Hi Jack,
I called ARP to see if there was anything close to the 356 Rod bolt. There was nothing close in length for the bolt diameter. The ARP guy mentioned around 1000 to engineer a replacement rod bolt which included test pieces. At that price new bolts aren't needed and I will be going back with the originals.

Mark

Awesome. Watch that hair with the creeper! I have two daughters, 10 and 8. Hopefully one of them will want to work in my transmission shop.

Thanks for the replies. Looking at Grain-It's website, they have multiple patterns available. I'm not familiar with what the original wood grain should look like. Is it known which of their patterns might be the closest match to the trim and dash for the 1940 160?

Mark

Hi Don,
The goal is to get the piston closer to the flat area of the cylinder head, not into the combustion chamber.

Mark

I found a head gasket on ebay that was reasonably priced. The thickness of the gasket is .100. Does anyone know what the compressed thickness is going to be? As I am planning out my 356 build, increasing compression is high on the list. With that in mind, the phenomenon of quench is one of the methods used to allow more compression without detonation. Quench is the distance between the top of the piston and the flat area of the head. The piston comes very close to the quench area of the head squeezing the air/fuel into the combustion chamber. If you can imagine stepping in a shallow puddle and the water sprays out from under your shoe. It has been found quench is nearly non-effective above .060" distance. .040" is pretty common target for suitable quench with a decent safety factor. Tightening the quench has provided improved performance, until the piston makes contact with the head, which is a problem. Building the 356, I'd like to target .035-.040 quench. If the available gaskets are .100 thick and don't compress much or any further, then I will have to spec a piston that tops out .060" above the deck surface to achieve the desired quench distance. If that makes the compression to high with an early 288 head, then I might have to use a stepped piston.
This is going to be a fun project. ARP has already mentioned $1000+ for a set of custom rod bolts. Not quite sure I need them as I'm not trying for high rpm, but new/better rod bolts would help to reduce worrying about it.

Mark

Terrific chart!
Funny thing I just weighted the 356 engine block with the crank still in it, no pistons or rods. When adding the 1954 L8 block and crank together it totals 392 lbs. The weight of the 356 block and crank together is 445 lbs. So, a 53 pound difference. It makes me wonder, was the L8 block that Packard weighed a 5 main or 9 main?

Mark

Yes, biggest at the front.
8 journals front to rear:
1. 1.9985
2. 1.9976
3. 1.9921
4. 1.9514
5. 1.9355
6. 1.9198
7. 1.9049
8. 1.8977

disclaimer: measuring a used cam with equipment that hasn't been calibrated in a while in non-laboratory conditions.

This one is a club coupe. Pretty close to the business coupe in weight.

TX, there are a bunch of bags of hardware with the car.

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