Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Hi Dan, what a great looking coupe. It looks a bit lowered. Have you fitted lowering blocks between axle and springs? This is what I plan to do to give a lower look to the speedster style body. Does your engine have the side mounted water pump? This coupe will have a great hot rod look. I am very keen to follow your build and see how your motors runs with the twin carbs and the straight exhaust manifold. Also it looks like you have a distributor with vacuum advance. What is that off? and does it work okay on this engine as you say you have had it running. Cheers Mal

Yes it is lowered,I channeled the body over the frame 4 1/2 inches a nd a 4 inch lowering block in the rear. The plan is to go as low as possible with the tallest tires.It has the side water pump and the distributer is a modifided 55 chevy. It works well and I can get tuneup parts anywhere,I may go with pertronics electronic ignition. Go to you tube and type in " 1929 packard runs "and you can rear it.

What Turnquist said was milling more than discard would introduce "operational difficulties". For the twelve I assume that means piston failure and for the eight spark and carbon knocking. Both of these problems occur over time.

The HC head on the speedsters was not just a Custom 8 head milled .060, but a different casting. On the speedster if you don't set the base timing using the flywheel you are likely going to have spark knocking. Timing by ear isn't going to work.

That notwithstanding, if increasing cylinder pressure is the objective I would try getting rid of the head gasket first and making up a spacer. That way parts are not being altered.

However, if the ultimate goal is turning cash into smoke, perhaps a supercharger is the better route. That will keep the original compression and cram more charge into the thing at will.

Hi Dan, that coupe body looks great lowered. I went to Youtube and watched your videos. Amazing to drive a car after it has sat for 45 years, isn't it? Looks like you were still using the original updraft carb. Once you get it sorted I assume you be running the 55 chevy dist and the twin Stromberg carbs with your straight exhaust manifold. Will you rebuild, or have you rebuilt the engine, and if so will you do it to standard or modify it? Cheers Mal

Tim, your comments about using a spacer instead of a head gasket are interesting. Can you explain more. What type of spacer would you use and what is the thickness difference between it and the normal head gasket? Mal

Dear Mal:

I think the first place to start is to meticulously clean the surfaces with solvents, coat them with oil or Lubriplate #105 or white grease, bolt them together and check the clearances using compressed air through the spark plug. You will need to make an adapter for the hole. You can buy a tool that measures leakage using the compressed air.

If the leakage rate is 10% or less then everything is good, you can make a spacer using copper, soft steel, or whatever.
The thinner the better I suppose. If you want dimples for the water holes you can make up tools to do that.

Look for a picture of a typical American V-8 head gasket from the 1960's for an example.

Thanks for the complements Mal,it was great to be able to drive the car,even the former owner thought it would never run again.I am in the process of tearing the chassis down to the bare frame as we speak to rebuild and paint everything, including the engine.I'm not sure what I will find, but it did run pretty good.I hope to end up with a good strong dependable motor, I do plan on driving this car, so stock is probably what I'll do.I would like to hop it up a bit but it doesn't sound like I have many option from what I've been reading here.I will be running the dual carbs and the chevy distributor. my favorite part is the header pipe I made, not to common on a Packard!Any chance we can see any pics of your project?

From the discussions here, it would seem that I have a couple of choices regarding engine. One, rebuild the original 1929 engine possibly fitting a custom manifold similar to Dan's with downdraft carb(s), or rebuild the 1936 engine and fit it, along with a 1936 gearbox, to the chassis with modified engine mounts. We have very strict VIN regulations in NZ so this would need full engineer certification, so going with the original engine may be the less complicated route. I have attached a couple of photos of the donor car with one showing the longer big 8 bonnet with door vents and the tourer (I think) cowl I will use to start building the body from the cowl back. Does anyone have a 1929 radiator cap? I just want the standard cap with the bail, not one with a mascot. Cheers Mal

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Further to my proposed speedster, will the 5 series radiator shell fit the 6 series radiator? I think I can find a 5 series shell and it is what was actually used on the Jesse Vincent speedster from the look of the photos.

Yes it will PT