CC volume on Postwar Straight Eight heads?

[Packard8]

Does there exist a listing of the combustion chamber volumes of the various Postwar heads?288, 327, 356, 359 by P/N in their various permutations?...(e.g. AT, STD, Export etc).

One of my back-burner projects is putting a 359 9-main forced induction motor in a ?49 Club Coupe, ala the early 50?s Pan American/La Carrera cars and I?m shooting for around 7.5-8.0:1 compression ratio on the 359?s bore & stroke.

Thanks

[Constellation]

Packard 8,

Actually, in the case of the 288 and 327 8's, Packard raised the compression ratio for the 26th series, 1953 model year. In 1952, the 288 had only 135 HP and it was increased to 150 in '53 The 327 5 main 8 went from 150 HP in 1952 to 160 in '53 with a 2 bbl carb and 180 with a 4 bbl. All these HP increases were acomplished with raising the compression and better induction with a 4 bbl carb. The '54 327 5 main on the other hand was slightly higher still with 185 with the 4 bbl. The 359 had 8.5 to 1 compression ratio with the aluminum head. However, these heads had problems with cracking around the spark plug tappings and have been over the years widely replaced for the most part on the survivors with 327 heads and they run fine. My suggestion would be to take a 53-54 327 head and plane it down as much as you can and still get all your clearences and use that. They have tons of meat in them so don't worry about that. It will work fine and give you plenty of power for your project.

Good Luck,

Bob

[Packard8]

Thanks for the note Bob. I?m actually looking for a lower compression ratio (larger chamber) for use with a Paxton/McCulloch blower or a turbocharger. There must be dozens of different model heads that will fit the 359 block and it would make life easier if there were a listing of the chamber sizes.

Off the top of my head the 356 head looks to be the best candidate, as it produced lower compression on the similar displacement 359 block. I have a 48-49 356 head in my parts stash but it has the smaller 10mm sparkplug holes which limits the choice of plug heat-ranges (important when experimenting with various boost levels). I believe the late 1950 356 went to the ?modern? size plug.

Something like an early 327 low compression ?STD? or ?Export? head might work too, but it would certainly be convenient to have a listing of the chamber sizes to know which head to look for.

Thanks,

John

[Guest JT]

John, you could tap the head you have with the 10mm plugs to 14mm.

[Packard8]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">John, you could tap the head you have with the 10mm plugs to 14mm. </div></div>

Thanks JT, that has crossed my mind but I like to avoid ?irreversible? alterations when possible. Who knows, maybe someday I?ll run across a nice ?48-?49 Custom 8 Victoria Convertible selling for $500 because it has a cracked head??.(hey, I can dream can?t I?) <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Cheers,

John