From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Comments received on the performance and issues of the Packard 8-cylinder engine.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\Q\December1926-January1927\ 2 | |
| Date | 1st December 1926 | |
| To R: from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to BJ. c. to Wor{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager}: c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} HBS/LGM.12.26! RE: PACKARD 8 ENGINE. X475 Below are comments we have received from OY. in reply to an enquiry we made in connection with the general impression of straight-eight cars :- 'We know little about 8-in-line engines, but am 'canvassing' to find what we do know in the concern, including Sales. (1) The Packard 8 is undoubtedly the best, but they (and the others) have had trouble with torsional vibrations in the long crank. The eights without a slipper flywheel all have a marked torsional period, and some who do fit a slipper flywheel have not made a particularly good job of it, so that it made the engine rougher instead of smoother (we all know this trouble). (2) There has been trouble with keeping the water circulation good about the rear cylinders. Hup got over this first by putting the water pump at the extreme rear of the engine delivering direct to No.8 cyl. (3) There has been trouble with 'gas noise' probably in the exhaust, with some engines, but I think this can be overcome by separating the exhausts from front and rear blocks. There may be an inlet roar from the overlapping strokes - I don't know this. (4) The irregular intake flow does not appear to cause any trouble with modern heated intakes. Packard have dropped the fuelizer this year and use an ordinary ex-heated intake. (5) At low engine speeds full throttle the Packard engine is certainly smoother than ours, possibly because of the better overlap of the strokes. But this is not necessarily the reason, because :- (a) The car is lower geared. (b) The carburation on the Packard and other American cars at low speeds seems to be more regular than ours. The Packard in this prospect is scarcely as good as the Jordan or Hup. eights etc. which use carburetters without an contd :- | ||