Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

The Packard Farm was owned by Richard Hunt who passed away many years ago, it must be more than 10 years now. As I recall much of the inventory was purchased by Max. Back about 50 years ago there was only one Packard parts vendor of any consequence, Roland Crawford (Packard Parts Unlimited) up in Groveland, Mass. Anyone here old enough to have done business with Roland?

Packard Farm was owned by Bill McDowell (spelling). Packard Friends was Richard Hunt.

Thanks for the correction, Joel.

I have a set of shim steel embossed head gaskets from Max Merritt. They are the same as the one in Hank's photo and the one pictured in the service manual. There is a difference between these gaskets and the composite one that Brian has posted. Compare the difference: 4 small embossed holes near the end cylinders on the metal ones v. 3 for the composite gasket. The replacements all differ in coolant flow as Brian posted.

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Several years ago, I rebuilt my Caribbean's engine using the composite head gaskets. The one on the left bank blew with less than 500 miles on the engine. I don't know why, maybe I didn't torque it down tight enough. Anyway I replaced it with metal and retorqued it after 500 miles. No problem with the metal one but I am afraid of the composite one now.

I went ahead and installed the composit gaskets. When I talked to Kanters, the vender I purchased them from, they said they have been selling those type gaskets for years and haven't had any complaints. I sprayed 2 coats of copper spray on both sides of the gaskets and on the heads and block. If you don't hear back from me then all is well. Thanks everyone for all the input and advice. Very much appreciated. Brian

As regards gasket thickness, It stands to reason that, given how many senior Packards blow head gaskets, thinner gaskets would be more reliable. However, the engineering department wasn't dumb and they must have been doing stroboscopic or comparator studies of those motors and used the thicker gasket for a reason. It may even be noise suppression.