Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Again, too old. The two valve train covers have the half circle, or fingers attached to the cover. I think the fingers go down, or toward the bottom of the engine. Also which way does the oil filler neck bottom opening face? Toward the center, the crank, or toward the outside of block? Thanks from too old and senile. Just ask my wife!

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Here are a couple of photos from parts manual. The flange on the cover goes down and the tube points to the rear.

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  tube.jpg (807.51 KB)

The oil filler cap only goes on the tube one way and the opening in it should face the front of the car.
The slot at the top of the tube should faca away from the block.

I'm pretty sure that diagram is for 1941 and later. The 1940 oil cap does not look like that.

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  1940-Packard-Custom-Super-Eight-Convertible-Sedan-by-Darrin-3.jpg (891.52 KB)

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Correct. The taller tube and front vent facing cap came along in 41 as an effort to improve crankcase ventilation and alleviate sticking or rusting valves. Both could be installed on all engines to get better ventilation into the crankcase. The tube was for raising the cap higher and away from air being blocked and from increased turbulence caused by the oil filter canister which in some circumstances actually created a small suction effect. The cap with the front facing vent was positioned to catch more fan air. 356 engines had a different and more circuitous and restrictive path for air flow thru the crankcase so were more prone to sticking issues than other engines. In addition to the front facing vent opening on the cap, the 356 also got the horizontal vent tube to directly force feed fan air into the cap. It was suggested those items be retrofitted to earlier 356 engines particularly if a customer was an infrequent driver or had issues with sticking valves.

During the war years there were several articles mentioning valve sticking becoming somewhat of a problem on many cars due to the long down times and little driving. In addition to some recommendations about starting the motor periodically and let it come up to operating temp it was also suggested the later cap and higher tube be mentioned to owners for any engines coming into a shop where this might not have already been done. The horizontal tube stayed as only a 356 item.

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Yes, I was forgetting that 1940 was different

Yes pre war different, but thank you for taking the time to respond.

Yep, tell me about it. If you see my earlier posts and pictures. I am just finishing up a valve job. Last time I did this was around ten years ago and approximately 2000 miles. Even when I did not drive it regularly would go out and run the engine for around fifteen minutes. Also would occasionally use some Marvel Mystery in the gas. With todays gasoline it did not seem to work. A few of the valves had to be pried, tapped down, and up again many times to get them out of the valve sleeve. Let this be a warning to all of you about driving a lot and be very weary of today's gasoline. When I would get gasoline there are two very busy stations near me, one Sinclair, and the other Standard, would get from both, so neither seemed to make any difference as far as keeping the valve train ungunked. The oil gets changed every few hundred miles give or take, so everything there seems ok. Thanks all.

What I was talking about, is at the bottom of the filler tube there is a fixed butterfly tab. Looks like in the later diagram the half opening, butterfly, is open to the side of the block, thus I think restricting splashing oil in the crankcase?

Correct.