Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

In the disassembly video you were commenting on the split on the piston skirt. For sure that was present on the prewar cars. I'm not positive on the postwar models. I believe the splits were all placed facing away the direction of travel of the crank. So the solid side of the piston was the side getting beat against the cylinder wall as the crank moved around. The split was facing the valves. I can't speak for the specific reason behind the split pistons. I'm sure someone with more knowledge will chime in.

The split skirts were necessary to control expansion with some aluminum piston designs.

It must have taken quite a bit or rebalancing with all these changes to make it smooth and quiet!

Many of Packard pistons (at least the 288/327/359) also had an expansion strut in the pistons. They were heated, and the strut was pressed in, which then reduced the contraction when cold. So in a sense they were pre-expanded.

A little more progress on the 1803. Cleaning, prepping and painting a few chassis parts. Also, pre=-cleaning of the frame before blasting. Have a Merry Christmas!

Monday December 30th was unseasonably warm. The sky was clear and I decided to take advantage of the weather. I set out the tarp and got the sand blaster out. Luckily it didn't take long to find my fresh air helmet system for sand blasting. I started blasting the rear of the frame. It was already late in the day, so I thought I could either prime/paint the area to seal it back up or build an industrial shower curtain inside the side in hopes of containing the dust. The frame was moved back in for overnight. Weather reported the following day called for rain on December 31st. However, that morning the weather report changed to sunny all day and about 50 degrees. After getting a few things in order at the shop, I was able to get everything back out and continue blasting the frame. While I didn't get any pics was able to call my wife to come over to the shop to take some video. It took until after dark to finish and the last bit of blasting was done while holding a flashlight. The dust was blown off the frame and then quickly moved into bay. With the humidity in my area flash rust starts happening right away.

Blasted frame:






Epoxy primer was used on the bare sand blasted metal. All the seams and edges were hit first, then a full coat was put on. After a 2 hour break to attend watching the ball drop at a New Year's Party, I returned to thoroughly coat the seams followed by another full coat. 3 coats were done on some of the leading areas which might be subjected to more impact from sand and such. The epoxy was finished up at 3 am.

Epoxy on frame:






The following day of January 1st 2025, my shop was closed and I was able to spend the time to paint the frame. The epoxy has a 24 hour window where a topcoat can be applied without the need to scuff the surface. Longer than 24 hours the epoxy is cured too much for the paint to form good adhesion and scuffing would be required. It would take quite a few hours of scuffing to thoroughly prep the frame and I'm not a fan of scuffing. The frame was painted with 2+ coats of Nason black urethane.

Black painted frame:







I'm thankful to have had a couple days of good weather to get this job done. Very happy with the results and now it's one less thing.
Front and rear suspension along with the rear axle are next for prep and paint. Then a rolling chassis can be assembled.

thanks,
Mark

That looks to be a vert good and lasting job.

That looks great. It'll be nice knowing that you won't have to touch the frame again.