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Also check the pistons for gudgeon pin offset (if any).

Hi Guys, Rods were correct with squirter area towards cam. I am not positive about pistons. I will check when I get to shop in a.m. I still have pistons and I did mark them before removal. Thanks for the info., Craig

PS. JD from Max Merritts Parts recommended posting on here. He was right everyone is very helpfull.

G'day Craig(CKPFI),
to PackardInfo. And maybe you could refer the owner of the '47 Super Clipper to PackardInfo where he could include it in the Packard Owner's Registry here!

I should have said it earlier, not only do the rod squirt holes face to the camshaft side of the engine, so do the expansion slots on the pistons, if they have one.

Her's a theory about the squirter holes being closed off . . . . It is just a guess as to why anyone would do such a thing.

Suppose a previous owner noticed oil pressure was lousy (- warning light comes on / gauge hovers near zero when engine is hot). Also notices clouds of blue smoke following him . . . everywhere he drives.

He takes off sump to see what shows up and notices plenty wrong. He decides to close off squirter holes to increase the oil pressure reading (- does car have a gauge?)or maybe to direct more oil along crank to all big ends and mains because the bearings are worn and plenty of oil is getting past them. Maybe the knocking lessens due to more oil between mating surfaces . . .

Or perhaps he reasons that 'less oil squirted up into bores means less ensuing blue smoke'.

He peens shut seven holes because he has access to them from below. Can't get to the eighth (- or doesn't bother, or possibly he can only count to seven). He then feels quite pleased about his 'solution' to the wear problems. (Pardon my sarcasm).

Could this be the case?

Back before our standard of living was so high and people had to scrape for a dollar much more than we do now, closing off the oil holes on the rods was a fairly normal practice on engines that were known as "oil pumpers". They rightly assumed that the worn rod bearing were going to let plenty enough oil splash up onto the cylinder walls. And who was going pony up for an engine job on some old $150 back row of the used car lot Packard. By the early sixties the only thing cheaper on a used car lot was a Nash.

A tired 356 can use a jaw dropping quantity of oil on a 100 mile trip. Folks were just getting by.

Thanks for all the help. The pistons were in correctly. I may not have been clear enough. All 8 original rods had the squirt holes closed. I needed to replace one rod because of it being bent/twisted. I'll have to agree with Larry & Ross about used car values in the 60's. Probably some dealer just wanted to make the car saleable on the cheap or maybe some owner just wanted to get another year use of the car before buying a replacement vehicle. I remember working at car dealers then and the dealer owners would do anything on the cheap to get some old car running long enough to sell or wholesale. Thanks again, Craig

Oil squirters are an interesting thing many old engines had the hole in the rod style but for the most part that was fazed out starting in the mid to late 1950s. To the best of my knowledge no major production had them during the muscle car wars when RPM and HP were up. during the late 80s and early 90s the manufactures started to use them once again with a squirter plumbed into the lain oil galleries with a bit of tubing pointed at the bottom side of the piston. The best example would be a mod motor ford (4.6, 5.4 ect) the reasoning behind them is more for piston cooling than cylinder lubrication. Having seen (using one of those tiny cameras) what the oil looks like in an engine while running there is enough getting on the cylinders to keep them well lubed trust me. The trend to include them once again stems from the hotter standard operating temp and higher compression that you find in a modern engine as well as a higher potential RPM. Having said this does a Packard NEED oil squirters? probably not but it wont cause any negatives if you have them