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I agree, Craig. I wasn't putting 2 and 2 together. I mistakenly believed that aeration would only be present after sustained high speed. I've sent a PM to Jack already and will reach out to my mechanic in the morning.

Latest update: oil pump conversion kit & oil pan gasket on their way (or maybe already delivered) to my mechanic. Hopefully this silences the valves and I'll be back on the road at the end of the week.

Added benefit - the cost for changing the pump is (estimated) to be less than the cost of the valves, so if that estimate holds it's a win win!

Like the bald man said: "I may have a lot of problems, but I don't have dandruff." Hope the new Olds pump fixes your valve problems. Anyway, after it is installed you will have one less thing to worry about. It is a good modification which should pay off in much improved engine oiling. JWL

Insufficient engine oiling was not a problem on V8's so the new pump has nothing in that realm to improve. Bearing life is long as long as oil is changed per recommendation.

The original pump has a design flaw caused by the addition of a vacuum pump. It puts a sideways thrust on the pump shaft which results in an ovaling of the hole, the result is that air is drawn in. This air wind up trapped in some/all lifters.

Fred (or anyone else who may know),

If you know, how does the Packard oil/vacuum pump assembly differ from the Buick and Cadillac units which I believe used essentially the same vacuum pump which was mounted in the same or similar manner?

Alright, so we got the oil pump kit from Jack and a few questions from my mechanic answered by Jack, big thanks for that by the way. The hose for the auxiliary vacuum pump from the old oil pump confused him since - as we all know - the new one doesn't have that. I forgot to warn him ahead of time. But long story short (too late) it worked! No more ticking, clicking or clacking.

My mechanic snapped the (very blurry) picture below of the original oil pump filled with sludge. Not pretty. But the good news is he dropped the oil pan (thanks to Kanter for expediting that gasket btw) and said it was clean.

Fingers crossed I may finally have the car back today or tomorrow after a 6 week absence...if this rain holds off. Since he's had the car he's been doing a few other odds and ends which I'll detail out later.

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That is a good move and should solve many potential issues. The downside is losing the original secondary vacuum source but that has been true of many of the "fixes" (PI reworked pumps, etc) developed over the years.

Am curious what you did with the old vacuum line from the pump. Some have gone with the manifold vacuum only for the wipers and that is sufficient unless the engine is under a relatively constant heavy load and vacuum drops for long periods. Just a reminder to make sure the mechanic plugged the second now unused port on the balance valve if you do go manifold only and have no other source.

Some wanting some redundancy have added a dual fuel pump, others, a small demand type aux electric vacuum pump and still others have converted to a combo alternator/vacuum pump as used in some diesel vehicles. The fuel pump approach is best in series with the manifold vacuum as was pre 55 cars but the other pumps can use the secondary port on the balance valve. Of course, some have just eliminated the vacuum wiper and went with electric.

Here is a photo of a dual fuel pump conversion.

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I can't say I'm too surprised at the appearance of your oil pump intake screen and the fact that you had noisy lifters. This is why folks so often say that when you buy an old car, among the very first things to do is to drop the oil pan and clean it and the pump intake.

Although I have never had a noisy lifter problem with my 56 Caribbean (which is approaching 100,000 miles), shortly after I bought it I dropped the pan and found very much what you did, a reasonably clean pan but a pump intake screen significantly choked off with sludge.

Live and learn, I've taken apart many Packard engines and have never seen a condition like this. I'm guessing that the clogged screen is the reason that the lifters were noisy at lower speeds. The clogged screen caused air to be sucked into the system around the drive shaft.

Howard: I haven't given much thought to the wipers as I don't intend to drive the car in the rain, and they're currently not functional. I was considering going with manifold only and getting the unit rebuilt, but now I'm debating switching to electric. I figure I can take my time debating and reading up on it on the forum.

I'm glad I did the conversion and my mechanic reports back a 15lbs higher pressure than previously recorded. Were this not a tried and true repair I'd wonder how that impacts the rest of the engine. But enough worrying! I need to get at least a month more driving before anymore worrying.