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After a bath and a little PB Blaster to get things loosened up:

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<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/turbopackman327/1925PackardSpeedsterProjectPics/photo#5225227243979707826"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/turbopackman327/SIO8fnQalbI/AAAAAAAAAvs/iCqm1TMDHbA/s400/IMG_1225.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/turbopackman327/1925PackardSpeedsterProjectPics">1925 Packard ...</a></td></tr></table>


If you click on the pic, it takes you to my Picasa web albums, and you can see all the pics that I can't for some reason download here tonight. I think the 327's too big for this blog!

After pulling the tappet covers off, things don't look so bad on the lower end of the engine:

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But the intake and exhaust ports were a good indicator of the cylinder condition. I got so sick when I pulled the head off that I gave up and came in for the night (individual cylinder pics are in reverse order, 8-1):

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The water that's in there now is most likely from the power washing, as I sprayed in the intake and exhaust ports pretty good to clean out the gunk, and this is the reason why I wanted to get the head off tonight, to see just how bad it is.

Makes me wonder if a 327 can be bored out to 359 bore, 3&9/16"? There's a pit in one of the cylinder walls (#4) that's at least 1/32" deep. OR, anyone out there have a bare 359 block they want to get rid of?? LOL!! (I gotta do SOMETHING to cheer myself up!!)

On closer inspection, I found this on #8. Makes me wonder that since I'm going to have to sleeve it to save it, if I can sleeve it all out to 3 and 9/16"? OR, does anyone have a block they want to get rid of??? I feel so sick tonight!:

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G'day Eric, I bored my 38 Six out from 3.5 to 3.5625 ( 3 9/16) without any trouble. I used International truck pistons to get the gudgeon height. Really nice and quiet pistons. Sometimes it is cheaper to sleeve it. What are the original Packard pistons like? If they are ok you can sleeve it back to the piston size and use new rings to have a new bore/ring relationship. This may be better in keeping the comp ratio reasonable if you are going to use forced induction on the engine. Best Regards, Peter Toet

The pistons are a total loss, which is fine because I have to use custom forged pistons since I'm using 288 rods. I'm more worried about the giant hole in the side of the block! If I'm going to have to sleeve it, I'm going with the biggest bore I can.

Also, since this car will be using 105 octane, the compression ratio will be a static 9:1, with 10psi boost. I'll inform you all just how I'm going to do this as the project progresses.

G'day Eric, Just looked at the pics and it is a train smash. The pistons are going to be difficult to remove in reasonable cond. I would suggest that you tip a can of Coke into each bore and let it sit. Coke works wonders in freeing seized engines and rusty items. I would suggest that you don't rush into any rescue plans for the engine, that is: consider all of the alternatives first and give it a few weeks/months to develop. Best regards and sorry about the tuff break. Peter Toet

G'day Eric, Sorry that I missed your reply, which is probably why they invented chat rooms. Sleeves work out to about $60-80 per sleeve and are pretty good value. If you are going to use forged pistons anyway then you are in pretty good shape. I have quite a few sleeved engines and they are a good, cost effective alternative to obtaining a replacement engine. best regards Peter