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Just aquired a very nice 1946 Clipper 4dr sedan. Sifting thru the parts I have to put together a list of needed items. Seems I have everything but the six cylinder block and crankshaft. - Advice is welcomed as to how to proceed - opinions welcome...Switch to an Eight?

Yeah there's not really any straight 6 engines out there. It would be cool to find one but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Demand for the 6 cyls has historically been low as well even though the cars are very rare.

G'day Boxeratheart,
to PackardInfo.

I would caution about fitting an Eight engine to your Six. Reason being, the Eight had a longer front clip to accommodate the longer engine; which means the Eight may have trouble fitting in the space the Six formerly occupied.

However, I invite you to include your '46 Clipper Sedan in PackardInfo's Packard Vehicle Registry.

There is an engine on e-bay, $150.

e-bay - Packard six

The head has a 1-7-41 date, so I don't know what might be different.

There is a more complete engine also on e-bay. This was some one's spare for their '37. They want $1,350.

e-bay - 1937 Packard six

There is one from a 1940, includes a transmission, $600

e-bay - 1940 Six

Good afternoon...Your car is set up for a six, and as such, a six will be the proper thing to do. Most likely less expensive to install a rebuilt 6 than an eight. Even if it can be fit in, it will not look right, and gearing in the transmission, and rear end, may not have the right ratios. Look on this site, ebay, advertise in the club news letter...Someone will have a complete engine or at least a block and crank to start with...Check with Max Merritt, Tucson Packard, Kanter Brothers. If none of these guys have one, they will know where you should look next. Ernie in Arizona

If your car did indeed have a six originally, an eight would not fit which I know from experience after having bought a Packard were someone tried to do that very thing. The pan was resting where the radiator was supposed to be! Incidentally, I do have a semi-rebuilt 1940 110 engine available although there are some differences between the prewar and post war versions such as the latter having larger rod bolts.

Great info and thanks. I almost bought another that is a 47 fairly complete. But it is an eight.

AWESOME 😎

By the way, you are right next to Aldrich Restorations. Very experienced Packard guy. Not cheap, but just FYI if you are really stuck on something or need some bulky part he might have it.

Non-Porsche Boxster,

Absolutely switch to an eight. Hell, yes. It's not "cool" or "proper" to stick with a six when the same car also came w/ an 8. There's a misery loves company element on such marque forums at times.

1946 junior Clippers share the same chassis, same sheet metal, same front clip, same 120" wb. Don't waste your time with a six. While the One Twenty a terrific car and saved the company, the six introduced for '37 should've been christened a Macauley or Packardette, because it cheapened the Packard name. Even Pierce, had they Packard's profit margins, was planning 25,000 Hayes-bodied $1,200 base price juniors for '38, Lincoln had the "Ford and a half" Zephyr, Cad the Olds-based 1934-36 LaSalle, the '36 Cord originally called the "baby Duesenberg" by A-C-D company insiders. All 1939-on Packards other than 446 leftover Twelves were junior based.

Scout out a good 282-ci One-Twenty engine used through 1947, or do what a Packard dealer would've done 1948-on for a customer needing a new engine in a car like yours: Install a 1948-on 288 or 327, both the same engine varying only in stroke and based on the Pontiac design '35 120 engine which that year only had the identical bore/stroke as the Olds straight 8.
Where Packard shines is refinement, execution.

Can this "original" talk. You're not rebuilding a one-off Bugatti or Delage. Does your '46 have overdrive? If so, you're already streets ahead. If not, get a late '48-'54 R-11, slightly simplified, more plentiful, so less expensive than the 1940-early '48 R-9. Since your car originally a six, your rear axle ratio stumpier for better acceleration. Get a 3.9 from a 1948-on junior bathtub on the 120" wb, now your '46 will loaf along at 75-80 in overdrive, esp. with the short-stroke 288, same bore/stroke as the Cord V-8 but a huskier engine, one of Packard's most underrated. Of course, it and the 327 s h o u l d have been good flathead straight eights, Packard increasingly phoning in the cars, addicted to their less hassle, more lucrative govt. and jet engine work, just as most Rolls-Royce's business 1935 on aero engines (which Packard built during the War II under contract). Because when Packard introduced their 288/327 iteration, Olds, Cad, Chrysler, even Studebaker about to unveil or working on ohv V-8s.

Packard didn't care if it was "original." They just wanted to get product out the door pronto. Your '46 has as good a chassis as anything either side of the Atlantic or Channel through the '40s, and Packard's last style with elan and understated taste.

Such a Packard sans OD is a drag, and a six hohum. NYC taxis used the 6 in the late '40s but they were geared like tractors and had Super-8 11-inch clutches. It was a marine unit 1947-51 in smaller boats like 17-foot Chris Craft runabouts. Small White trucks also used the six 'til the mid-'50s, but again, geared like, well, trucks.

Jeff Adkins, Moose Motors, Penngrove (Petaluma, CA) has some R-11 OD transmissions. packardguy54@sbcglobal.net (707) 792-9985 Also drum brake parts for everything domestic Auburn through Zephyr. Mechanical and electrical parts for all Packard 1935-56.

Mike Grimes at Merritt is another terrific, also uber knowledgeable source, and they also have cosmetic bits. Max Merritt Packard Parts 317-736-6233 ext. 103, 281.793.3377 mobile. mike@packardparts.com www.packardparts.com

Please tell Jeff and Mike that Mike, '47 Super Clipper, Walnut Creek, CA referred you. These fellows know every lock washer on your car.

Some of the above who should know better notwithstanding, there are some savvy souls here gathered. See the Literature Archive and others under Main Menu to the left.

BTW, i bought my '47 senior when i was in my 30s, after owning a pair of junior Packards back in the '70s when you had all these pompous old coupon clippers with their '30s senior fire truck/parade floats giving you backhanded compliments like "nice j u n i o r." Honestly, i and a couple other longtime Packardites would be as happy with 1942-47 junior 8 overdrive Clippers. You wouldn't think a mere seven inches less wheelbase would make much difference, but does it ever. A much more rational sized car, less of a load for its brakes and shocks, same 120" wb as postwar R-R- Silver Dawn/Bentley Mk VI and R-Type, but not funky looking as they are; same wb as lovely 1950-56 Jag Mk. VII saloon. All you need.

My engine just an enlarged 120 eight with four more unnecessary main bearings for marketing, and the Wilcox Rich hydraulic valve lifters Cad had since '36. If you want hydraulic lifters, they were a $25 or so option in the '288 in the early '50s, when the 327 came with nothing but. There are plenty of those boat anchors around for a song in this SBC V-8 Frankencar world, so get a good one someone credible's already rebuilt.