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

A friend has a '49 288" with a cracked block. I can get a good '53 327" 4-bbl core engine for him. Any problems with the swap?

jack vines

Only significant thing that occurs to me is the motor mounts; starting in 51 the front mount moved from above/in front of the timing chain cover to side mounts. Shouldn't be much of a problem for a handy person.

A bit fuzzy, but basically you have to change th front motor plate from the 288 and put it on the 327, that's where the front MM is. Remove Vib damper, Tim ch cover, sprockets, then the plate ( I think).

Anyway, it real simple.

If the 49 is stick??? and the 53 automatic, must use 49 bell hsg/flywheel etc

I just did this swap, from a 50 288 to 53 327.

As was said, use the timing cover, motor mount plate, water pump and balancer from the 288.

The head won't be drilled in the right spot on the drivers side to mount the throttle linkage. I just marked it, drilled it about 1/2-3/4 inch in, and tapped it and used cut off short bolts to bolt it on.

If you use the 4bbl setup, the throttle linkage is on the inside of the carb instead of the outside. I made some linkage with a heim joint and some threaded rod because i have an ultramatic and i needed that oem linkage to run the tv linkage for that. You could also put another arm on the the the throttle linkage to line up and pull on the 4 bbl throttle linkage, or what not. I don't know how they did 4bbls in 48-50, but i kept my linkage.

Also, if you use the 4bbl manifold it will not have the 2 holes to mount the throttle linkage to on the intake manifold. I drilled the blank boss that was there, tapped it, and put a bolt (with rtv for no vacuum leak) with a straight plate on it to mount the linkage to. So far no issues, and there are probably more correct or better ways to come up with a more elegant solution, but oh well. It can be changed back to stock no problem.

Lastly, the 4bbl manifold does not have the hole on the front of the intake as a vacuum port for the wiper motor. I relocated it to the big port on the rear of the intake below the carb.

I would think the 327 would run fine through his 2bbl, but mine idled rough and was kind of out of breath at WOT...haven't had the 4bbl out wide open throttle yet to see if the swap helped that, but it idles great now. I had the manifold and a line on the carb, and i had to take the manifolds off to fix an exhaust leak, so for me it was no biggie to convert. but the 2bbl stuff went right on with no issues, just that idle in the carb i never sorted.

The 50 bellhousing, ultra, flywheel, went on with no issues, used the 53 starter with no issues.

With the motor out, this is a great time to pressure wash and clean the engine bay, mine came out pretty great for me. I took the time to have the radiator checked, clean the block inside and check the water dist tube, new soft plugs, new gaskets everywhere, new paint, wires, tubing, modern fan, rebuilt generator, new voltage reg, etc. Had the ultra rebuilt while it was out. Was a winter project but i think well worth it...could be done very quickly if you weren't focused on looks.


Rather than lift the motor out, i took the front bumper, grille, radiator etc out, and then drilled the 4 spot welds that hold the upper half of the radiator shell together. Then put crane in front and pulled the motor and tranny together out the front of the car. Reinstalled the same way. Then bolted 4 GR8 bolts through the upper radiator shell to re-install...super stiff and you can't tell.

Also, check with Gene in Indy:

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7371&forum=8

I just sold him my '50 288, but i see he's sadly selling some stuff, i'm not sure if that motor is on the chopping block or not. If he's willing to sell it, i can tell you it ran with great oil pressure, good compression, idled and ran fantastic, and never missed a beat. Definitely not a "core" motor. It seeped oil everywhere though, if i didn't come across this 327, i was going to put all new external gaskets on, pressure wash, paint, and use it. It was a fantastic motor.

I ALMOST FORGOT! The temp sensor in the head of the 50 is bigger than the one in the 50+, and the senders work differently so they're not interchangeable.

When you have the motor in, you can't get at it to re-thread the sending hole. If you make it bigger you can always use a reducer bushing to put a 51+ sender back in if you move the motor to a newer car, but if you don't drill and tap it, you can't use the 50 sender unless you rig up a brass T setup like i did, which causes the gauge to read a little bit lower than actual temp until the car is FULLY warmed up, like after a decent drive. Also, that setup is very close to the throttle linkage so you have to be precise.

MUCH better to just drill and tap the hole while the newer motor is out. It's pipe thread so you'll need a special tap. That was probably the most annoying thing i cam across in transplanting the motor, can't believe i almost forgot it.

Did the '53 4bbl 327" show a noticeable performance increase over the '50 288' 2-bbl?

jack vines

1950 288 2bl models are rated at 135hp, while 1953/54 327 4bl models are rated at ~180 hp. So ~45hp in difference.

Most of the HP difference is in the engine itself.

My 327 is running like a dog compared to the 288 i yanked out, but it's mostly tuning and timing and running lean i haven't solved yet. I'm sure when that's all done it will be a decent upgrade and should be more noticeable at getting up to speed, and quick speed jaunts on the highway.

I'm told it might be more efficient with the 4bbl setup (if you can stay out of the secondaries) because the main venturis are smaller than the 2bbl. And when you drop the hammer, all 4 should be a little better. I'm expecting to notice it more because of the carb swap and the motor transplant vs doing either alone.

Quote:With a 33% increase in horsepower, I'd expect it to be a lot quicker and faster.

jack vines