Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hi Guys,

Just turning over some old stones here but I'm just wondering if I'm beating my head against a wall....

I have finally pulled down my 60000 mile 374 to do the bearings (oil pump issue of course).

Now, when I got the car it had a very loose bottom end, low oil pressure. Took the sump off, modified the oil pump (the gear clearances were good) by whipping off the vacuum pump and replacing with thick steel plate. Put back in the car and the oil pressure shot up. Wonderful, but the damage had already been done.

Anyway, remove crank time: first the rod bearings - okay, no problems there, in fact, they all are quite good hmmmm.

Off comes the first main bearing oh dear. Then the second, wow I thought the first one was bad etc etc.... The mains are catastrophic: there's around 40 - 45 thou railway tracks running through the bearing surfaces.

And more discoveries - somethings not quite measuring up with the calipers: then I spot it - the counterweights have been stamped 020 - WHAT! it's already been ground!?! this is turning into a disaster!

To the end of my tale: Everyone knows the oil pump talk. if they're all that bad whats the point of me trying to get another crank? Maybe thy're all stuffed?
I'm in NZ so it's not like the local pickapart has spare cranks lying around.
And yet all over youtube there's these same mileage cars for sale or show, and the owners saying shes a good runner etc, never been touched, and there's no indication of imminent bearing failures.

Was my 374 just one of those that was a lemon? Should I persist?

I love my Patrician but I'm having a real downer at the moment....

FYI the bores have around 2 thou wear so it definitely isn't a high mileage motor...

Muir
NZ

Sorry to hear you have a fairly common problem. Many a used Packard V8 will have had the mains turned .010" and the rod journals still standard.

The most cost-effective fix is to have a local machine shop turn the mains .030" under. Bearings are available.

If you can't source it locally, I have a .020" under crankshaft and bearings available.

jack vines

Thanks Jack

I may yet take you up on your offer.

I have heard there's a homeless 352 over here so I'm going to see if I can locate it. But again, I'm running into that thought that maybe the 352 crank is just as stuffed with the same issue, so I'm going round in circles.

Stupidly enough I pre-empted the grind and got 010 rod and main bearings - so they're shelf ornaments now.

My current crank unfortunately will need 060 under mains and the rods 030 under. I intend keeping the car forever, but even if I could by some miracle get 60 under mains it'd be on the ragged edge.

I still can't believe that my 60000 mile 374 had already had a crank grind. Needing it twice in that mileage isn't something to be proud of....

Just FYI according to the NZTA database (your equivalent the DMV?) There's my Patrician, a '55 Clipper and a 56 400 in NZ. Pickings are slim....

Muir

"I have heard there's a homeless 352 over here so I'm going to see if I can locate it.......

Just FYI according to the NZTA database (your equivalent the DMV?) There's my Patrician, a '55 Clipper and a 56 400 in NZ. Pickings are slim...."

G'day Muir,

See there's also a '55 400 on the South Pacific Packards Website, so there might well be more around.

Another thought is Gerry(packardssouthwest) who advertised V8 crankshafts here a few years back. Never know your luck.

Click on packardssouthwest's name in any of his posts and email and website details come up for Gerry.

If I recall my Australian correctly, Stuffed = pregnant?
In your vernacular, is this polite speak for "intercoursed"? This would seem to fit :)

We have owned many many V8's since 1962 and driven some to over 100,000 miles. Never low oil pressure, never bad rod or main bearings. We have sold bearings for all 1935-56 Packards since 1960 and the V8's are by far the slowest sellers, even considering that they were made fro only 2 years.

The "problem" with the oil pump is not that it does not provide sufficient pressure/volume but that it ingests some air which gets trapped in the lifters causing the lifter noise problem.

We had a customer in Texas many years ago who had purchased a bunch of SASCO surplus new 352's and used them for his irrigation pumps. The ran them 24 hours a day during the season and called us for parts when the bores wore out too much. He said they were the best engines he ever had.

.060 mains are unavailable

With the damage and apparently being worked on more than once for bearings it might be a good idea to verify it has all the updates for components Packard identified with causing oiling issues.

Possibly there is something improperly installed or left out or the engine didn't get one of the updates. It could even be after Packard went away someone installed something early design that would revert it back and re-introduce a problem.

HH,
In general what were the problems that Packard found that caused bearing failure/oiling problems other than the lifter problem.

Thanks

Fred, others can comment more authoritatively but the two that come to my mind immediately are the several changes in the oil holes in the rocker arm shafts and the change to the camshaft thrust plate.