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I see now how the carribean frame is .

3/8s flat welded to frame

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Condenser.

ECH RC1... coil..regulator..for radio..

Rik lovely car. Is the Perfect Seal stuff designed to fix the crack in the heads? Cheers Brian

Thanks Brian.

Perfect seal is a gasket adhesive.. Won't seal cracked head.

So far that stuff works pretty good.

Started 400. Runs drives better than the 56 carribean..

At started up I have a knock. Warms up goes away. Don't think it's piston slap

Worn rocker and shaft is my guess. Lifter?. Not a tic

Thanks Rik

Yes figured that when I read your posts again. We use different stuff on modern high compression race engines with alloy heads. Normally a thin coat of Hylomar which is blue and comes in a spray can. It's often used on aircraft engines, and has much higher heat tolerance than the specs suggest. I haven't come across Perfect Seal. Am curious why Packard would need to use it, given their high standards of engineering. Was it just the V8s?

Not sure from your thread which engine has the cracked head. Maybe both? I assume the crack in the pic extends into the water gallery. It may be possible to weld that successfully, but sourcing a replacement is obviously a better long term option. There's a product called Chemweld here which we add to the coolant of race engines with cracks like that (sometimes from casting faults). Not sure if it's available in the US. It works pretty well as a temporary repair. We've never found out how long it actually lasts for, because we've never had it fail before replacing a head. Possibly quite a long time on a road car with limited use and moderate compression ratio.

What are you doing about the oil pumps in your V8 engines? The 352 engine in my 56 Clipper has lifter rattle now, so it's on my mind! My pump was replaced a long time ago, but I don't know yet what with. No vacuum feed (wipers electric) so might have been upgraded, but would have been before the Oldsmobile fix came along. I'm using the "old timers" trick of filling the oil about one quart over full, which covers the pump and seems to work fine. Might be a good idea to look at that while the engines are in bits. The rattle doesn't happen until about 50-60mph, so is not apparent then you start up and run the engine at lower speeds.

That Caribbean looks gorgeous. It will be a different car once the TL is working. It's on my Clipper and I'm amazed how good it is.

Cheers

Brian

Using olds pump. Works great.

I have a few sets of heads.

Don't know about Packard and perfect seal but the 55 repair book saids to coat head gasket with it.

Drove carribean out to gerrys..backing in to my place engine died..runs real rough.

Thought vapor lock.

going to put points rotor plugs and wires on see if that solves it.

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After 60 plus years not sure what was in there.

But it's greased now

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Riki

Fabulous pics of the Caribbean. Makes me jealous. Or inspires me to greater efforts!

I have discovered that the oil pump on my 352 engine was overhauled and modified by Packards International about 15 years ago. It got their mod of the new bottom plate etc and lost the vacuum function so the electric wiper system was fitted. It also developed a hole between one pair of inlet and exhaust ports, so got a replacement head. More details in my blog.

Cheers

Brian