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A couple months ago I replaced the rings on my 1950 Packard 288. I pulled the head and the oil pan. Pulling the head is easy but the pan is not. You have to disconnect the front motor mount brackets on the bottom and hoist up the engine to allow the pan to drop down far enough to pull it off. Having the car on a hoist was really handy, in fact probably necessary for access to the pan.
The "ring job" involves cutting the ridge on the top of each cylinder so the pistons can slide out. You need a ridge reamer tool to do this (which I borrowed). You need to measure the cylinder taper to make sure you do not need a rebore. My cylinders have a taper up up to 0.010", which is the upper limit according to the Packard manual. I bought the rings from Egge after giving them the ring dimensions.
The cylinders need to be honed to allow a good surface for the new rings. That requires a hone sized to the 3.500" bore (which my mechanic had). I paid a mechanic to hone the cylinders because I am too old to climb up on the engine and do it.
The piston ring gooves need to be cleaned carefully. I had a tool from my mechanic, but you can do it with a broken piece of an old ring. Just snap off a piece of ring and grind the end of the ring to make a scraper. Clean off all the carbon in the ring groove.
Installing the new rings requires a ring expander tool. They are way too stiff to use your fingers.
As long as the pan was off I checked the rod bearing clearance and they were fine.
The valves were ground and adjusted with the head off because it is a lot handier to know exactly where each piston is by looking.
After all that the car runs fine with no smoke or blowby.
A ring job is no small task, but it can be done without pulling the engine.
Good luck with your Packard.

Thanks for all your input guys. Fred, I'm glad you posted your ring job. It sounds like something I might be able to tackle myself. I just hate taking something apart that works because I don't have a lot of room for a car to sit in the driveway and I'm always afraid I'm going to break something and not be able to get it back together right.

I think I found the casting date. I can't get close enough to read it exactly, but it definitely has a 51 at the end. Tried to take a pic with my phone, but the quality was too poor to make out the numbers.

Here are some pics I was able to take with my phone's camera:

The first pic is my cylinder head with the 288 STD 327 AT on it.

The second pic is that large square on the side between the freeze plugs on the left appears to have a number on it. What is it? The engine number is on the far right.

Third pic is the tag right in front on the cylinder head. Mine is very rusty and I can't tell what it is. Someone suggested it is the date the engine was built. Mine appears to be 4 numbers, but it almost looks like an old coin with a worn out date. How is it read with only 4 digits?

Fourth pic is of my oil filler cap that I see light smoke come out of when the engine is warmed up. Ist this normal or a symptom of worn rings or valves?

The fifth pic is just a humorous repair that someone made to the car. It is a clothes pin wired to the linkage. I'm not sure why it is there, because nothing appears to be broken or missing.

The sixth pic is the petcock on the intake. Why would anyone do that?

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The "288 STD 327 AT" means that this head is for engines that are either 288 cid with a standard trans, or a 327 with an auto.

The large square shouldn't have anything on it, as far as I know. I've seen several straight eights and none of them have anything there.

The "tag" on the head isn't a tag at all per se. It is part of the casting, and yes, it's the day the HEAD was made, not the engine.

A little smoke is normal, think of a cigarette that's just been put out and is in it's final throes of burning. That amount is normal for an original engine. Don't worry about it until you see a lot.

Fifth and sixth pic, they're both "humorous repairs". Someone needed a plug and used a petcock from a radiator. That's where the vacuum to drive the wiper motor should go, in most cars.

The actual casting date for the engine will be below the starter towards the rear of the engine, in the last "box" made by the lower crankcase strengthening gussets. This will be a normal date, IE "4 15 51", etc. It WILL NOT be "04 15 51" or any other variation of a date. It WILL be "Day Month Year".

I agree with turbo. That amount of smoke is not worth worrying about now. It might also be a too rich setting on the carb. My 50 288 smoked at first start before a carb rebuild and tune up. It also smelt very much like petrol so it was running way rich. Might be your problem as well. Also the engine might need a good run in to remove all buold up if it sat around for a while. Mine gets better the more I run it.

Thanks guys. I think the carb needs to be rebuilt too. It idles high and I can't get it to drop down with the adjuster screws. I think that will be my next project. I've also read that the valve that is supposed to open when it heats up might be stuck. I have a lot of work to do! Too bad the colder weather is starting to move in. I was hoping to ge some parts painted at least.