Engine: 259 289 head confusion

[studelyman]

Took heads in to get checked out and my 57 golden hawk has casting number 535916?? 1956?? One is cracked so I have to replace.
Of coarse you can find them on E-Bay but they are not checke for cracks and I'm not going to pay shipping back to get credit.
I think they should have 537555 castings in 57?
Did they use both with the difference being 58cc or 54.5 cc chambers.
If so which was are best or what makes them better. Trying to save this engine. Stamp on engine is PS4175. ant info??

If anyone has ant heads please let me know or point me in the dirrection.

Thanks Rick

[candbstudebakers]

the 57 Golden hawk heads end with numbers 76 I have a pair of NOS with out valves, here in California.

[StudeRich]

I think the Casting number was poorly cast and or misread, the low Comp. Truck Head for Supercharged '57 & '58's are 535976, 58.0 cc, 7.5 to 1 Ratio.

The 537555 Heads are 8.5 and belong on non-supercharged '55 to '60 259's and 289's.

That is not to say that you could not use the 8.5 Heads there should not be any other difference except Compression, and the Factory COULD have been a bit conservative with the comp. on the '57 Engines, as they later used a lot higher on Avantis, but they did have the SN-60 instead of the VS-57 and setup differently and beefier Engine parts.

Rick, you may want to use a different info source!
The above is true plus 259 and 289 unsupercharged Heads are the same.

[DEEPNHOCK]

http://www.studebaker-info.org/text3/Headcasting.html

[studelyman]

Thanks for the info and I might have read it wrong. It was me that cheecked the numbers in my shop book so if anyone read
them wrong it would be me go figure. I'll double check.

[studelyman]

I have one thats cracked. Would you seperate? Send me a PM with price either way. Or call 219-787-8932 Thanks Rick

[StudeRich]

I would not pay a lot of attention to Bob Johnstone's Casting numbers and some part Numbers which do not help identify the Heads, many of them are wrong/missing including the 535976.

[studelyman]

I read the casting numbers again and they are 976 heads. I was useing my old shop books not Bob Johnstone's. Just my mistake.

So I still need a 976 Head. I found some on E-Bay and other sources but people just don't want to co-operate with you on checking them for cracks.

I can handle seats which should be replaced with stainless along with the valves. Going with Stude International kit that comes complete with seats valves etc.

Hate to ask but does anyone fix crack inbetwen valves anymore? old school. Brings me back to NOS C&B has

[StudeRich]

It is quite UNCOMMON for a Stude. V8 Head to crack, they have to be seriously mistreated/Overheated to do that.
I would not worry all that much about buying a cracked one, especially if the seller has owned and driven the Car and had no problems, most SDC Members are pretty honest about things like that.

Be sure to include Valve Guides in your Head restoration plan.

What, NO South Benders or other Indiana Area SDC'ers have offered any?
Maybe you need a Turning Wheels AD or a Stude. Swap Site Wanted Ad.

[studelyman]

I just might work on the body and wait till spring for the swap meet in South Bend. This engine was locked up when I pulled it out of the
barn after many years and after cooking it and brakeing it loose I found the crack in the head which is pretty large. Large enough to just notice
it by eye.

[Flashback]

I have a used set of 976's that were put on my 259 when it was built. They don't have many miles (2000), were put on as nos. Seats have never been refaced. Course I don't know what shipping would be or if anybody is traveling tween there an here

[studelyman]

Call me 219-787-8932 Thanks Rick