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Todays pics

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Today was a big day for the Packard. I picked up the engine this morning from Classic and Exotic Service and after a short ride home a friend and I spent the rest of the day installing it in the chassis. The engine work was actually finished a few weeks ago but Brian at C&ES is a bit of a perfectionist. After lining up the marks on the crank and cam sprockets Brian decided to check the valve timing against the book figures. Packard specs say the intake is supposed to open at 20 degrees BTDC but my valves were opening 6 degrees ATDC, a full 26 degrees off. After much head scratching and asking around he couldn't find anyone who had actually checked the timing. Everyone he talked to had simply lined up the marks and called it good. The next step was to find an engine that runs and check it against mine. After a couple of weeks just such an engine showed up, it was a super eight from a 740 and it had the same weird timing as mine. I don't know what's going on with the timing and having the engine sit in his shop wasn't shedding light on the issue so I figured is was time to call it done. If you have run in to this problem or can shed some light on the issue let me know.

Here are some pictures of the engine's journey today starting in the driveway after I got it home . The kids rushed out to see where daddy had spent their college money so they come first.

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This is really nice, thanks for sharing.

Todd, I think the black color is most attractive. Beautiful engine.

(o[]o)

Thanks guys but sorry JW, the engine is already Packard green. I tried to save a few bucks by doing the paint myself. The black paint was an epoxy primer applied by Classic and Exotic Service. Those guys went above and beyond on this engine.

Looks great,I wish I was that far along. Did you paint the crankcase or just clean it up?

I ground down the crankcase until all signs of the casting process were gone. I started with a 80 grit and worked it down to something like 250 and then finished it with Scotchbrite pads. It took about two weeks of grinding when I had time but it sure looks pretty.

A bit off-topic, Todd, but this inquiring mind wants to know more about the wood-bodied creation sitting NEXT to the Packard!

Jag DOHC six powered?

That's Woody 1, she was started in 1974 by my stepfather Hugh Forman and his wood and metal shop students at Redford Union High school. I fist laid eyes on the car when I was 11 years old and thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. He'd taken the car to about 80% completion and then life got in the way and didn't have the time or place to finish it. He gave it to me in the mid 90's and I didn't have the time or a place to finish it so it sat in storage until 2008. That's when I got a house with a 720SF garage. Not a huge garage but big enough to build a car in so I started by taking the car apart. I kept his wood body but decided on an all new chassis and motor. The new frame was constructed from 5" C channel that was left over material from the Ford double deck display at the 2007 Detroit autoshow. The engine came out of a 1974 XJ6 that I bought for $300 and I sourced the XK120 valve covers, fan and Mark X intake from eBay. The exhaust was a custom fab I did to mimic a WWI Liberty engine exhaust. The seats are reproduction as is the model A suspension and the 9" rear end was borrowed from a 1969 Bronco. The drive shaft is out of a CJ-8 Jeep and the front brakes are Buick drums over 1949 Lincoln backing plates. The car most resembles a Ford depot hack and is registered as such but the only Model T part on the entire car is the firewall. My stepfather did most of the woodwork in the 70's but I built the cowl and did the interior work in 2009. I drove it a few times this year and it gets some strange looks but it isn't what you'd call "practical". It's loud, fast and stinky just like a hot rod should be. The Packard is going to be very different; quiet, refined and almost stock although between you and me, I've been thinking about turning it in to a shooting brake.......

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Thanks for the background info, Todd! I was intrigued at the glimpses I saw of the beast while looking at the Packard.

The PDF is WONDERFUL! I say break out the Sawzall and order/make the wood panels.....