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If the 120 was sluggish there was something wrong with it. There are many old cars running around in a poor state of tune or just completely clapped out --the owners have unbelievably low expectations of how the cars should run.

A nice fresh 282 with OD will run along at 75+ all day if it needs to. Porting and relieving has a very good effect, as does a slightly warmer cam grind. Some careful attention to the head will get the CR closer to the 8:1 neighborhood.

I am not so much a 356 fan because of the weight that makes the car nose heavy, the hydraulic lifters, and generally more difficult to source parts. Needless to say any dual sidemounts have to go.

If you are changing to the longer engine, then for competition I would go with a 327 (which was a factory substitution after 356 production ceased). You are already up to 160 hp without lifting a finger and much more is readily available.

I used to have a VHS copy of an old Packard company film where they compare the performance of the new 1940 Super Eight with the 356 CI against an older model 1939 Super Eight. The '40 absolutely blew the doors off of the '39 in a straight line acceleration test. Those cars had very impressive performance.

They also had to « sell » that the 356 was a fitting replacement for the 12

The big Buick engine was similar in power. The 356 was about 20% more horses than the Cadillac V8.

The 356 is a longer block than the 282. Which block would the 327 be related to?

Ross, dual side mounts? Like the spare tires?

Dual side mounts means that the car has the spare tires mounted externally in the fenders. These were an option on the eight cylinder Packards of this era. The 160 in Pennsylvania has them. They do look quite elegant but can be a pain as they make servicing the car more difficult. For some operations, you will first have to remove the spares and this is not as easy as it sounds. Also, they add a lot of weight to the front of the car.

While it looks elegant on the limos, I wondered is 120 fenders could be put on a 160.

Here's a 1941 160 convertible coupe for sale.

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/cto/d/idyllwild-1941-packard-160-super/7757513836.html

In 48 Packard standardized all their engines to a 3 1/2" bore. It had first appeared on the six (245), then the Super Eight (356) and lastly on the new 288 and 327. This means that the 288 and 327 and the 356 are all very close to the same length. In fact these all take the same head gasket and you can swap heads around for a compression ratio that you like.

Front sheet metal on 1940 160's is the same as the 120's so the parts are interchangeable. Side Mounts were available on all body styles. I have seen more than a few coupes and convertibles with them.

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I know 41-2 better than 40, but the front fenders should be the same. Sidemount and non-sidemount cars used different front springs because of the weight difference

Many body parts are the same between the 1801 and 1803 models