Projects Straight 8 RPU build thread

Great build thread. Don,t see many hotrods with a STAR grille shell.

 

A HAMB search will turn up other Packard 8 PROJECTS. Bob

 

Saved these 2 pics from the hamb a few years ago. Don,t know if it,s a Packard but if you have 8 carbs laying around and 3 feet of your new chassis rails left over.

 

I've seen that red engine with the dual intakes. That's pretty cool.
I'm not sure what engine that is with the 8 carbs but can you imagine trying to tune that sucker?? Holy Cow

I think its on the HAMB, there's a great Packard powered roadster that is supercharged. Its an awesome build.

Maybe someday I'll fab an intake and some crazy exhaust. For now, I'll focus on getting the thing all bolted together and running. Since my engine is a factory 4brl set up I might just leave it at that. I might run one of the early cast iron exhaust dumps that were found on big trucks. I have the foot lever that mounts in the truck floor but still need to find the dump box.

Bobby

 

This may be the car we are thinking of, it made the cover of Hot Rod. Bob

 

Yep, that's the one. There are several youtube videos of the car. Its pretty amazing
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l9F5t7JLbY0" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

There was also a couple posts of a Packard st8 powered bobber truck that showed up at the SyrNats 2 or 3 years ago. If I recall folks on here were agog about it. Saw it in person a few times. Looked neat, sounded unique and went like stink. Don't know why some folks are giving you the Raspberry on yours. Looks and smells like hot rodding to me.
Multiple carbs will be nice eye candy, but I'd get it running and driving and making fun, while searching for old style goodies.

 

I got lucky today!
....(but that's a story for a different forum)...
I did manage to have a few free hours on this beautiful sunny day so I decided to drag my mock up engine out and suspend it between the frame rails to see what I'm up against.
Kinky6 is right, I'm going to have to lower the grill shell almost 2". No problem I can either notch the bottom of it or drop it down in front of the front x-member.
I managed to get a rough idea of how far back from the front x-member the engine needs to be.
I was running out of time and daylight so I had to put things away. I still need to play around with how high the engine will be between the rails.
I think I'll try to maintain 1/2" to 3/4" between the engine and the firewall and I'll probably have to notch around the bell housing.
All in all, I like how its looking and feel pretty good about the initial mock up session.

 

My original doors are in pretty bad shape, the passenger side is very rusty and the drivers side got crumpled when some bonehead went a little nuts with a ratchet strap and crushed the top of the door.
A buddy of mine found my a decent pair of doors at the swap meet in Pate, TX earlier this year. The original doors have some faint writing on them, can anyone make out what this says?

 

Wet it down to see it is more legible. Spray it from a windex bottle.

 

Good idea! I'll try that when I get home tomorrow and see if its any clearer. The door is destined to be wall art but it would be nice to have a clue to what it says. Thanks

 

"Don't shoot, I'm only the piano player."
Great project in the hot rodder tradition. Use what ya got.

 

Don't shoot the messenger! Some of those across the engine oil bath air cleaners for the big engines can bring upwards of $1000. No, that's not an extra zero. Why bring it up? Selling things to finance a hot rod is just short of a requirement, although I do appreciate the use of Packard power. The ultimate engines are the 9 main 356 and 359 variants rated at 160 to 170 HP in their day. Heavy? Sure is but enough torque to tuck your sack into your ass crack if applied right. Nick Arias went well over 200 MPH with a 5 main Packard straight 8, although I don't recall the displacement. Comprssion can be changed by swapping cylinder heads. A 327 on a 356/359 nets an increase of 1 to 1 1/2. You can't just mill the head because the angled valves will hit. Some surf time on the web will net a lot of easy to do hop ups however, the hard part can be finding the stuff. I have a 356 powered 47 Super Clipper with O/D. Modern freeway speeds are normal for this thing but it's heavy so it's no stoplight racer. Be sure to sync your speedometer as the sounds and "feel" are different. You thnk you're going slower than you are. Just sayin, but again don't shoot

 

...LOL...
it would be just my luck that the air cleaner I hacked up is one of the ones that would have fetched the big bucks. There's no going back now so I'm not even going to research it.....I don't want to know.
From the research I've done on this 327 is that they made 2 variants of it; a 2brl and a 4brl version. I don't recall the numbers (I probably saved the chart somewhere) but it seems like the 2brl was around 165HP and the 4brl was 180HP. I have the 4brl engine.
I have toyed with the idea of swapping the 288 head (from my mock up engine) onto my 327 to bump the compression, but in the end I'll keep the 327 head as it is sexier to look at. It has the Thunderbolt cast into it and the 288 is just plain.
Even if its not the fastest thing around I think it will be a blast to drive due to the torque. For now, until I get the thing up and running and driveable I'll just keep the engine bone stock.
Thanks for the hop-up tips.

Bobby

 

Here is what I did with my T firewall to help provide a small amount of extra engine bay space.
It is just a simple reversal. Some times an extra inch is worth working for...

THATS WHAT SHE SAID, LOL

 

Bobby, looking good. It should be a hill climbing monster...tell Buddy HI. Looking forward to updates

 

the car pictured above is one of my favorite cars dig the engine and look of it

 

Hey man, thanks for the motivational pics. That car is amazing I never get tired of seeing it!
One of these days I'll get this thing to the hill climb. I sure wish it could be next year but at the pace I'm going I don't see it happening. This has been a tough year, I didn't get my other truck out to any of the cruise nights and I had to miss the Hot Rod Rumble at the dragstrip. Maybe next year I'll have more car time.

Bobby

 

I forgot to post this the other day. Its a notice I got from the city. Apparently I'm already on the path to a traditional hot rod. I mean, I don't even have a complete chassis and I'm already a public nuisance....LOL



Bobby

 

Looks like you have to move the stuff to the back of the property!

 

It wasn’t signed by manyolcars by any chance was it? lol [emoji23]


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Wasn't there a thread on here a few years back about using an above ground pool with a cover over it as suburban camouflaged storage????

 

LOL...that would be a riot.
I have backyard access so I went ahead and moved it around to the rear. I won't be able to touch it for several weeks anyway...bummer. I thought about leaving it as it was and then telling the city that I was building a smoker or something like that. In the end I figured it would be better to comply with their idiocy and stay off the radar.

Bobby

 

My parents had a lot in Rio Rancho when it was just a dry spot in the desert. They bought it when it was being touted as a retirement community. They started getting pressure because their lot was one of the last unoccupied lots in their section. They were also getting notices from the HOA concerned about the vacant lot as kids were hanging out there, etc. My father whose concept of private property was obviously not in line with any HOA got more angry with each new notice. They finally sold it to one of the churches to add parking. This pissed off the neighbors, the HOÀ, and what was now the city of Rio Rancho because they would be losing the tax revenue. As far as he was concerned it was a four way win. Five if you count the few cold ones he had toasting the good riddance of the thing.

 

I hear ya.
I grew up across the river in Albuquerque. Growing up we made fun of Rio Rancho and labeled everyone from there as Yankees in the witness protection program....LOL. I never thought I'd buy a home there.... ...But we got a great deal on a corner lot across the street from a park and, as an added bonus, my mother doesn't like to cross the river...woohoo.
I have a buddy that is currently fighting the city of Rio Rancho. He also bought up lots in Rio Rancho at tax auctions years ago. Now the city is trying to take them away from him. He's putting up a pretty good fight so far.

I moved my project to the back yard. I'll try to fly undercover for awhile because if they wanted to they could cause all sorts of issues. In the front yard I have my dad's 75 Dodge D00, my 59 Massey Ferguson tractor, my 49 Ford truck, my daily driver, the wife's daily driver. On the side is an old motorcycle (under a cover). In the back yard I have my brother-in-laws 64 Chevy truck (I'm trying to get rid of), my 67 Commando, a VW dunebuggy, and a variety of extra parts....sheesh.

Bobby

 

Maybe you need two pools.....

 

That'll get the city over there real quick

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Awesome!!

 

I believe that door says
“Pront
O”

ProntO - seems like a good moniker for a hot rod


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Somebody called and bitched. Most community dept. workers don't simply drive around and look for shit. Always remember people that don't have this disease either hate us, are jealous or simply feel you don't need that and want to control your life. My philosophy? Joke em if they can't take a fuck.