Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/partslist5556/05_Engine.pdf

I did not realize that there was an export version, or a low compression version.i wonder how many cars had theses in them?

So an export car was ordered this way, or would it be changed on the line somewhere?

Most likely the export engine was built with the low compression pistons and placed in inventory for order. I've never seen anything I could identify as a low compression piston.

Also, there's a different head gasket and intake manifold gasket specified for low compression engines. One may assume them to be thicker to increase the net compression volume.

Back to pistons - Anyone have the secret decoder ring as to why there are more than three types of pistons? The 320", 352", 374" are probably obvious, but what are the differences for the fourth type?

5540 - 320"?
5560-80 - 352"?
5640-60-70 - 352"? If so, what's different than '55?
5680-88 - 374"?

Finally, to this day, I remain puzzled as to the '56 352" and 374" using the same crankshaft P/N when the 374" pistons are 40 grams heavier.

jack vines

There were some export codes that I aren't include in my RPO charts. They didn't appear in any Trade Letters that I had examined, but were revealed in a list of revised codes for 56th Series that was published (April 11, 1956) on plain paper.

The export equipment codes are (verbatim):

EC......Special Export Equipement
SA......Shock Absorbers-Heavy-Duty
CXH.....Canada Low Compression Motor Equipment
XH......Export Low Compression Motor Equipment
XK......Kilo Speedometer
XS......Torsion Bars or Springs & Shock Absorbers (Heavy-Duty)

No details were provided for 'Special Export Equipement'.

This equipment was shown as available for all models that year, but I doubt if any of it would have been installed by the factory on any vehicle intended for domestic use.

I haven't revised the 56th Series charts to include these additional codes as I don't recall seeing any examples of production records or build strips/sheets showing them, here, and we don't have similar key for 55th or any prior Series. I'd hate to open up a can of worms if the well of factory information has dried up.

Quote:
Perhaps it has something to do with the change in piston pin locks (see SC Vol. 29, No. 8 and SC Vol. 29, No. 12).

Details provided on engineering drawings might hold the only concrete answers.

I am guessing that someone would have to look at blueprints to see if they can give a clue as to the differences on the pistons.

If we could have the build sheet from a car that was exported looked at maybe the codes could be verified. It is interesting that Canada was listed by itself and then a different code for the other export low compression.

The only list I have access to that list the delivery of V8 cars is the 5699, from Stuart.

These 5699 cars were sent to;
1048 Milan, Italy;
1049 Dominican Republic;
1063-1068 Puebla, Mexico;
1071 Windsor, ON,
1092 Zurich Switzerland;
1094-1095 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;
1104 Windsor, ON;
1105 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;
1116 Managua, Nicaragua;
1117 Caracas, Venezuela;
1121 Bergen, Norway;
1123 Windsor ON;
1133 Salzburg, Austria;
1138 Elizabethville, Belgian Congo;
1155 Brussels, Belgium;
1174-1176, Kuwait (AACON Contracting);
1204 Persian Gulf;
1228 Boulogne Sur Seine, France;
1238 Windsor, ON;
1256 Kingston, ON.

I may have missed one or two. Most of theses exported cars do not list an owner, so they are considered missing.

MAYBE someone with access to the records could look at them to see if the codes are on them.

My '56 Patrician has EC and XK on the build slip. The XK has a circle drawn around it in red crayon/grease pencil and KILO written above it, as well as RR written (at an angle) after that. The whole sheet is prefixed with 7902. And RO-7902- PB is written on the tape across the bottom of the sheet in the same red marker. The car was, at sometime, "Americanized" as it was built without heaters and with a 4.1 rear axle. It now has heaters and a 3.54 axle. Since this car is so very late in production (5682-4747), it makes me think the order was cancelled and the factory changed the above items. Supposedly, a tool kit came with the EC code but I don't remember where I learned that. There is no record available from the Studebaker Museum.

I have no 55 cranks to compare or measure. I'm guessing differences have to to do with piston skirt to crank counter weight clearance

According to my cataloug page nov 1 1955 only 3 cranks.
440594. 5540 (i assume the 320 engine)
440913. 5560-80 (i assume 352 engine)
476009. All 56. (352 and 374).

Is there any dimensional difference (width or radius etc) between the counter weights of the 3 cranks that mite be due to piston skirt clearance OR Clearance at flat front and rear sides of piston near the gudgeon.

Perhaps metalurgical differences. Weight differences mite tell a story. Those that do the actual grinding mite be able to tell which crank cuts the easiest.

There was a Caribbean that was "reordered" 2 or 3 times based on the build slip. It was ordered by a family in France, and the ordered was cancelled for whatever reason. So Mr. Blythin, who was General Counsel of Packard in 1956, took delivery of the vehicle at the factory and drove it down to his family home in Lexington, Kentucky. I guess he got it at a sweetheart price as Packard just wanted the car out of the factory, as it had been there too long. It was in the family until the early 1970s and then was sold off to a collector. It passed through a few hands, and last time I checked it had been restored and was owned by a collector in the Houston, TX area.

His son works for my company, and using the paperwork he had the original car, I helped him find who owned it now.

This car was ordered with export torsion bar and low compression engine. Also I think there was some custom interior combination as well.

BigKev,

That car is listed as factory delivery, July 5, 1956, and is listed in TX. It was also in the article Stuart did in The Cormorant, about cars used by management.