packard Super 8 problems

This is a 1940 packard 160, it has the super i8 356ci flathead

my dad has been searching for 3 years to finally stumble accross the car that he wanted. we picked the car up in Illinos and had it shipped closed trailer, we got it from the 3rd owner. the 1st owner drove it for 64k and the 2nd owner was a musem for 40 odd years, they only ran the engine and ever drove it anywhere. the 3rd owner got it at an auction and rebuilt the engine as it came with a crack in the block, it's been welded and you can't even tell it's there. everything on the car is original even the paint. my dad bought the car when it was running with a tick nosie, we have a 53 patricion i8 and that car is WAY quieter that what we got from basco, so we knew something was wrong from the initial start.

basco will probably get the engine today or next week, we know it's going to take longer than they said (last time 4 weeks = 6 months)
 
Yes, they definitely run quiet when they are in tune and done right. And that goes for the older [pre-war] models too. I think it has something to do with how massive the block is. On the 54, if you changed out the cast iron head to an aluminum head you could save something approaching 100 lbs, if I remember correctly. Good luck with the project.
 
Yup that's it right there... although there is added stuff to that we won't be adding anyhting extra, but that's the same color that we have and style.... the battery for the 1940 is under the driver seat not right there next to the engine... but that's about it...

this morning my dad showed me the hydralic lifters... they are basicly in 2 peices and most of them are not touching... i don't think it's only the lifters but something keeping the valves from coming back down... still poor job on basco's part...

i'll see if i can get some pictures tonight... it looks like it's ready to pull but we need to wait till we have 3 guy's to manuver that beast around...
 
just an update,

my dad gave the engine to basco and they had it for x amount of weeks before they even put it on an engine stand... i won't go into details of how my dad got them one and put it on himself just for them to get to it...

4 months later it's back and we saw that 6 lifters were bad, $160 per lifter (this is the first engine to use hydralic lifters is what i'm told why it's so much) and my dad had the 2nd head gasket installed like it originally had.

it's currently in the car as of 2weeks ago, it' runs. it has one tick to it like it did before but not the clacks that it was producing... at higher rpm it quiets up alot, even the acceleration seems quieter like it should be.

we'll get it back on the ground in 2 weeks after my dad gets back from his 30yr anniversary...

well that's it for now... we aren't happy with the current tick but can't tell where' it's coming from... (i think it's another lifter and we should've replaced them all but even i can't afford 16 lifters at $160 a pop)

thanks for the help in finguring out the problems...

Richard
 
wait... why did you guys pay for the lifters?
they rebuilt the engine, didn't they? so why did you pay for new lifters?
 
honestly i don't know... i guess because we never replaced the 70yr old lifters to begin with, and he didn't include them in the other price.... lets just say we hope we are finished with them...
 
Have you done a compression test on the engine yet. Its possible that one of the valves that bumped the plugs could have bent, that will naturally cause a valve seating problem and possible backfire as you are experiencing. It doesn't take much of a hit to warp them enough to cause issues. It was common for the flathead guys to cut their heads a mile, and then have the plugs hit the valves afterward. I would eliminate all possibilities...
 
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