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At some point in my car's life someone plumbed a modern oil filter into the system and then subsequently bypassed it. I believe I've seen a 'looks like old but really is new' type oil filter that someone makes for these cars? Anybody have any information or insight into this? I guess I would wonder if the oil pump has enough power to go through a modern filter.

Your car was the first Packard for a full-flow filter (Purolator L-6), it is in series with the oil cooler which is the device attached to the forward end of the water jacket side plate (assuming your car is still original). A modern unit which gives the appearance of the original but uses modern spin-on cartridges internally is available from R & A Engineering (Bob Anzalone). They advertise regularly in the Packard Club newsletter and also in CCCA. Note your car had a Purolater L-6, 1935 and later seniors used an L-8, similar but not interchangeable without some effort.

Don't even think about substituting a by-pass type filter!!!, better you have no filter at all and just change the oil often. The oil flow thru the original filter is in series with the oil cooler and main gallery feeding the engine internals and is a very large volume flow, a bypass filter which is by design very low flow could severely curtail the oil volume reaching the engine internals. This oiling system is rather unique and requires understanding. The cooler is also a one-year item and can be troublesome and require a work-around.

Owen, I think I know what you're talking about but if I'm correct the oil cooler sits on the left upper forward end of the engine and actually protrudes from that spot? If so, my car does not have that. Instead there is an octagonal plate that covers the opening. To that plate is mounted a bracket that holds a modern oil filter.

This octagonal plate indicates that your oil cooler has been discarded. Hopefully whomever did so made adjustment to the water jacket plate to permit the flow to continue towards the rear cylinders.

Unfortunate IMO that your car has been so substantially modified. The oil cooler was an important part of the engineering changes including the finned rod bearing caps to give extended longevity to the poured babbitt metal bearings. If your engine has been converted to modern insert bearings, then the absence of the cooler can easily be offset by using multi-vis crankcase oils.

Well, at this point..I've got what I've got. Interestingly, I went on the internet looking at images for 1934 eights engine compartments, of which there are several that pop up. A couple of them have no oil cooler and in fact there does not appear to be the boss that the oil cooler attaches to. So, since I have no knowledge of the build history and I am unlikely to tear the engine apart how would you characterize the risk of running the car without the oil cooler? I don't ever drive it more than a few miles.

If you see photos of a 1934 Eight or Super Eight without the oil cooler and no boss on the water jacket plate, either the entire engine is from another year, or the water jacket plate has been replaced with one from 1933 or earlier, or 1935 or later. 1934 was the only year the cooler was mounted on the water jacket plate. See attached photo of my '34 engine compartment, and another in the process of restoration.

Assuming your motor to be in good internal condition I wouldn't be the least concerned about driving it reasonable speeds without an oil cooler, all the 1933 and prior engines didn't have the cooler and are entirely roadworthy, folks tour in them extensively; the cooler was part of a package of changes to extend the service life of the old style poured bearings which were to replaced the following year.

I'd be more concerned that when the cooler location was covered with a blanking plate, the coolant flow to the rear cylinders wasn't interrupted. To blank off the cooler should (I think) have been accompanied by removal of an internal baffle in the water jacket side plate, otherwise the rear cylinders may be starved for coolant.

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I appreciate you taking the time to walk me through all of this. The pictures of the two engines are helpful and quite impressive. If I took the plate off would it be easy to determine if the internal baffle was there or not?

Quote:Bill,

Some time ago, in 2011 in fact, I "engineered"(the purists had better look away now) swapping an alternator into a '34 Eight. You can read about that in my "Wades Workshop" Project Blog, from about Post #678 onwards. One of the pics there, reproduced below, is of a water distribution cover. It clearly shows the internal baffle, which we removed, to allow the free passage of water from the water pump to the block after the oil cooler was blocked off.

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I might be way off, but why couldn't one drill and tap two holes in a plate to fit over where the oil cooler would have gone and install an external transmission cooler someplace??

An issue to resolve would be the fact that the cast iron housing for the cooler, in addition to retaining the cooler, also played a role in directing the coolant flow back to the rear cylinders after passing thru the cooler itself.