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

I use my old Sears timing light that I bought for tuning my 73 Pinto all the time on my Packards. It works just fine, better if you do it in a dim garage though.

Steve, your '51 is not the only '51 that clatters. Mine does as well but I know it isn't supposed to. The only sound I recall from my grandmother's '35 120, was a sort of "hum" at idle - a sound that seems to be unique to straight 8's that have good exhaust systems. Old Buicks & Pontiacs make much the same sound.

My problem is compounded by the fact that the 288 in my running '51 has hydraulic lifters and no engine number. It has the little space near the head above the starter where a number is supposed to be found but there isn't one. I suspect that it was a "service engine" replacement? The idea was that when my mechanic finished my '55, I was to bring the '51 back in to silence the valves. The '55 has taken a little longer that I thought it would so I don't drive the '51 as often as I'd like.

When the '51 was in his shop before they did a valve job though he had to hunt for his "Flat Head Equipment". They took the lifters out and cleaned them, but the "tapping" is still present. I had only one exhaust valve that need replacing. Hopefully, I'll get mine "humming along" soon.

I'm not familiar enuf with the streight 8's to know. Can the pistons really be physically/completely removed from the bottom of the engine????? Usualy, in most engines (say picked at random) there is some obstruction in the way of dropping the piston from the bottom such as a main bearing support web.

It has the little space near the head above the starter where a number is supposed to be found but there isn't one

Have you looked over in the area just in front or behind the distributor for a number. I don't know when the changeover to above the starter was made but many engines had the number closer to the middle--not on a pad as such but on a smoothed out area of the block but still just below the head.

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No.....
But you give me something to do at first light!
Thank you yet again.

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I looked around the area above the distributor today but still didn't see any numbers - at least not until I was looking so intently I started seeing all sorts of things. I know from the spare 288 and 327 I have that the numbers are not that hard to see. I swabbed some oil residue from under the oil bath air cleaner on both locations and I still couldn't raise anything. Unless there are better ways of looking for them, I don't think my engine has any numbers.

The pistons can only be removed from the bottom by means of melting them out with a torch or breaking them up into pieces the size of an after dinner mint. This makes them really hard to put back. Time for a different mechanic.

Thank you all for the good info! I have discovered the service index on your site ! Great stuff.Not being so mechanical ,the information I learn allows me to guide the mechanic who is competant ,through the vaguries if working on these lovely obsolete old machines .Also keeps me to keep from being bamboozled ,hoodwinked and otherwise ripped off on the lift
the valve info Ive learned is great .Now I can confidently tell him how to at least approach it on this car .
One question,Would my 52 /200 have hydrolic or mechanical lifters ? I hear Im supposed to look for an H by the engine number
another stupid question ,how does one know if one of the valves is bad? will it not adjust or click or something ?Once one valve is bad it sounds like the head comes off ,valves guides seats etc !
thanks!!

Match your engine number to the listhttps://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/PackardEngineSerials.pdf to see if you had hydraulic lifters as stock. If not, on some engines with solid lifters, hydraulic was an option. Those engines would have the H although recent posts indicate some year engines had a different F suffix.

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I've got paper work on my car going back to and including the the title issued in 1955. The VIN on this title is the engine number: J-251951. According to the list the engine is supposed to have solid lifters. Is it possible to change a solid lifter engine to hydraulic (or the other way)?
Also, I compared the engine # "pads" above the starter on both my spare '51 288 engines. On these, the pad is smooth and the numbers clearly visible. On my engine, the pad is rough and I sometimes think I see the traces of some numbers. I'm wondering if they were removed. Also, did factory replacement engines have serial numbers? It seems I read somewhere that they didn't.