Note: European car sales during the month of March (with the help of incentives to the consumer) are up rather nicely :

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE5302LA20090401?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

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re:

"No doubt management has a lot to answer for. But so has the government. They have been socking the auto industry over the head every chance they got since the 60s. The unions have been milking the industry since they got the upper hand in the 50s."

Would someone explain how European and Japanese manufacturers do it? They also have tough CAFE and safety standards, difficult unions, and workers have all kinds of rights and privileges... and yet they seem to do OK.

the piston looked exactly like the rest of it in that same area. just black carbon build up. no evidence of any liquid. the cylinder wall was perfectly fine too. that is why if it was corrosion, it may have been done along time ago and the motor used since that time and that covered up the evidence from use.

all the pistons have that black crud on them and look fine as far as i can tell. just this one has this and i didn't even know it was that bad until my dad scrapped the carbon off. the carbon filled the defects. all i thought was there was a big scuff mark near the edge of the piston. then we cleaned it and uncovered all that extra damage.


when i get home today i will try to look over the head and the block closer and take some pics that show better detail. my good camera had no battery power when i took these.

I looked today for the build sheet, but no such luck. Is the vin stamped on the engine block? The vin tag is no longer on the car. I had originally thought of doing a full body off restoration, but I think for now I'm going to fix rust, put the car back together and just enjoy it for a couple years. I know if I start a body off it will be years until I am done.

...from the limited pictures seen, this looks like classic detonation damage.

I would agree except that the damage is confined to lowest portion of the piston where a liquid would settle and it looks like chemical corrosion though having been cleaned up kind of eliminates some of the evidence. And I would have expected detonation damage more towards the center of the piston - does detonation damage usually localize at the piston edge? I've no experience seeing it on a Packard V8.

Hank,

I see you scraped and cleaned the area of damage. Was it blackened with carbon? Mistaking damage from detonation as corrosion or other such causes is a very common mistake. Did you see traces of moisture? was the cylinder rusty? corroded? As I said, from the limited pictures seen, this looks like classic detonation damage.

so i wonder, since it is in antifreeze, why it is okay to use it in something with an aluminum block,

No, I didn't say it was in antifreeze (not as sold, at least), but that it's the result of breakdown (decomposition) of antifreeze. Or perhaps just due to the age of the antifreeze itself. Ethylene glycol which is the base of most permanent antifreeze is also quite corrosive to aluminum. The reason it can be used in aluminum engines is that it's formulated with "corrosion inhibitor" additives so that it doesn't attack aluminum. But although the ethylene glycol never looses it's freezing point depressing ability, the corrosion inhibitors are gradually consumed in the process of doing their job, leaving you ultimately (after ? years) with corrosive ethylene glycol.

Following on ebay for sale, complete 352.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vintage-1955-Packard-V8-352-Engine_W0QQitemZ260387179749QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item260387179749&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=65%3A10|39%3A1|240%3A1318

so i wonder, since it is in antifreeze, why it is okay to use it in something with an aluminum block, like my z3.

if this was the case i am willing to bet it was a gasket as there was significant dried carbon build up on the piston in that area as evident by my dad scraping it off. so if there was fluid there, it hadn't been there in awhile.

the only thing i squirted into the cylinders before i started it was marvel mystery oil to help lube things up before i started it.

i also remember checking the compression on that side of the motor and they were all around 150 psi.

Eric.
I'm thinking 1/4" but when I remove wheel to trim a little off of the steering arm I will measure and post. Have been driving around town since install and it sure is a great feeling whenever I lightly touch the brake to feel them actually wanting to stop the car.

Answers to post #71, the rotors are 1980 Camaro with slight machining and drilled to 4.5" pattern, calipers are large single piston GM which use MD52 pads and the spindle has no machine work.

Looks to me very much like corrosion from glycolic acid (breakdown product of ethylene glycol) which resulted from a leaking head gasket or crack in the head or block. It's very agressive in attacking aluminum and it's alloys, but essentially has no effect on cast iron or steel.