Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

An aluminum head is the way to go if you can find one they cool better and can be welded if needed. The repro Edmunds piece is a great part but the manufacturer deals in low volume and you have to remember how many people are asking for Packard heads the log delivery date probably has to do with waiting to have enough orders to make a run practical and they use a Packard combustion chamber design with 8.5 compression instead of the Edmunds that has 11.1 or so and is known to ping bad no matter how good your gas is. The problem with the early aluminum factory head is the quality of aluminum at the time, it was very poor if you have ever had a vintage Ford V8 aluminum head side by side its modern equivalent you can tell that the modern piece is stronger and thicker.