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?????? what has all this have to do with a question about a '38 Super Eight blowing a bit of white smoke. Peter why do you constantly play the same broken record. I value your opinions but you are becoming very tiresome with this constant tirade. Give us all a break, please.

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Perhaps the time has come to put Pete on moderated post status. So I have to approve everything he posts before it's visible. It's sad that he has the distinction of being the first person I have to do that to.

I don't expect the following picture to be of any real help. Bt I just thought I would show you the number one exhaust port on the last 38 Super 8 I worked on that started with a little white smoke.

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Oh great! more ugly little 320 gremlins.

Is the wall thicknesses between the water jacket and exhaust port inherently thin, or was this just a one off deal? I have heard the 37, 38, & 39 320 had some cylinder block cracking issues, but had not heard of thin water passages. The 39 head / block have different water passage drillings on the exhaust side from the earlier engines. I wonder if this is part of why that change was made.

I really appreciate the info. and picture you posted. It is always good to know what others who have recent hands on experience with this particular family of engine have seen and found. You seem to have some excellent hands on knowledge of the 320.

How was this situation handled; Weld, or replacement cylinder block?

Jim

I've seen quite a few cracked blocks on 1939 and earlier 320 and 385 engines; they almost always start at one of the exhaust valve seats and generally proceed across the block to the cylinder bore. Probably the result of running low on coolant, adding cold water to a very overheated engine, or from a plugged or otherwise defective water distribution baffle in the side plate.

Haven't yet seen one like the photo.

The picture shows a block with serious corrosion in the water jacket. It may have been run for a number of years with no antifreeze (and therefore no corrosion inhibitor). Whilst that looks eminently repairable, other areas of the water jacket may be thin as well.

In this case, the white smoke would have come from water leaking into the hot exhaust port and evaporating. But the original question was about white smoke on the overun only. This could be a leaking headgasket, or even a cracked head.

Compression pressure is higher than water jacket pressure so any leak is usually into the water jacket (unless the gasket has blown away completely). Therefore the radiator header tank is the place to check for compression gases or oily residue. The ideal test is a cylinder leakage test, which tests the stationary engine by charging the cylinder with compressed air, but you may not have the kit for this.

My advice would be to run the car locally and keep an eye on it. If it clears up then fine, if it is a head gasket, it will get worse, so the problem and water consumption will get worse. At this stage, act quickly to avoid damage to pistons and bores from water ingress.

Hope this helps
Adam..

Kev -

You wrote:

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Think about what kind of person would take Randy's (expected and respectable) "groan" comment, which immediately followed my little pun, and twist it to suit their own agenda.

Why, when I saw that comment from PFHartmann, I began to choke on my Wendy's Big Bacon Classic! Man, if I hadn't chased it down with a nice cold Coke Classic, I mighta wrecked my 2004 Chevrolet Classic - another fine GM product that's helped deliver the unprecedented level of success that they're enjoying.

Seriously, when it comes to pulling in the reigns in on ol' PFHartmann, think about all the twisted, lying, cheating, double-dealing crap he's pulled at other forums so he could keep on posting. He'll just register under another fictitious name to disguise himself - if only for a little while. If you try to block his IP address, he'll just fnd another node to use. He sez he's dumb about computers and the Internet, but has admitted, publicly, to having some help in the past in getting aorund obstacles.

I have found that the best thing to do is not respond to him at all EXCEPT to post correct information to someone that he's been misleading. If you leave his posts stands, other will see what he's all about and come to the same conclusion that so many of us already have.

With an ambassador in the hobby like PFHartmann, it's no wonder that people hack Classics up into Kustoms.

Fortunately, he's hasn't been able to infect the H.A.M.B. website or found a way into the Packard society at Zombo.com.

39Super8
I have overhauled 5 32o engines so far and this is the only one that has had this kind of problem. Others have cracked around the exhaust valves. Still others have had no problems whatsoever.

In the case of the one pictured, the owner decided to replace the cylinder block and repair the old block later. At the present this hasn't been done. This car sat in a museum for many years before being purchased and returned to the road. It seems to be running fine as the last report I have it has over 500 miles on the rebuild.

I have one 38 block that looks like it has all but one valve area broken and welded, not re-machined yet.

You are correct when you state the heads and water passages are different between 38 and 39. I believe you can add 37 to the list also. The only thing I can think of that would cause Packard to do this kind of change would be problems in this area.

Don't loose heart your engine may well be just fine. I had a 37 that was just fine. I currently have a 34 and 35 that are good also.

O_D,
That's what I've heard also. Seems like a number of early flathead designs (flat head Ford V-8 for instance) suffer from either valve to valve, or valve (Typically exhaust) to cylinder / water jacket cracking.

49packard,
I am glad to hear you have not seen other examples of your photo. When I went through my engine, thank goodness there were no cracks. I have high hopes for this engine.

It is so interesting that there are so many inherent nagging issues with these engines. I honestly never imagined before getting involved with this 320 there was such a vast difference from the latter designed 282 / 356.

Pierre,
I hope your issue is not serious. It could certainly be a matter of rings seating back in, varnish, or stuck rings. I do not imagine the worst case scenarios we have discussed are issues you would be looking to immediately. With that said, they are all possibilities, and it is interesting speculation and very educational. Let us know how this turns out!

Jim

I am pretty sure it's blue/white smoke. If the car has sat a week or so when it first starts up will spit out black shoot on floor down by the tail pipe. Thoughts?