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A friend call me yesterday and told me his grandfather had a packard engine sitting in his barn. Since I have a 53 packard he figured I may want it. Well it turned out the engine came out of a packard woodie. I never knew packard made a woodie, so I googled it. Everything was there ,so I asked what do you want for it, he said for you $75. I about passed out, I told him its worth more than that. He wouldn't take anymore money ,so I bought it. I'm taking it apart and see how things are on the inside. Its a 288 motor, my packard has a 327. I still can't believe I made a big score. I think I will go get him this week and by him a steak dinner.

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This is the number on the head.

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Yes, it is nice to have friends. What is the engine number?

(o[]o)

Lucky DOG!


I found a spare engine for my 47 about 20 years ago and it costed me $600.00, but I bought mine from an old man that was closing shop.

Well here is the bad news so far. Front exhaust manifold underside has a hole in it. 12 inch crack on block. Tried taking the head off today, back end loose the front end stuck. I have PB blaster soaking on it now with some putty knifes under the head. Using the lift tomorrow to pull the head, feels like its stuck in the middle on the front side. Took off the lifter side covers, doesn't look too bad. Hope the pistons, crank and cam are ok. Oil pan has been pushed in some.

I used several heavy duty putty knives, 1" wide and ground to a sharp taper. Using the engine hoist to put a slight lifting pressure on the head, I would tap (carefully) one knife between the head bolts, starting on one end, and alternating between the left and right side. The head popped loose in about three minutes. The trick is to use heavy gauge putty knives, no larger than 1" wide and sharpened and use about four or five of them. Just don't get crazy with the hammer - a ball peen one is plenty. I rebuilt my 288 with the rods, cam, harmonic balancer and crank from a 327, making it into a 327. The pistons are the same on both engines. Course this assumes that your 327 is a five main engine.

what i have found helps , it to tap the studs with a hammer, the stuck studs will have a dull sound, the loose ones will ring , spray around all the stuck studs, with some sore of penatrating oil, and tap the studs a bit and they will free up, and the head will lift off a lot easier.

that is a good idea - it worked on my engine, but I forgot about it. Just be sure to throw a nut on the end of the stud so you don't bugger up the threads. Ask me how I know.....

G'day 54packman,
Although a loooooongtime member of PackardInfo see it's your first post so for that at least! The other aspect of my usual welcome spiel doesn't have to be done with you as I see you already have 4 Packards in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo! For those a belated

I have two studs that won't release the head. I have soaked them twice, put the nuts back on tapped them. I will try again tomorrow. Its the 2 and 3 studs in the center of head by the thermostat hole . I can run a putty knife all around the head and put pressure with the engine hoist, but she just want release.