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Engine serial # F509021B

It falls within the range of F506001 thru F521999 so appears to be a 21st series 1947 version 356.

The B suffix indicates something was different than what was originally spec'd for that engine. Since the suffixes changed periodically would need to look thru bulletins to find exactly what it refers to.

What bulletins do you mean and how do find them? Thanks

The service counselors, letters and tech bulletins are all on site in their own category on the literature page but there is no comprehensive index of suffixes. Brian cataloged a couple of them in the service index but I didn't find a 46-7 entry. You would have to download all the articles and search them individually.

There were a bunch of suffixes around the 1940-41 models with some having to do with shortage of clutch items and some with another change. I believe a B might have been used at that time but don't know if it would have carried over postwar.

The last comprehensive list I found was in the Oct 1. 1948 counselor and was for those letters used for 22nd series engines. That one said B was not used on those engines. Either the item B referred to was changed and made permanent or the different item was no longer used.

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Thank you and I assume downloading all of them would be very many. I looked through the literature area and I can't figure out how to narrow it down to find this number and letter's meaning. Kind of seems like the needle in the haystack thing.

I have them all easily viewable so went thru and found it. B is clutch related. If you need to download the complete counselor it is Vol 21 #7 of April 1, 1947.

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HH56, where did you get those engine numbers? They don't seem to match the ones from the Packard engine serial number pdf.

If you mean the range of 21st series F engines produced in 46 - 47 they were taken from the serial number listing Big Kev put together. Believe he said the info was compiled from several sources. There is a discrepancy of approx 450 engines as being the total of the 21st series 356 run between the lists but your number still falls within the 47 range on both -- I read it as a 1947 production 356 engine.

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/PackardEngineSerials.pdf

Thank you, I didn't know that. You guys are the best.

There are lots of sources for information on motor numbers, both secondary and official Packard records. Motor's Manual is a secondary source and always gave a list for the years that particular manual covered. Additionally Packard frequently published lists from their original records though I don't know of an official Packard list that singly covered every year from start to finish. My preference is a list put together by The Packard Club some years ago, published in their quarterly publication, and compiled from various Packard records - I've never found an error or inconsistency with it. It's copyrighted so I can't post it here but if you want a private copy I can email it to you.