Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Saw this photo in the AACA Photo Gallery.

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Probably before you joined the forum but if you're interested, 56Executive posted some Packard documentation on their fuel injection program and photos of his car.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... ic.php?post_id=68565#forumpost68565 I believe there might have been some other photos in a different thread.

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No, this engine started out life as a 352. It's not factory R&D, but a racer's work in progress, destined for installation in a 74 Chevy Vega for an attempt at a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The photo above was submitted by one of the AACA forum admins, but the real man behind the project later registered and chimed in. I have little interest in the AACA forums, anymore, but you may find the thread, Packard A Salt Car, of interest.

Packard, however, was actually in the process of evaluating FI systems for production - from several suppliers - back in 55. They even fitted a Bosch mechanical system to a 55 352 (a Clipper, IIRC). Years later, the system wound up in the hands of member 56executive, and decades later, he installed it on his 56 Exec.

Yes, Rich Fox built this engine five years ago. He modified a Hilborn injection system for a Pontiac V8. I supplied some of the parts, i.e. camshaft, oil pump conversion kit. Rich also used a RotoFaze ignition, aluminum flywheel, forged 12:1 compression Arias pistons.

I bought the engine back from Rich a couple of years ago and it's on a stand in my garage.

jack vines

Very interesting, Jack. Have you ever "bench run" it? It'd be interesting to get one of these on a dyno (if it hasn't been done already) and see what kind of power gains have been realized.

If the "56Executive" engine is mostly stock other than the FI. a dyno of that kind of setup would give a good indication of how much power Packard might have hoped to achieve by just adding FI back in the days of production cars.

There you go, the brand new 1957 Packard with optional Fuel Injection! TIme to beef up the Ultramatic some more, or it would've been the 1957 Packard transmission-eater special.

Also interesting that they would pick a Vega/Packard combination for the speed record run. I wonder what class that would go under? I imagine most folks would be puzzled by the lack of a bow tie engine. The normal expectation is a non-Chevy car with a Chevy engine, not the other way around.

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No need to reinvent the wheel, when factory documentation is available right here.

Member 56executive was kind enough to provide the site with a scan of documents regarding Packard Advanced Engineering Division Project No. 354 - Dynamic Studies of (Fuel) Injection Nozzles for our Literature and Manuals archive.

Also, he later provided some additional factory documents in the forum, as image attachments in a series of posts in a thread on Packard Fuel Injection.

IIRC, a beefier (3rd gen.) Ultramatic was also in the works.

Rich chose the Vega because it was narrow. He ran it with a turbocharged GMC 6-cyl, a Pontiac, the Packard and some I've forgotten.

He sold the Vega, but is now building a Y-block Lincoln engine. I sent him the core.

Wonder what that will run in?