Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Is the 327 Engine regarded as a good engine or bad?
Is it a strong engine? And does it have any weakness ( like blowing it's head gasket)? Etc. What's your thoughts on this engine ?

Its very good, and quite strong. With good maintenance the bottom end is essentially permanent. At the top end, engines run at high speeds or with poor air filters will suffer top ring breakage when they get to higher mileages.

When rebuilding, always check the gudgeon pin bushings, rod straightness, and the exhaust valve guides.

Head gaskets are not a problem if the studs and nuts have not been ruined by time, corrosion, or mouth-breathing troglodytes masquerading as mechanics.

Am I right to believe that the official color if the 327 1948 is green ?
By the way, what ever color you decide to use, what type of paint is used?
There must be special type of paint! And where is it obtained from?

A bone of contention on color in 48 green vs gray. Particularly the senior 356. Believe most have settled on gray.

Kanter has the paint--use the link I gave you on the other thread. I think most use Bill Hirsch's paint.hirschauto.com/

I saw Big Kevs post of painting engine, and trouble with getting correct packard gray, but after a while, color seemed to settle down to a lighter shade. I always thought it was a lighter shade?

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The green looks good too, thanks to kind member last night, heres picture

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The flat bed i would brush, and smooth top spray. I would buy as suggested by earlier posts, a refill spray container. Add chrome nuts to finish off. hopefully, engine will look ok. i am guessing if you wish, a lighter shade of gray would be acceptable.

BigKev's engine would be the correct "Packard Gray" color. I painted my engine a regular/lighter gray, mostly because I was too cheap to buy the right color paint. Depends on how authentic you want to be.

There's nothing special about these engine enamels, they're not special high temperature paints as nothing on the block gets particulary hot anyway. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if Kanter's, Max's and others who sell the correct color all get their paints from the same supplier. If cost were a concern, why not buy a quality alkyd enamel a bit ligher and a small tube of black tinting pigment?

PS - and by judging standard of both major Packard clubs, that engine should be gray. The only area of debate is apparently the 356 engines built during the time span when both the 21st and 22nd series cars were in concurrent production. And surface prep and cleanliness is the key to paint adhesion; brake-clean is a pretty agressive solvent on many paints.

I put a small spot of Hirsch's green (from spray can) on the front of my 327 a week ago before tearing it apart and when i was cleaning something near the spot with brake clean and got some on it, it peeled terribly and wiped right off. Something to think about. Whatever gray Dan Yocum used that was underneath was impervious. Haven't tried gas on it. For the price though, i thought it would be more durable.