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

Connecting rods should not be that hard to find, though you may have to purchase an entire engine to get them. I do believe the 385 rods can come out thru the top, it's the 3-3/16 bore engine (the 320) where they are larger than the bore. If I'm wrong, some will quickly correct me. In any case it's no big deal to raise the piston part way, remove the piston pin, and then take the piston from the top and the rod from below - lots of us have done it. Alternatively you can remove the cylinder bores with pistons still in it by removing the rod caps and then separating the bore from the crankcase.

As to the crankshaft, no shortage of places that deal with these though you may not find one in your back yard. If you can't find a shop willing to deal with the counterweight removal or the crank length, let me know.

Quote:

That would depend upon the condition of the engine

Quote:

This is a poured babbitt bearing engine. If the mains are in need of work, then you need someone that can pour the bearings and do a through-bore on an engine of this length. That can get expensive when shipping is included. Pistons, rings, bearings, and so forth can get expensive.

This also depends upon the condition of the block, head and crankcase. Cracks and faults in these components can require very expensive repairs.

Quote:

In my experience the babbitt bearings are the biggest cost for machining, unless the engine needs sleeving or major crack repairs.

Because I don't know the engine, I can't give you a very precise cost for the machining work. For me, the challenge has been finding artisans that can actually do the work.

But, for a complete rebuild of a 1930 engine, where I did about 1/2 of the manual labor, the cost was approx 15K: approximately 6K was machining and bearing work.

Cheers,

Tom