On another forum, a fella stated that he'd gotten a '55 Stude truck that someone had put a "Golden Hawk" engine in - at least that's what he'd been told when he got the truck.
He said the engine bears a serial# of P 6 27, has four-bolt valve covers and has a fuel pump mounted to the oil filler stalk at the front of the block.
Thru casual conversation with other gearheads, he'd gotten the notion that maybe the engine was an early 232 or maybe it WAS a 289 such as would have been found in a 57-58 Golden Hawk.
I gave the following reply that I thought might help others who question what variant of Stude V8 they have. There's LOTS more to know than I've spelled out in my reply. But I tried to reason my reply around his description of the engine he has and it's serial number.
What I shared with him doesn't even begin to address the full scope of V8 numbers in trucks or Packardbakers or supercharged cars or the like. Anyways, I CAN cover those points if someone has a query.
Here's my reply:
It's entirely possible to mix 'n match early and late Stude V8 parts to come up with an engine such as you've found in your truck. All Studes have that little block-off plate where the oil filler pipe/fuel pump mount went. Even when they put the pump down on the timing cover in '55, that oil filler pipe was still used and they would mount the optional oil filter on it if such was requested. With the introduction of the Full-flo oil filter in late 62, that hole was usually just covered with a little plate.
As to the 4-bolt valve covers, those are just a matter of a couple of different stud-bolts that mount the rocker stands to the heads - not a case of different head design.
Sounds like you have a 55 or later block and while P does generally stand for a 289, the first year they used that designator (1955) it was for the then new 259 and only those 259s destined to go into President series cars. 259s of 1955 that were destined for Commanders wore a V as a first digit of the engine serial#. Go figure. They were basically identical engines.
All V8s prior to 55 had a V as the first digit in their serial# (This applies to CAR engines only!) AFTER the 55 models, V was for 259 and P was for 289. That stayed the same right thru til the end of Stude V8 production (1964)
The number you give, SHOULD indicate a very early 1955 vintage 259 destined for a President model car. I say "should" because after all these years, there's no telling what's actualy INSIDE that block and someone could easily have made it a 289 or even a 224 with just a few parts replacements.
the 224, 259 & 289 all have a difference in stroke while all have the same bore dimension. Take out a spark plug, take a piece of wooden dowel rod ( a foot or longer) and insert it in that plug hole, hand turn the engine and mark on that dowel, the upper and lower limits of travel. Measure the distance between those marks and you know the "stroke". Compare that to the stroke dimensions of the 3 aforementioned engines and you will confirm just what variant you have.[:I]
Miscreant at large.
He said the engine bears a serial# of P 6 27, has four-bolt valve covers and has a fuel pump mounted to the oil filler stalk at the front of the block.
Thru casual conversation with other gearheads, he'd gotten the notion that maybe the engine was an early 232 or maybe it WAS a 289 such as would have been found in a 57-58 Golden Hawk.
I gave the following reply that I thought might help others who question what variant of Stude V8 they have. There's LOTS more to know than I've spelled out in my reply. But I tried to reason my reply around his description of the engine he has and it's serial number.
What I shared with him doesn't even begin to address the full scope of V8 numbers in trucks or Packardbakers or supercharged cars or the like. Anyways, I CAN cover those points if someone has a query.
Here's my reply:
It's entirely possible to mix 'n match early and late Stude V8 parts to come up with an engine such as you've found in your truck. All Studes have that little block-off plate where the oil filler pipe/fuel pump mount went. Even when they put the pump down on the timing cover in '55, that oil filler pipe was still used and they would mount the optional oil filter on it if such was requested. With the introduction of the Full-flo oil filter in late 62, that hole was usually just covered with a little plate.
As to the 4-bolt valve covers, those are just a matter of a couple of different stud-bolts that mount the rocker stands to the heads - not a case of different head design.
Sounds like you have a 55 or later block and while P does generally stand for a 289, the first year they used that designator (1955) it was for the then new 259 and only those 259s destined to go into President series cars. 259s of 1955 that were destined for Commanders wore a V as a first digit of the engine serial#. Go figure. They were basically identical engines.
All V8s prior to 55 had a V as the first digit in their serial# (This applies to CAR engines only!) AFTER the 55 models, V was for 259 and P was for 289. That stayed the same right thru til the end of Stude V8 production (1964)
The number you give, SHOULD indicate a very early 1955 vintage 259 destined for a President model car. I say "should" because after all these years, there's no telling what's actualy INSIDE that block and someone could easily have made it a 289 or even a 224 with just a few parts replacements.
the 224, 259 & 289 all have a difference in stroke while all have the same bore dimension. Take out a spark plug, take a piece of wooden dowel rod ( a foot or longer) and insert it in that plug hole, hand turn the engine and mark on that dowel, the upper and lower limits of travel. Measure the distance between those marks and you know the "stroke". Compare that to the stroke dimensions of the 3 aforementioned engines and you will confirm just what variant you have.[:I]
Miscreant at large.