Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

The images below are from a Facebook post. Just posting for interests sake. The supercharged V12 engine photo just took my fancy. Is it a Lincoln? If you have Facebook access there are some other interesting photos too,

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  1941 Packard stretch.jpg (56.93 KB)


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Mal, beautiful supercharged Lincoln V-12 engine. I don't know how reliable it will be, but it sure is pretty.

Wasn't the Lincoln flat head prone to overheating or am I confusing it with another Ford flathead?

I seem to recall reading somewhere that an engine Edsel used or wanted to use in the Zephyr was problematic because of overheating. The limited grill area and low airflow styling had wanted would make the situation worse. I think the article said engineering wanted some changes in the engine but Henry refused the tooling cost so they revised the grill from original plans making the air intake area larger but engineering still felt it was only a marginal improvement.

HH, to my knowledge the big Classic-era Lincoln flathead twelves did not have a reputation for overheating, they were superbly overengineered. The little Zephyr V12 had lots of problems which may have including overheating though the one you hear of mostly is sludging from poor crankcase ventilation.

One thing has piqued my curiosity about that Lincoln engine is:- Is it functional?

I can't see any exhaust manifolding. If it's like the Packard Twelve, would the exhaust ports would be exiting alongside the intake ports? If the exhaust manifolds were where I think they'd be, there's a highly polished supercharger and intake manifold blocking their positioning. Am I missing something?
I know, but like the character in the Dirty Harry movie "I gots to know".

Mal, the Zephyr and Continental Lincoln V-12s had their exhaust exit around the cylinders to manifolds on the outside of the cylinder banks. This was similar to the Ford and Mercury flathead V-8s. All these engines had separate cooling for each bank; hence, the need for two water pumps. There was no coolant connection between the two sides of the engines until the coolant entered the radiator.

This was probably a better design than the Cadillac and LaSalle flathead V-8s where they used one water pump on the front right hand side of the engines. This resulted in the rear left hand side suffering from poor coolant circulation and eventually getting plugged up and causing over heating.

Quote:
John,
for the explanation. Because of age coupled with failing eyesight I did not see the exhaust ports on the outside of the block, ala the Ford & Mercury flathead V8's. After blowing up the picture, I can see them now!

The H-Series twelve in the 1936-'48 Lincoln-Zephyr, Custom and Continental were a badly underdeveloped powerplant barely up to the job. As cited, very poor crankcase ventilation in addition to cooling problems caused by the exhaust runners through the water jackets between the cylinders resulted in hot spots on cylinder walls and excessive heat transferred into the cooling system. The fans was mounted on the front of the crankshaft where it was ineffective in the upper areas of the radiator. The cooling issues were the motivation for E.T. Gregorie to mock-up a low shrouded grille opening for cooling testing. The favorable results lead to 1938 Lincoln-Zephyr low, horizontal grille configuration.

The other major factor that lead to engine problems was the ways in which they were driven. It was a essentially a short-stroke configuration in the long-stroke era coupled with being upper medium-priced and luxury cars. How were those folks who bought such cars used to driving? By using the massive torque at low rpms the straight eight developed to drive the cars almost as if they had an automatic transmission. Many weren't adroit at clutch/gear shifting coordination, which long stroke/high torque engines would tolerate when lugged.

The H-Series twelve had to be kept rev'd up to develop much of any torque which folks in that price segment weren't used to practicing. When they drove as they had after trading a Packard/Buick/Chrysler in for a Lincoln-Zephyr, it wasn't long before the functional issues developed.

Edsel Ford was Lincoln's President but Old Henry held the purse-strings when it came to major expenditures. Edsel had to fight to get any investment in the Lincoln Division. Once the engine proved to be problematic, no real efforts were mounted to correct those issues. Edsel had to make do with what he had. His development of the Zephyr and Continental saved the Lincoln brand from demise, even if it was with very compromised products.

Thanks for reading my latest diatribe.
Steve