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Well, it’s been months but I will continue the tale of our Packard.

After getting the radiator re done, cleaning the engine block best as possible and a new water pump we put the car back together. FINALLY I thought, I’ll get to drive this dreamy Packard that I had been spending all of my extra time and attention on. I did get to drive it, but not very far. We limped the car home, with it chronically overheating most of the way. It would only run maybe 10 minutes before it would begin to boil, and I would pull over and wait for it to cool off again in fear of damaging the motor. It did make it though, and I was very happy to see it home and in the driveway. I knew that the car was not drive able with the engine in its current state, more to come on that later.
Pictures from March of 2018

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That is SEVERE overheating. The cause, or causes, ought not be difficult to diagnose. The 1938 onward 120s had a superior cooling system to that used on the earlier 120s, and overheating in any weather should be a total non-issue.

@TxGoat thank you for the correction.

A friend was kind enough to let us bring the vehicle to his shop where we could further investigate the root cause of the overheating.
We started by removing the cylinder head to find two stripped head bolts and a couple burnt valves were not helping the situation either.
At this point it was decided an engine rebuild would be most beneficial for the desired intention of having the car be a touring car.
Pictures from April 2018

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You may have a head gasket leak. Head gasket leaks can cause overheating, and can mimic boiling even if the engine isn't actually hot enough to boil. I'd go through the engine, and check carefully for any cracks around the valve seats. Stripped bolts could be expected to lead to gasket leaks.

TxGoat - These pictures were from 2018. I think he's catching us up on the story from the last few years. My guess is the engine has been rebuilt by now and is back in the car hopefully.

-Kevin

I missed that "minor" detail!

kevinpackard you are correct, engine has been rebuilt and in the car since 2019.
TxGoat , thank you for the suggestions!!

So to continue, in April of 2018 the engine was removed and disassembled. We were glad in the end that we chose to do a full rebuild, the engine had some work done prior and not to the upmost quality.

Pictures include engine disassembly, as well as having the engine block acid dipped to remove all rust.

Also, while waiting for the machine shop availability we began to restore the engine accessories like the starter, generator and distributor. Pictures also include starter restoration and final picture unrestored generator and mostly restored starter



Pictures are April-June of 2018

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Very nice work on a beautiful car! Seeing the photos of your bell housing with the ribs on it, the one from my 1940 which I still have does not have the ribs while those from my ‘50s era cars do. Does anyone know which is correct for a prewar car so that I can put it back together properly?