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Been busy disassembling the engine before putting it on the stand. Currently rubbing into issues drilling the mounting holes through the plate. I hope to have it mounted tonight.

Found out the engine has solid lifters



Getting the manifolds off was a chore. Most of the nuts were rusted in place. I'm single handedly increasing the stock price of Freeze Off. The outer nuts came off without much issue due to using an impact gun. The ones were a challenge. I ended up using a 17mm offset box end wrench and a small sledge to break them loose. Then it was slow progress with hammer, small movement, replace wrench, hammer, repeat. I ended up only breaking off one stud.



The inside of the manifold and the block are nasty. So much junk. No idea on the history of this engine, but part of me wonders if the car was under water at some point

Excactly where in the Titanic was that salvaged from?!

Quote:

It probably was, if they were still carrying a balance in 1957.

" ... part of me wonders if the car was under water at some point"

When I saw the images of the underside of the car I wondered then if this Packard had tried to play submarine at some point in its past.
Seeing these images of the engine makes that possibility seem even more likely.

So.....it was a Marine engine!

" ... So it was a marine engine"

A new application for one of the Marine Engines Packard built. It must have been a prototype for an inline 8 Marine Engine.

Pretty daunting. But anyway, here is some info on mounting 51-54 engines. Use these bolt holes on the block:



And then drill the plate on your engine stand like this. The pattern is (4) 7/16" holes spaced to a 6 1/2" x 2 1/4" rectangle. I drilled my holes close to the bottom of my plate so as to get the center of rotation a little bit closer to the center of gravity. Use good quality bolts with no spacers between the plate and block. Works great

I hardly ever say this about any Packard engine but I'm not sure that this one is even rebuildable but at the very least it needs to be completely disassembled including the removal of the water distribution tube, then hot acid tanked for a long time, flushed and re-tanked! After that, the manifold studs will need to be removed and the surfaces milled or they will never seal. I have rebuildable cores that are far, far better and I'm sure someone closer to you does too.

Ross, that engine would look great in my Henney-Packard! Anyway, did you find that the balance worked well when using those holes? I am about to do something similar so it would be great too know. Incidentally, what was the rear upper hole used for in the car where your plate attaches? I'm drawing a blank of what might have been mounted there.