Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Thanks for the advice Gator, it's great to have help from people who have done this task before, gives me confidence. The seal is now in and the crank spins fairly easily. There was quite a lot of oil squeezed out of the seal as I pressed it into place so it was pre-oiled and full of graphite. My biggest concern was that the seal appeared to be very thick and bulky for the slot it had to fit into. I thought perhaps it was not the correct one for the 288 but it has squeezed and flattened out and seems OK.

I'll take it easy on the first run of the engine and make it a short run so the seal can bed down and cool off.

Yes, they seem more thick than they need to be but are designed that way to fill the groove. They also swell up when oil soaked. if you left the ends just a tad long where the cap surface mates up with the block surface, that's even better. If not then you may want to coat the seal ends with a little red silicone where the two halves meet. Other than that, it sounds like you've taken all of the necessary precautions and your seal should be fine. Wishing you well on your entire build.

I'm sure this is a dumb question, but, being new to Packard's, I'm wondering why not use a modern style seal, rather than a rope seal?

There is really no way to get any other kind of seal over the end of the crank because there is a flange in the way. Maybe some kind of split seal would work after machining the block and cap for it but by the time you've done all that, you might as well have just used the rope seal and this type of seal is more effective than a modern one too!