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Well, I have decided, after some encouragement to start a blog on getting my 1608 7 passenger touring on the road again. I bought it over a year ago, and thru the help of the club have been able to contact a previous owner from the 70's and determined the owner before him had moved and passed on. Big blanks prior to '70 and after say '78. Based on the CA inspection sticker it was last on the road in 72.

I wanted a BIG car to fit the kids and grand kids in, wanted a V12, sidemounts, luggage rack, Trippe lights etc. and didn't have open Twelve money, so this is what I have. Plan is to make it a wedding event car for when I retire. The car had a weigh scale ticket that read 6,110#'s

Car was very complete and had original interior and paint, but unfortunately, I don't think either is salvageable. The roof was out of it, probably due to an electrical short in the dome light. Only has surface rust and the bolts are amazingly unseized. Love California cars. Seller listed it as Green and when I got it, it turned out to be faded Centennial Blue.

I was at Hershey and found one of the last missing things, and there were not many, the Senior Grooved hood handle. A club vendor was able to supply the other one, so that is behind me.

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Here is the car on arrival at my house in the Atlanta area. Had to get a roll back to unload from the carrier. Those over the road car haulers are amazing. Took a couple months to get the car here.

Lots of intrigue as the Russian owner left the country and I didn't have the car yet. All worked out, but was a little unnerving.

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I got out of sequence, this is the over the road, coast to coast hauler.

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First thing I did was try to turn the, "Ran When Parked" engine over with, not unexpended failure. I had pretty much decided to take it out and go thru it, but hoped it would have been less involved.

So, I purchased gallons of Kroil, WD 40, PB Blaster, marvel mystery oil, etc and flooded every thing for about 6 months.

I partially disassembled the top of the engine, carb, manifolds, valley cover and found some stuck valves which I was able to free up.

In talking to the PA he said he had to have the factory aluminum heads welded in the '70's due to leaks, which is what prompted him to sell it. When I got it, the aluminum heads had been replaced with cast iron ones, but there was evidence that it still had some leak issues.

Picture is of the engine as it arrived.

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I decided to go thru the engine and do the valves, silent blocks, new heads, basically the gaskets, cosmetics and ancillaries.

To get to the engine, I removed the fenders hood and radiator and grill surround. Much easier to get to the engine.

Picture is of disassembled top of the engine. Ran a die over the head bolts and the threads were stretched, so I will have to replace them. I guess the PA thought some extra torque on the cast iron heads would be good.

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The valves came out easily with a big "C" valve spring compressor. Only problem was the forked end of the clamp had an offset that prevented getting to the retention collar, but I just moved it onto the spring and was able to compress them enough to free the thru valve, "HAT" retainer with a magnet.

I have a dedicated table that I am laying everything out in order that the 15,000 parts (so I am told) in the valve system are organized.

I moved on to the silent blocks and determined, with some international club members help, that the valve guides had to be removed first.

To get them out you first have to determine how they were installed. Picture shows a guide with the "C" retainer clip and the spring seat.

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Here is the partially disassembled valve valley.

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To remove the guide, I had to use a piloted drift that I got from Harbor Freight. I think I used the 5/16" one.

Because of the fact that the "C"clip keeps the guide from being pulled out of the engine and to remove the spring seat, I found I had to drive the guide into the valley about 1/4". This leave space to pry the spring seat off with a pair of flat blade screwdrivers.

DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE THE GUIDE WITHOUT REMOVING THE CLIP. There is not enough clearance to push the guide into the engine and you will be unable to pull it out without damaging or breaking something.

This gives access to the "C" clip which I was able to lever off by using a flat blade screwdriver under one of the open ends of the C and after dislodging it from its groove, worked it around to the other end. Most popped off once I dislodged it from the groove.

Picture is of the guide, clip and spring seat driven off the block.

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When I was editor of Cars & Parts, we did an excellent series of articles on the rebuilding of the Packard Twelve engine by Dale Adams. If you send me an email, I will send you the whole series of digital files. There may be some very useful information to help you on your journey of rebuilding.

StelvioGT@yahoo.com

I fully agree with West, the Dale Adams series was outstanding, both for the Packard V12 specifically, and also just for general principles. Unless you are already very familiar with the Twelve, you should absolutely read thru the articles before going much deeper into your engine. Take West up on his offer, or I think this link will take you to the series of articles:

daleadamsenterprises.com/packard1.pdf

That's a great car you've got there, I'm going to very much enjoy following your efforts with it. Best of luck.