Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Greetings, Men-Who-Own-One,

Just pulled down a 374" with STD bore and found .003" OS piston pins. Anyone ever seen this from the factory? If not, wonder why anyone would ream pistons and rods and not rebore?

Second thought: I've got a dozen V8s in stock. When disassembled, seven of them have had some crank work; either mains, rods or both .010", but not one of them was rebored.

Third item: For at least twenty years Kanter has listed .003" and .006" OS V8 piston pins in their catalog and more recently, on line. Last week, I ordered three sets. The salesman called back and said they didn't have them and probably never did. He said as far as he or any of the salesmen could remember, I was the first ever to ask for them.

thnx, jack vines

"If not, wonder why anyone would ream pistons and rods and not rebore?"

Probably because it did not need to be bored. i.e. the bore was good. What does wrist pin size have to do with the bore anyway??? Does the engine currently have a bad bore????

Most likely if they are all the same oversize my guess is that it was done at the factory.

How do u burnish the pin busshings when u rebuild???? That's one i havn't figure out yet.

I'll go out on a limb and guess that it's a very late 56 engine.

"The salesman called back and said they didn't have them and probably never did. He said as far as he or any of the salesmen could remember, I was the first ever to ask for them."

Ask them about the pressure relief valve piston for the LATE 56 pump or an Air-con bracket and see what kind of double talk u get on those two issues.

I'd bet V8 is right and at factory. There were numerous mentions in TB's & SC's for earlier engines that when stock ran out on such and such or to avoid waste, they'd be using oversize whatevers after a certain SN. Sometimes they would identify those engines with a star or asterik or some such.

When I was (alot) younger, we did what we called quickie engine rebuilds, meaning the block and crank stayed in the car and you did whatever you could from that point. We often reused existing pistons but found the need to install oversize pins. Perhaps some dealer oversized the ones you encountered in response to some problem.

But whether Packard every did this at the factory is anybody's guess, but I doubt it. Chrysler, now that's another matter entiirely, they never wasted anything in their L6 era. Undersize rods (even just 1) and oversize bores and the like were not at all uncommon in Plymouth and Dodge.