BigKev,

The PAC website defines the Packard engine gray as:

Gray is medium or dark gray or similar to "Sears gray front porch enamel".

There is very little gray paint left on my '50 356 engine head or block but what there is appears to be pretty dark. I think I'll roll under the car with putty knife and solvent to see if I can find a pristine patch of paint on the oil pan (it was painted the same color as the engine, right?). I expect to be painting the engine sometime late summer or early fall. While I have no intention of ever having the car judged, I would like the car to be as close to factory original as possible/practical/affordable. If all else fails, I could always just get a gallon of Sears gray front porch enamel...
Yes, I'm kidding.

Stokes Marine (and no doubt others) bought surplus Packard V8 engines (J.C. Whitney had them available new in crates for years) and marinized them themselves, thus they were unlike the IM-356 and IM-245 Packard marine engines which were built for marine use by Packard. A Stokes version Packard V8 marine engine is on display, at the Packard Proving Grounds I believe, along with several true Packard marine engines based on the 245 and 356 engines. In addition to being available with a variety of gear reductions via hydraulic gear boxes, the Packard IM-245 and IM-356 engines were also available in counter-rotating pairs which makes for some interesting internal changes, and also available in several different voltages. They also used updraft carburetion. Bob Neil's two books have a very considerable amount of information on the various Packard-built marine and aircraft engines.

Reworking your garage is a topic I think we can all relate to. We all want our garges fixed up in a way that allows up to work on our cars in a more enjoyable way.

My wife and kids have started calling my garage "Mantopia"

I just noticed Lowes has 8'x4' sheets of stainless pegboard for $20. I may just sheet my garage in those instead of drywall. Then again that may be way too shiney.

John, If I ever get the chance to build another garage, you can bet I'll be showing the pictures of it to all my friends here in Packard land.

Some people decide to remodel their homes, I am over the next two month going to remodel my garage.

Eight years ago I built a two car garage 24ft wide by 24ft long. When I built I decided to build a wall down the middle of the garage. Then I insulated one half of the garage installing heat and air conditioning in this half of the garage, using this half of the garage as the work bay. Which I might add is were my Packard sits up on jack stands. The unheated side is were my Chevelle is stored.

Last year my Chevelle started running very rough, and I discovered that I had a burnt exhaust valve. I had good intentions of pulling the head last fall, but got busy with other things and then it got cold. This meant that I couldn't work on the Chevelle over the winter time. Other things came up this spring and summer which prevented me from pulling the head.

Since I now have sometime to think things over, and that even if I worked on the Chevelle, right now and got it back together most of the car showing season would be over with.

I have decided to take the next two months and remodel my garage. This will involve taking down the dividing wall and re-using the insulation and plywood sheating from this wall, to insulate and finnish off the other half of the garage.

Over the next two months I will taking pictures of my renovations of the garage and posting them in this thread.

Although this isn't about Packards, it is car related. I wish to share these improvements of the home for my two loved ones, with the people that come into this forum. I hope that this won't be too boring for all of you.

John F. Shireman

Here's something for you V8 guys:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/hot-camshaft-fits-352-374-packard-motors-nice_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ34198QQihZ006QQitemZ160133698080QQrdZ1

If you read his discription, the guy says he has a garage full of 55/56 parts that he is planning on selling.

Thanks Joe, I should have looked there first.

Brian, you're partially right about me. The engine in my Patrician is out of a '55 Hudson, and one of my spare V8's is a 320, also a Hash engine, that was used as an irrigation engine. And the irrigation engine suffered extreme valve recession due to the fact it was run on propane. It is NOT, however, an "original" industrial engine. As of today, I presently own 2 320's and 2 374's. Only ONE runs! LOL!

This was discussed in a couple forums past, but not much headway was made - except to note that a marine conversion was done on some Packard V8 engines by the Stokes Marine Co. of Michigan, which found their way into some Chris Craft boats.

One of our members has a 320-cid version of the Packard V8 that was designed for use in Hash cars, but had been used to run an irrigation pump, IIRC. I cannot tell you however, if it was offered as a bona fide industrial application, however. It now powers a '56 Patrician that he uses for daily transportation - until the hi-performance 374-cid mill he's working on is ready to go.

Meanwhile, somwhere out west, a fella is installing a highly modified Packard V8 in a Chevy Vega for a run on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The V8 Legend Lives On...

I know that some boat manufactures used Packard V8 engines. But I am not sure if they were built different from Packard for them.

One of the V8 guys on here with far more knowledge than myself should be able to provide you better information.