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Hello to everyone, this is my first post. I'm possibly buying a 1938 Business Coupe with an eight cylinder. My question is how can you tell if it has a Standard or a super eight. Are there any indicators by looking at the engine. I believe the length of the head might be one but I don't know how long a standard head is compared to a super eight. I've read that there were a lot of bad super eight motors in 1938 and they would crack over time. I also read that the 1938 standard eight was a good engine and didn't have the same problems. Any information would be helpful. I had a friend go and look at the car because I'm about 800 miles away from the car. I thought there was a metal engine tag but my friend couldn't find one on the block. Thanks in advance.

G'day Vanzant,
to PackardInfo,

Should you purchase this '38 Business Coupe, I invite you to include it in PackardInfo's Packard Vehicle Registry.

Quick means of identifying whether it's an Eight or Super Eight
1)Super Eight has an Aluminium Crankcase, the Eight is all cast iron.
OR
2) Distributor on Super Eight come up through cylinder head about 1/2 way along, the Eight is on the drivers side of the engine.

The Super Eight engine has a separate aluminum crankcase and the cylinder block is bolted onto it. The Eight has a one piece cast iron crankcase and cylinder block.

Also, the first 4 digits of the serial number of the car will tell the tale.

Like Ross said, the super 8 block is bolted to an aluminum crankcase. Crankcase should be a natural aluminum color. If you see these bolts between the block and crankcase then it's a super 8:



The engine should generally look like this if it's a Super 8. I don't have horns installed currently. They should be hanging off the middle of the block.

Hello Kevin Packard, I appreciate the pictures and the explanation. I'm a visual type and can't get much better. I thank all again, Cheers for the Forum !!

Also, you are correct that the '38 Supers have problems with the blocks cracking. It happened to my dad's (the engine above) and required a full rebuild with a '39 block and head. If you do get a '38 Super with the original engine then expect to have to replace the block at some point. If it does crack, the easiest way to go is to replace the block with a '37 Super 8. If you can't find one of those then a '39 will work, but you will need to use a '39 water pump, which is a one-year only part and super rare. Plus the '39 water pump is way shorter than the '37/38 and the stock mechanical fan won't work.

I've seen pictures of '38 Super 8's with other engines in them. Some with '38 standard eights and even one with a 51-54 327. That would take some work to mount, but it's a very reliable engine. If I had no options to rebuild the original engine then I would probably replace it with a '38-41 standard eight. But the fan will probably sit back too far on all of those.