Someone was asking me about this shop and I've never known the guy or when he was into Packards.

jack vines

It's probable your piston and valve damage was caused by the valve spring retainers. Packard Engineering learned through failure analysis the retainers were too soft and the keepers would pull through the retainer, dropping the valve into the cylinder.

Later retainers are hardened, so replace all of yours with hardened versions.

Are you going to replace all the valves or only the damaged ones? New valves have gotten really spendy, so if you only need a couple of used valves, some of us here can probably come up with them for you.

Some claim to have bored the 320" to 4" and used 352" pistons, but I've never done it. Again, I could come up with a used set of 352" pistons for cheap.

jack vines

Wow! a double-dose of unwelcome news. I hadn't known Ole Book was no longer with us until I read this about Randy Berger. Two of the best gone from the family.

jack vines

Hi, James,

I just was on the website preparing to place a parts order and didn't see the valve spring retainers listed. Maybe they're there and I just overlooked them, but they didn't seem to be with the valves and springs.

jack vines

Many old Packard V8s have a sixty-five-year-old rattlesnake living under the hood. It will bite the owner sooner or later.

The valve spring retainers were too soft and eventually will pull the keeper through and drop the valve into the cylinder. Hard running makes it happen sooner. Slow driving makes it happen in 2020.

You'll have to change the other fifteen retainers, as they'll do the same thing eventually. It can be done without pulling the head on the side which didn't fail.

jack vines

P.S.- I did learn something from reading the Service Bulletin; that Packard was installing the hardened retainers only on the intake valves and using up the soft junk on the exhausts. I mean, a retainer is a five cent item; cheaping out on a part which if it fails can destroy an engine.

Wonder if they ever used up the old stock and began using hardened retainers on exhausts as well.

Good suggestions all. Begin with the battery connections. Clean the post and the inside of the cable clamps; reinstall. Go to the other end of the battery cable; remove it and clean the mounting area, the cable end and the washer. Reinstall.

jack vines

Random thoughts on front oil seals:

Their job is made much more difficult by an old engine with poor ring seal. Crankcase pressure is the #1 cause of front seal leakage. We find in many of the oil pumps we rebuild the vacuum pump is not functioning and/or the road draft tube is plugged. Often the tube and fittings from the bottom of the block to the windshield wiper are plugged.

Anytime the front damper is removed, have the keyway magnaflux checked for cracks. About one in three is cracked

Before reinstalling the damper, put it on a lathe and polish the seal surface.

jack vines

I discussed this strange setup with my machinist and he knew right away the photo was the Toronado version of the Olds high volume pump. For some reason, that one has a longer pressure relief housing. That's why the top of it had to be machined away for clearance to fit on the Packard V8.

It's moot, because all of his parts books say the Toronado pump is NLA and substitute the regular Olds pump.

jack vines

Quote: And an excellent blog it is, albiet 35 pages. Any recollection as to what page the photo might be found?

jack viens

Valve springs don't cause lifter tick.

Plumb a 270-degree sweep manual oil pressure gauge on the oil filter supply line at the front of the engine and let us know the hot idling oil pressure.

Does the lifter click change with the oil filter supply feeding the gauge, so there's no oil pressure bypassing into the filter?

Are you certain the oil filter brass Weatherhead fitting with the restriction was correctly reinstalled?

jack vines