Oh, I am so jealous. Have a great time guys.

That is a truly lovely car. My only complaints are that the pale blue fabric is a bit too light in color, and also the color chosen for the dash and reveals. Originally that would have been grained. Three piece rear window is correct.

Nicely done.

A bit more info on the symptoms would be a help. Do you mean the engine runs free, or is it more like a kickdown? Will the trans start the car up a hill in high?

The 55 Clipper rear is an odd duck in that it has the large pumpkin of the 53-54 cars, yet used the small axles and wheel bearings of the pre-53 cars. Thus it will bolt into your car if you use your backing plates and drums. You might need to shorten the driveshaft a bit, and you will need the hard-to-find stickshift yoke to install on the pumpkin.

Your car pulls the equivalent of 2.95 axle when in overdrive so I am flumoxed as to why you want to change the rear. All your performance gains will be as nothing and the car will be bothersome to launch if you use a 3.23 rear. The ratio in overdrive will be 2.32 which will require frequent kickdown.

I built a replica of Cecil Hayes AAA sanctioned stock car for a dear friend some years ago. (53 Clipper Deluxe club sedan, now in Warren) The engine was pretty much as you described and we ran the stock 4.10 with overdrive. The old girl would break loose in first gear even after she was already rolling if stepped upon. I hardly ever drove it over 90 but the engine didn't seem taxed by the revs.

The ONLY thing I can spot on the car that is Caribbean is the side trim. Interior is stock 400. A dealer could have had that ready for you by the following afternoon if he had the trim spears in stock.

Just noticed that he used the Packard spindles, drums, and steering arms, but with the steering arms in front of the axle. That means that he now has 100% non-Ackerman steering geometry and the inside wheel will turn in less than the outside wheel. Should be squirrel city in the corners.

Rusty--I will be chuckling to myself ALL DAY.

"Balance a nickel" type of smoothness at idle has to do with even compression, good ignition and carburetion. The benefits of balancing won't hardly be noticed til higher revs.

My 51 200 has less than perfect compression and is somewhat lumpy at idle. Yet if I wind her out to 45 in second, she is smooth as a turbine--underlining that the factory balance was indeed quite good.

When rebuilding straight eights I will weigh a new set of pistons to be sure they are all the same--and they always are within a few grams. Inconsequential.

On inline engines the crank is balanced by itself, and the weight of the pistons is not important as long as they are all the same.

Vee type engines are a different matter and the weight of the pistons and rods must be accounted for in the balance of the crank. Therefore if non standard weight pistons are used the crank must be rebalanced.

I love inline engines.

Most of the straight eights love to run with a bit extra timing advance, but they hate to start hot if advanced.