1955-56 Manual trans

[Pontiac59]

Seeing a stripped out '56 a guy bought for the manual trans made me wonder about these. What is the interchangability on the manual transmission these used - were they changed to use with the V8 or the same basic unit dating back to the '30's? I seem to recall some use of the older units in drag cars in the 50's/60's. Also, is the bellhousing a V8 only piece? I guess what I am getting at is do you need a V8 donor car to use a manual trans behind this engine, or can you use parts from a postwar straight 8 car to make it work?

For that matter, any adapters ever made to use this with other transmissions? I'd bet some exist to mate to a Ford trans, probably not a lot but seems like at one time you could put about anything you wanted into a Ford so long as you used a 39 or so trans with it.

This car is pretty well gutted, the guy who has it is a collector, I offered to pull the rest of what he wants in exchange for the remains. The frame is bad on this car (one full foot missing on the left at the rear door - and this was stored indoors!), and its a 4dr. Anyone need spare suspension parts? I figure to play with the engine and see if I can get it freed up and apart. Not much else on it - no interior, no doors, no lights, a decent trunk lid is about it and dont know if that would come with it or not. Might eBay the quarters for the custom guys, better than scrapping them and the bottoms are shot anyhow.

He told me a neat story about this car, it seems the original owners drag raced it back in the late 50's. So the story goes, the Lincolns they ran against could keep up with them up to about 110, but that's all they were good for and the Packard pulled away after that. Apparently someone they went against even went and got a newer Lincoln and still couldn't keep up with it. Which supports the story I was told by a guy with a '55 Four Hundred I looked at earlier elsewhere (not in too bad shape, awaiting a price) who mentioned seeing 130 MPH in it very easily and that the car would really move. Of course that was a long time ago, the car had the remains of a '63 inspection sticker in it.

Does make me wonder what this engine design might have been capable of had it been around until the 70's, have read the block was capable of going to 440 CI.

[Guest imported_PackardV8]

The Packard V8 engines are capable of very high rpm due to the massiveness of its internal parts. The entire engine fully dressed weighs 750 pounds. The heads are 70 pounds each BARE. The cylinder walls are 1/4 inch thick on the 352 engine which uses a 4 inch piston.

Feel free to contact me or address the discussion forum for help in getting it started or freed up.

[Packard8]

The manual trans on the V8?s was a Borg Warner T-85, usually with OD. The hard to find parts are the bellhousing and flywheel. Those were specific to the 55-56 V8 only.

[Pontiac59]

The trans thread was very helpful - thanks guys.

The guy was going to junk this engine because he can't get a lot of the bolts loose - he got the intake off, looks like maybe a water pump, and that was that. The heads are on and intact and the bottom is all there.

My own experience, I got a head off a Pontiac 389 that had sat so long with no hood on it that when it came off, some of the cylinder walls had vertical cracks inside, and one intake valve stem was rusted through - another about 3/4 the way through. It was a mess, maybe combined freeze damage and rust damage both, although I did successfully rebuild the head. I think I can probably get this motor apart too, with a breaker bar and some decent 6 point sockets. At least, it didn't scare me any seeing it firsthand, and this car hasn't been exposed to the weather too long - even now the motor's covered up.

Thanks =

[55PackardGuy]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The Packard V8 engines are capable of very high rpm due to the massiveness of its internal parts.</div></div>

There's been a lot of talk about how the "over-built" Packard V8 has a lot of potential for cid, but not much about RPM capabilities. Just how massive are the internals? Any comparisons of piston/rod/crankshaft/bearing specs with other engines?

Also, does anybody have experience with how much RPM these engines would potentially take? I've never heard of one "throwing a rod"--ever. Just some weakness in the valve-train, specifically springs. Just wondering.

[WCraigH]

For contemporary comparison, see:

Packard V-8 vs the competition

The high rpm capabilities of the Packard V-8 come from its relatively short stroke (3.5in) compared to bore (4+in), relatively small main and rod bearing diameters, forged rods and last, but not least, the rocker shaft style valve actuation, as opposed to the stud-rocker ball style of the SBC and Pontiac V-8s of the same era.