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

On another thread, I asked about swapping a '53 327" into a '49. The consensus is it is viable and gives a good horsepower boost. This opened another can of worms.

Seeing the horsepower increase available with the '53, a friend with a '37 120 with what I assume is a 282", asked if the '53 327" could be swapped into his car without too many changes.

Thought I might as well ask the experts.

jack vines

The biggest problem would be the engine mounts. The 1951-1954 motors used side mounts, and the 1950 and prior motors used a front mount. So to make it work you would need the timing cover, balancer and mount off of a 1950 and prior 288/327 to make it work somewhat elegantly.

Not sure how similar the 37 cars would be but there was a tech bulletin posted on how to put a 327 in some of the 17th series. My search terms didn't find it nor do I remember who posted it but the bulletin title is as shown. I would post the entire thing again but it is 1.2meg and it should be already here somewhere.

Attach file:

---

  (17.19 KB)

Howard,

Are you talking about this one? or do you have the non-right hand drive version?

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/article/view.article.php?437

I think it's different than those. Pretty sure it was on site, but have been wrong before. If it doesn't turn up, will try and post or send the large pdf.

Attach file:

---

  (68.05 KB)


  (205.73 KB)


  (92.61 KB)

Quote:

I notice that the bulletin is referring to the Super Eight line (1703 etc.) with the larger 320 engine. I don't know what the difference in length is between a 1939 320, a 282 and 327 but the 327 is comparable in length to the 356 in my '47 Super Clipper and that 7" extra hood length is needed to fit the longer 356" engine. There is very little room between the fan and the radiator on this 127" wheelbase chassis. My point is that the longer 327 engine may not fit the shorter engine bay of the 120" wheelbase 282" engined cars without some modifications. Just a thought.

I believe that it would be easier to retro-fit the 288/327 to the LHD chassis because of the RHD steering column being in the way of most conversions. I have installed a few 288/327 engines in the prewar 120's and there isn't much modification other than as mentioned in the RHD PDF's. It gets a bit more complicated if you fit a Packard OEM overdrive such as an R6 as you have to modify the frame X member to allow for the longer trans and the solenoid/governor access.