looking at another brand of pistons.

Scott

All of those parts look like they could have come straight off of my 1930 726. Sorry to say, I don't know what other models shared the same radiator/headlight/steering wheel/engine combination, I'm sure there is a more knowledgeable Packardite here that can fill you in. Hope that helps.

Scott

Wade,

There are different part numbers for odd and even numbered rods and I am pretty sure that the difference is how much babbitt is on each side of the rod bearing. The trouble is I don't think the guy that rebuilt this engine figured it out. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to how much babbitt is on which side of what rod. Some have substantially more babbitt on one side than the other and some are centered and it doesn't seem to follow the odd/even rod numbers.... I don't know how they have to machine these crankshafts. Do they have to disassemble them? Could somebody have messed up the spacing on this crankshaft?

I'm slowly figuring it out thanks to all you guys

Thanks,

Scott

OK, I think I have it figured out. I don't think whoever rebuilt my engine (20 years ago) figured out the whole two different rod part numbers thing. There seems to be no rhyme or reason which face of the connecting rods has the most babbitt. I pulled the #6 rod/piston which had the rod that was riding the farthest forward on it's wrist pin. The top of that rod looks like it is right up against the inside of the skirt. I see that the front of that piston has some scuffing. To be precise, the scuffing is directly over the wrist pin hole that faces forward. The scuffing is even, top of the piston to bottom of the skirt.

I think that what must be happening is this: I push on the clutch it pushes the whole crankshaft assembly forward the .005" of available play (the spec is .002"). That pushes the connecting forward which is making the piston knock.... I can't figure out why else the thing would be knocking when I push in the clutch and then only when it's cold, before everything has expanded. Once it's warmed up you can't make it knock.

Short of rebuilding this engine I am thinking of pulling all the off kilter rods, measuring the journals and having the babbitt re cast and machined on those rods so they will be centered or at least not too off centered. I will probably have to de-glaze the cylinders and put in new rings too. A complete rebuild just isn't in the cards at the moment...

Comments are welcome.

Scott

PS Packard V8, The slots are all on the passenger side of the car, all the pistons are the same.

The manual doesn't specify the orientation of the pistons, it's a poor manual by today's standards... The T was on the passenger side and currently, I have only pulled #2. The piston is unmarked. I will crawl back under the car and check the rest of the T orientations tonight, but I am almost positive they are all slotted and all on the passenger side. I am planning on pulling some of the off center rods and checking the piston's wear patterns and wrist pins this weekend. The engine has a front and rear main plus a main between every piston. It spaces off the rear main with babbitt on both the front and back faces of that bearing. I checked the end play of the crank by pushing on the flywheel with both feet as hard as I could (braced against the seat) and measuring between the front facing babbitt and cheek on the crank, it's about .004" or .005". I could borrow a mag base dial indicator and check it that way if you think it would make a difference. I checked the side play of the rod bearings on the throws, they are all around .0025" to .004" by feeler gauge.

Scott