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

Ken,

This thread on the AACA Site may help.

HI
In response to your question about increased speed for your 745 Packard, I have been manufacturing a 4.06/1 ratio for this car since 1992. There are around 1000 Packards in the USA using these gearsets. If your ratio is now 4.69/1, which was the standard ratio provided by Packard, the 4.06/1 will cut your RPM from about 3102RPM at 65MPH to about 2690 RPM at 65 MPH.
The price is $1850 plus shipping to UK. The design allow total interchangibility with the original gearset.
If you have an interest, contact
PHIL BRAY
ORF CORPORATION
8858 FERRY RD
GROSSE ILR, MICHIGAN
USA
PH:
landline 734-676-5520
cell 734-516-9660
fax 734-676-9438
email carolbray@yahoo.com
braypt@yahoo.com

Dear kts68:

Given the interest in ring and pinion change let me put down a few cases:

a) The 7th series Speedster at 3:31 required use of Packard Lo to get going except on the level or better, was 145hp and lighter than the Custom 8 at 106hp

b) Bob Turnquist put 3:56 gears in his 8th series roadster and, at 120hp, it was almost geared too high for the motor. Hans Edwards tried 3:56 gears in his 640 and they were too high (I think it went faster in second gear). Thus, the maximum for the 7th series Custom 8 is probably the 4:06 ratio

c) The 3:56 is fantastic in the twelve given non-mountainous terrain. The fastest I had one up to was 85mph and it was most like a modern car. However, I doubt that top speed was increased by much if any although Packard offered the 4:06 ratio as an option which likely provides the highest top speed on the twelve. With the standard ratio a good running twelve will reach 90mph even in sedan form. In the 9th series Twin Six (160hp) the principle performance attribute is smoothness which makes higher ratios only a consideration as the cars age. Getting out of an eight and into the Twin Six provides an instant impression that is hard to get over. Even though the axle ratios were the same the Twin Six seemed far more relaxed.

How's that?

Kts68,

I've installed high speed gears from ORF Corporation in a '32 and have had excellent results. The documentation with the gear set is excellent, offering a step by step approach to replacing and setting up the new gear set.

This link shows another option, an overdrive unit from Gear Vendors. IMHO an excellent quality compact unit.

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6367&forum=1&post_id=70708#forumpost70708

I also have an Excel spreadsheet where you can type in your tire diameter and gear ratio and compare engine rpm's. PM me if you want a copy.

A few pictures of the GV unit, the custom drive shafts I had made and the frame for mounting the GV unit to the "X" frame. I also designed a 4140 chrome moly flange that would accept modern 1350 universal joints and mate directly to the Packard transmission and differential flange.

Regards,

Dave

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I've been wrestling with OD vs HS gears for my 32 903 Coupe Roadster, but I'm not convinced I need either. I drive my car at 50-55 max and that is plenty fast enough. One benefit is a avoid rock chips on my fenders from following cars too closely. I also enjoy cruising better at the 50-55 speeds. However I thing the OD as mentioned in the thread from the ACCA site for <$2000 would be the way to go.

Well for at least this summer I'm sticking with stock

Thanks again for all the advice and suggestions.

I've ordered a Tiny-Tach rev counter as suggested by cortcomp (thank you). They have a stockist here in England and I'm assured it will arrive by the weekend.

That's the cheapest way to start. I can then know for sure which ratio is fitted.

I'm really only aiming to have a safe maximum speed of 45-50 mph. The roads here, as you may know, are narrower and more twisty than you guys are used to so, with 1930's brakes etc, any more speed is foolish to be honest. However, our motorway speed limit is 70 mph officially but 80 - 90 mph is the more normal speed. While I would never take the car on UK motorways, those speeds often translate onto the back roads and therefore the traffic here is..... aggressive to say the least! Bear in mind we have 70 million people and 31 million cars in a space similar to Oregon!

I live on a road where the speed limit is 50 mph but on Sunday mornings, cars and bikes regulary top 100mph !!! Me pootling along at 30-35 mph can cause frustration and can be dangerous. Thats why I'd just be happy knowing I can safely hit 50mph when conditions allow.

As I said, it may just be a case of me being scared to open it up so I need to check the rpm first.

I do suspect that the ratio will be the standard 4.68/1. The low first gear is really an option. (I read that many early owners were unaware that the 1930 additional gear was even there and for years some cars were only driven in 2nd, 3rd and 4th)

As per Packardphil's notes, even with the standard ratio I should be able to do 50mph at 2386 rpm. It just sounds like 4000 rpm when I'm only doing 35!!

I'm off to Portugal for 10 days at the weekend but I'll report back on the results as soon as I get the tacho installed and have a run round.

Thanks again

I received the Tiny Tach yesterday so wired it up this morning to check the rpm.

Its possible to set the unit up in the range of 1 cylinder to 8 cylinders.

This is done by setting the angle from 360 degrees down to 45 degrees.

360 is for 1 spark per revolution
180 is 2 sparks
90 is 4 sparks
45 is 8 sparks

So I set it at 45 for the 8 cyliner motor.

Tickover speed reads at 250-300 rpm which seemed very low.

Checking the manual it refers to the load on the coil at 400rpm so I assume that this is the tickover speed.

I was expecting tickover to be more like 750 rpm

The tach works fine and reacts to increases in engine speed.

So the question is this; what is the normal tickover speed on this motor?

If I've set it up right and the engine runs at speeds as low as 250 then problem solved! My top speed issue is simply that I'm being too much of a pussy to open her up! Where I'm thinking its doing 3000rpm, its actually doing something like 1200-1400.

Advice gatefully received

Ken

Being that your engine is a four stroke, eight cylinder, in point of fact it is only making 4 sparks per revolution. You will need to set your tach to 90 degrees.

That puts your tickover up where you thought it was, and the engine revs at road speed about where calculated.


If one is used to hearing 4 or 6 cylinder engines, an eight can sound a little busy at first, especially in an open car.

90 degrees is for sure correct.

Thanks guys. It was confusing since the instructions probably intend it to be installed on a two-stroke, though where you would find an 8 cylinder two-stroke I don't know!

I set the angle to 90 degrees which is 4 sparks per revolution (8 sparks per 2 revolutions i.e. four stroke cycle) and that makes sense to me now.

Tickover is a smooth 500 rpm and 2000 rpm is faster than I've previously spun it but still seems good.

Hopefully I'll feel more confident pushing on to 50mph next time out

Thanks