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Just bought my first engine trans.
I have no idea what is... has Thunderbolt on head and K221665 stamped on left side of block. Any help and info would be greatly appreciated.

K2 for the first 2 digits of the engine number would indicate the engine is a 1952 model year 288. The remaining 21665 is the sequence number that would give an indication on where in the total 52 production of 288's it was made. That number would end around 50000 so the engine was made maybe a quarter to a third of the way into the production schedule.

Was originally installed in a 200/200 Deluxe model and is probably 135 hp unless a different head was installed to up the compression ratio slightly. No easy way to tell if that happened. It will have 5 main bearings and if there is no other marks or letters such as an H stamped somewhere around the engine number it will have solid lifters.

You can find all the other specs on the engine in the Packard 51-4 service manual or in the 52 model year introduction specs in Nov 15, 1951 Service Counselor.

there is what apears to be a large upper case I after the numbers also it has the Thunderbolt head.

The crank case also has numbers 4 11 52. would that be the date of manufacturing?

That date would be the date the engine block was cast by the foundry. So no, not the manufacturing date of either the assembled motor or the vehicle it was installed in.

G'day PackRat,
to PackardInfo. Normally I'd invite you to include your Packard in the Packard Vehicle Registry but, seeing there's not enough Packard to constitute a "vehicle", the Welcome will have to suffice.

However if you reunite the engine/trans with a Packard body, don't forget the Registry.

Quote:

For most vehicle, engine and other serial numbers, Packard used the upper case I as a 1.

Also, for 1951 through 1954 and maybe earlier all the heads were Thunderbolt except for the original aluminum head used on the 1954 359 engine. If you want to know exactly which head, then look at is casting number (near the water outlet) and see if it matches a part number in the parts book.