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Hillbilly Packard Overhaul - Torque settings?

My brother Ray is overhauling his 46 Clipper -282 CID.
It sits here in his shed in the Ozarks with my 41 Clipper beside it. They are a beautiful sight, or as our Hillbilly Packard motto says, "Ask the boys who could not afford to own one."

BEFORE Ray tore into the engine, it turned over, ran very poorly (the #5 rod was bent badly) and needed a rebuild of all the usual parts: water pump, gen, starter, etc.

We ground the valves, (replaced 2), lapped them, new valve springs, new #5 piston and rod, new rings, new main bearings, and new rod bearings. Now we have put the block back together.

Our QUESTION:
What are WORKABLE torque settings for and old Packard engine?
'Old' meaning 84,000 miles or more likely 184,000 miles.
We know the original factory settings, but they don't work:
Main bearings = 80-85 ft lbs
Rod bearings = 40-45 ft lbs
When we set the engine up that way we could not turn the crankshaft with out 4 ft bar and pipe extension.

Hillbilly Solution #1:
We backed off the torque settings and reset them to 2/3 the factory settings.
Result: Still could not turn the crank.

Hillbilly Try #2:
We used 1/2 the factory specs (43 mains and 20 rods).
The engine can now be hand turned with our bar and pipe on the crankshaft.

Other Questions:
1. How likely is it that we have a crank shaft out of 'true'?
We are Hillbillys (no lift, no motor stand, little know how) so the motor is in the car. We brought it in from under the shade tree. If we had the engine out we would have taken it to measure the crank.
What other ideas, experience do you Packard Lovers have with overhauls and torque settings?
ALSO can we adjust the valves cold? How?

Thanks for getting this far.

Dan L.

On engines I've had rebuilt, mechanics all did the factory torque specs no matter the mileage. I'd be curious with your new bearings if they are the right size. Sounds to me like they are too tight. Did you use plastigage on them to check or verify the clearance is to spec. That is easily done in the car. I suppose if a rod was bent, the crank could conceivably be bent as well but I'd still check clearances first to rule that out.

Thanks Howard.
We'll check on plastigage.

Got some Plastigage at Larry's Auto Parts.
Thanks Howard for response about factory specs being the standard on overhauls.

Ray and I are beginning to think that his Clipper may have a 'compromised Crank shaft.' The #5 cylinder rod that Ray found bent when he disassembled the engine seems to be severe enough to be related to a bent crankshaft.

We did not take the engine or crank shaft out, so we can't confirm out fears with actual bench measurements. The behavior of the crank seizing on hand turning when it is torqued to factory specs, sure seems to indicate to us some bending of the shaft. For two Ozark brothers "playing a game of hillbilly Packard mechanics," we think that is down right cleaver thinkin'

Got to go eat lunch and let my brain cool down.

Later,
Dan L.

Dan,

The experience I've encountered, seeing a couple of Packard engines going back together(on the bench), is that until all the bearing caps, main and rods, are torqued to spec they tend NOT to turn if at all. But once torqued to spec the crank and rod/piston assembly will turn freely, freely being a relative term in that a bar is used to turn the crank.

Regarding setting the valves cold, this is usually done using settings about .002"/.003" greater than the hot settings in the book. Seen this done on a number of engines, including my '41 282 when it was rebuilt, and it works. In fact my '41 282 now has about 10,000 miles on the rebuild, is still quiet, and hasn't required a valve re-adjustment. Yet!

Mal,
Thanks for the advise.
The 282 in your 41 Coupe seems to be giving you good service since the overhaul.

WE are concluding that there are some problems with the crankshaft being stressed in the past before Ray's purchase of the vehicle. At this point the most reasonable thing seems to continue assembly at somewhat reduced torque settings.

This may test the design safety factors engineered into the motor originally. But I am of the opinion that the Packard engineering that went into this basic straight eight was as reliable as the 60,000 Merlin engines build during WWII (between the 282 in my 41 Clipper and the 282 in Ray's 46 Clipper.

We are getting the engine back together now. We hope to know by Monday.

Later,
Dan L

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If your Plastigauge readings check out, then here is another suggestion.

An easy way to tell where the binding is taking place is to leave every thing un-torqued (is that a word?). Then, torque one of the main bearing caps and try and turn the engine. If it turns go to another cap and torque that one, if it turns repeat until you find the binding main bearing or discover all the main bearings are free. Next go to to the rods and repeat this procedure. You will find either a main bearing or a rod bearing is binding (maybe both or maybe more than one of each).

(o[]o)

If the crank is not properly in the engine yet. I would suggest that you take the crank to an engine shop and have it checked for true and balance. If the crank is even slightly bent or out of balance you are not going to enjoy the fruit of your labours. PT