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Assembling the flathead 6 motor on a '39 Junior Packard.
My main experience is as a GM dealer tech for 25 years and about 7-8 years in restoring old cars(mostly 50's to 70's classics).
I know how to build a motor, but the old Packard has just enough differences to make me scratch my head.
The "service manual" I've got(provided by the owner)contains just enough info to get me into trouble.

I bought my pistons, bearings and gasket set from Max Merritt. The gasket kit contains the wooden dowels for the side of the rear main bearing cap and also a package of graphite impregnated rope seals such as are used on later model cars.
I looked at the rear main cap and the engine. I can tell where the dowels go to seal the sides of the main cap, but I can't tell if you're supposed to insert the rope seal in the channel where the oil slinger rides, or just let the slinger and the extra groove on the back of the rear main bearing handle the oil.

Another question I have is in regards to the head nuts. Several brackets go to the studs for the heads. Some of these brackets were between the nuts and the heads. I would think that proper placement of the brackets is on top of the nut...thus, install nuts, torque head, install brackets, add second washer and nut to hold bracket.

Help a Packard newbie out, please.

Wally Crow
Vince's Vintage Vehicles
Fox, AR 72051
501-723-4080

36 hours, 58 views and not even one reply(even if only to tell me to get a manual)?

FWIW, I searched this site, located and tried to download the '38-'39 manual that bigkev put up as a pdf. I downloaded the compact manual and that turns out to be what I already have, which doesn't have the info I need. Tried to download the full manual, but it wouldn't open after I downloaded it(some error message related to the font).
So, failing to have the answer to my question, does anyone have a link to the download of the full manual that might work?

Wally

I suspect that 39SixMan will pipe in soon. I haven't heard from him today, so I suspect he may have taken off for the weekend early again.

No rope seal used at the rear main bearing on the 6 cylinder for 1947 and earlier, only the slinger.

Brackets on the 1937 six are installed under the head nuts. I expect that 1939 is the same.

Wally (Old_Crow ), welcome to PackardInfo.com.

Quote:

Be so kind to post the link to the mentioned full manual.

Thanks guys. I finally called Max Merritt in desparation and Fred said that they didn't use a rear main seal on the sixes, just the slinger. Said the dowels/ropes come in a package and they just throw the whole package into the gasket set when they make it up. ARRRGH!

As far as the brackets go, I'll put them under the head nuts, but I still think that that will affect the torque value.
Maybe I'm over-thinking this, but I've got good reason. The former owner of my shop did a head gasket on this car a couple years back. When I took it apart this time, it had water in the oil again. I also found some head stud holes that had been heli-coiled and were stripped again.
In an effort to fix this I've had all the stud threads repaired with time-serts and I was going to put the brackets on top of the first nuts to try and get an even torque on all the studs.
Lots of other minor stuff I'm fixing at the same time...rusted bolts, harmonic balancer has come apart, oil pan leaking, etc. Yes, it's also getting new bearings because of the coolant in the oil issue.

Just don't want to see it in here again for an engine related problem.

Wally

Guscha, here's the link I tried:

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/article/view.article.php?420

Wally (Old_Crow ), download works and the 145 pages of the manual are openable and readable. I can e-mail you "my" manual version (23.5 MB) for a second attempt but the best way should be to use another computer if possible. Do you use the newest Acrobat Reader? Mine is 10.1.7.

Attach file:

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  (34.14 KB)

Crow,
I own a 39 six sedan and yes, all images/history/etc indicate the horn, coil bracket, plug wire bracket, air cleaner bracket and even aftermarket oil filter bracket are mounted with the nut over the bracket. Further, I don't think the studs are long enough for the two nuts necessary to lock the bracket atop the lower nut that would hold the head.

Finally, and for what its worth, I've had the brackets under the head nuts for 15 years with no external or internal leaks.

Hope this helps. You may wish to peruse the Service Letters on this site to see some authentic photos and drawings that confirm this.

Best Regards,
Pat (39sixsedanman)

Guscha, wow! I have 3 computers I maintain, plus my wife's laptop. Somehow the one I use the most, here at work has been stuck on v8 of Adobe. Let me upgrade and try again.

39Six, Okay, you guys are the experts, if you say the brackets go under the nuts, that's how I'll do it. Like I said, over analyzing. I'll bet the problem was the pulled threads, not the brackets. Oh, and the crack in the block my machinist stitched closed probably wasn't helping anything either.
You guys are the Packard experts and thats why I'm here. If you need to know anything about small block Chevy's, I'm your guy.

Thanks to all, actually got some time to work on it today and the crank, rods and pistons are back in the block. Got the cam and valve train in also. Looks like I'll have it back in the car sometime next week.

Wally