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I have 2 cylinders with lower compression ( I do not have a gauge that will fit so I do not know exact)
Holding my finger over plug hole, I can tell it's lower then others, but it does have some.

The question, where do I start to diagnose the problem??

It's a 2202, 327

Thanks for your help

You can borrow a tester from O'Reilly/Autozone for a small deposit, bring it back within two days and they'll refund it. They both have that loan-a-tool program.

Then test your compression - generally I give it 3 pulses and then see what I get (write it all down). If you find out a couple of the cylinders are down, squirt a bit of ATF in the top, give it a minute or two and then test again - if the compression number improves notably, then it's piston rings - if it doesn't, probably valve sealing issues or head gasket issues.

If it's piston rings, then give it a good dose of ATF and then let it sit for a few days. The ATF may help to free it up. If you can get it to run, even with stuck rings, they may come back with a few heat cycles.

Took head off, all vavels move freely, all pistons move smooth.

I know is not easy, but do you see anything in pic
Also, where do I get parts if I rebuild??

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While you've got it apart, I'd clean everything as well as you can with gasoline or carb cleaner and a toothbrush - there's a lot of carbon buildup there that can interfere with sealing.

It's hard to tell from pictures, but looking at the headgasket, it looks like the first and last cylinder going out has more buildup than the rest, which might point to a leak. It could just be the picture though - the rest of them look pretty good.

Looking at the head, (not well versed in Packard yet so I can't tell if it's the first or last cylinder) but see how the one cylinder is quite a bit nastier than the others? That points to some sort of leak or issue as well. The spots that I see there, are those metal, or something else?

Were it me, I'd clean everything as well as I could, with gasoline or B12 chemtool, get the valves and piston tops as clean as possible, see if you can get the headgasket clean again as well. Ideally you'd use a new one (not sure who the best choice for that is, I hear Kanter and Max Merritt a lot, but I'm new to Packards) but there's a real chance that you'll end up needing to replace it a second time.

So new headgasket or sparkling older gasket, clean up the surfaces where it goes on with a razorblade carefully - you don't want any nicks or gouges (which should be pretty difficult to do with cast iron head and block, but still, be careful.) After getting off the worst of the carbon, I like to give it a quick wipe with 220 grit or so sandpaper on a block or paint stir (to keep it as flat as possible). Bolt it back together and see what you have.

If you're real determined, you can turn the engine over and look around the pistons - you should see the piston rings contacting the cylinder walls all the way around.

If it's any comfort though, I don't see anything yet that I'd be very concerned about.

Following on from Richter's advice above, after cleaning things up (and DO NOT used sandpaper, the grit will get where you can't see it and cause rapid wear) I'd rotate the engine and examine the cylinder walls individually top to bottom for signs of scuffing, scoring (evidence of broken rings), etc. And examine the top of the pistons carefully for broken or cracked lands; take note of any oversize markings. How extensive is the ridge at the top of the cylinder wall? I'd pay especially close attention to that cylinder at the end whose combustion chamber looks wet and different from the others (or is it just illumination that makes it look so different?). You might try to borrow a bore micrometer and make some measurements of bore wear and taper. If everything looks good to the point, I'd remove the valves (keep them in order), examine the valve seats for condition (hoping no cracks are seen - especially on the exhaust seats) and do a complete valve grind, replacing any questionable valves and worn guides. If the cylinder walls all looked good, more than likely the low compression (and we don't what that is, right?) was due to valve wear - valve jobs about every 50,000 miles was pretty much standard stuff in that era. And for sure - never even think about reusing a head gasket.

When I was younger and with a restricted budget we often gave engines like this what we called a "semi-overhaul" and lots of garages made their bread and butter on this type of work. In addition to the valve job, we'd pull the pistons and if the cylinder wall taper was less than something in the range of 0.007", we'd hone the walls, install new or sometimes the original pistons (perhaps knurling the skirts to expand them a bit), new rings and wrist pins, and assuming the crank journals were good, new rod and perhaps main bearings, timing chain, etc. All of this can be done with the engine in the car, working from above and below. Was this as good as a true rebuild? Of course not, but often it was enough to get another 30,000 or more miles of reasonably good performance.

O_D provides the best advice. Another way to check amount of wear on cylinder walls is to see how much of a ridge is at the top. Generally, you should not be able to catch a finger nail on the ridge, after carbon build-up has been removed. A few thousandths of an inch of wear can be tolerated. A dial gauge to measure the amount of taper is the best way. Check for cracks in the block. They usually run from the valve area towards the cylinder.

(o{}o)

In addition to this site, try the Packard Club Yellow pages for vendors who sell Packard parts,packardclub.org


Here is an interesting video of the valves
packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2734
And this one too
packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2713

Thank you all for all the most helpful info..

I know I ask a lot of questions, Some may seem stupid, But I'm just trying to learn.

So again thank you

First the last cylinder did have moisture on it, although that cylinder had strong compression.

Fallowing another post, I poured ATF on all the pistons, ( head off), I came back the next day and all still had ATF on them, Except the first one, telling me the rings are stuck or broke, Right??
I have prices all the machine shop work needed, and its over 70% more then I was expecting.. Sticker shock.

So what to do??
I want the stock motor, but this being my first frame off I'm starting to think I'm in over my head..
I'm doing this with my teen boys, wanting them to learn..

here is what I an working on1949packardsuper8.blogspot.com

It's not a problem at all! These old engines are fairly low compression and very forgiving compared to some of the newer ones, and should run fine with a little attention. So while it would be wonderful to spend a couple of grand and get that nice 47 angle valve job, line bore, head planed, crank reground etc, you should be able to get it running decent with what attentions you can administer at home.

You're doing it exactly right so far - ask all the questions you need to, and don't worry about what anyone thinks. Understand what you're doing and get comfortable with it before starting and you'll come out fine.

Engines run fine with stuck rings all the time - if I'm remembering right, BigKev mentioned in his project blog that he was running for quite a while with stuck rings, and eventually the heat cycles and oil broke down the carbon enough to free them. If they're not scratching the cylinder walls, then you can just run them for a while and see if they free up.

Alternatively, since you're already in the engine, you can pick up a piston ring set pretty inexpensively, and change them out while you're in there. You'll have to remove the pistons to do that, which means you'll have to get the oil pan off the bottom, unscrew the bolts on the connecting rods where they go around the crank, and pull the pistons out one at a time - installing rings isn't hard work, and the tools for it are pretty cheap. If you google or youtube search on replacing piston rings, you should find a ton of how to videos and step by steps, and pistons are pistons for the most part, so the same concepts should apply from a chevy or ford engine over to a Packard engine.

Rather than sending out for a valve job, you can lap the valves yourself with a kit from OReilly or AutoZone - it comes with a stick with suction cups at each end and two tubes of paste, rough and fine. Basically you compress the spring (valve spring compressors can be bought or loaned from OReilly or Autozone) Compress the spring enough to pull the keepers off (using a 99cent magnet keeps you from dropping them into the engine). With the spring off, pull the valve down, put the rough paste on the back of the valve (where it touches the other metal) then twist it back and forth a few times to clean it, then wipe the rough compound off, do it again with the fine, you should be able to get good improvement just from that, and the $30 in kit is a lot nicer than hundreds of dollars for a 3 angle valve job. Again, valve lapping should be pretty well documented online, too.

Really, the only remotely tricky part about doing engines is making sure all the moving parts (valves, pistons, etc) go back on in the same order they came off (each valve and each piston back into the same holes they came out of originally), and making sure the camshaft and crankshaft are lined up correctly.

Just take your time, go slow, and if you're holding a sledgehammer or angle grinder or a welder, take a minute to ask yourself why and maybe head back to the computer for some more questions.

Expensive machinery and sterile cleanroom environments are nice, but remember people have kept these things running for years with hand tools, in the open air, under trees dropping acorns and pollen and everything. Take care to keep things as clean as you can, and don't get frustrated, and you should be fine.

Love the comments here. You are exactly where I am with my car at this moment. In fact, some of your pictures look like mine - LOL. I'm waiting until I have the time to lap the valves and go from there. These guys know these cars. They have resurrected hundreds. I bow to their wisdom!