Packard Forum Index » Modification Discussion

Ive been considering a dual intake for my 327 which is about to get rebuilt,and was advised the cam may need to be reground to benefit from the extra .
anyone have a suggestion on how to approach this one. Seems like true esoteric forgotten knowledge I could
D get a reground stock stick with the engine rebuild kit or take the existing cam and ask for a tweak But the specifics of what to ask for ....
It seems like the Edmonds intake requires hot water I though he wants to keep the fuel mixture cool as possible

For racing a cold manifold can eke out a couple more horsepower at full throttle. For street use heat is a big help in vaporizing fuel especially when starting from cold, and for idling and low speed running. Helps warm up quicker and helps fuel economy too.

A complete hop up program is more than just more carburetors. Reground cam, dual exhaust or headers, shaved flywheel, milled head and recurved distributor would be the basic formula.

I don't know who makes Packard cams. Edgy Edgerton has developed cams for Chrysler flathead straight six and straight eight. Old time cam grinders like Iskendarian still have the patterns for the old flathead Ford and other flathead engines.

Unless your old cam is worn out there is nothing to be gained by a stock regrind.

The problem with trying to add horsepower with additional camshaft duration is it a high RPM solution. Packard I8s don't like to wind tight.

jack vines

Dear Steve:

The best source is probably Packard.

If it exists you want to find the profile for the 7th Series Custom 8 (1930) and the 7th Series Speedster 8 which supposedly had a hotter cam; and 39 more horsepower.

If you can find that you can have a grinder look at the difference and come up with a plan.

The Speedster also had an optional high compression head which was special, but the cam stayed the same with either head.

I'm not much of a hot rodder. Another possibility is to get the profile of the Stutz overhead cam which may be hotter than the Packard. There are rules of thumb that a grinder can help you with, but it is probably better to start with a working profile like the Speedster or the Stutz.

The old time cam grinders such as Crower or Iskendarian have the knowhow to grind a good cam for an older lower speed engine. My friend has a Hudson 6 that he hopped up and the results are amazing. The car pins you back in the seat like a modern car, but does not spin at ultra high rpm. The job is a combination of a hot cam (keeping maximum rpm limits in mind), triple carbs on the six for good mixture distribution, higher compression, an electronic ignition, and exhaust headers. He also balanced the rotating parts for better reliability. I have used this same technique on other low performance engines and it works well.

What you do is to move the torque peak up higher in the engine operating range and also increase the amount of peak torque. Since horsepower is proportional to torque times rpm you get a lot more power without exceeding maximum rpm mechanical limits.

On the negative side you lose some low speed torque so you need perhaps more speeds in the transmission. The 2-speed Ultramtic in a Packard would not be happy with a hopped up engine. That is why I changed my mind about hopping up my 1950 Packard.

Call up Clifford performance. Inline engines are a bit different that V engines and Clifford is about the only name in the inline game these days. The cam grinder they have wont handle the length of the L8 Packard cam but they are willing to give specs to get you in the ballpark with what you need. Clifford performance PHONE 951-471-1161