Six cylinder head exchange June 1 1967

[jts359]

Hi I was going thru some papers and found a Service letter # N-1967 -1 stating that Studebaker had found a new source for NEW O.H.V. six cylinder heads P/N 1561582 , And as quickly as possible re manufactured cylinder heads will be phased out and only new heads will be furnished , I wonder who was doing their casting and for how long did they do this ? Ed

[rkapteyn]

The problems stem from the engines put in the postal vans.
It seems that these engines developed problems because of the way they were used.
Start stop and than full throttle again by indifferent postal workers.
Studebaker studied the problem and made some changes in the head to prevent cracking.
The Postal service threatened to sue them.
At first they were buying cores from dealers and junkyards to recondition but that did not resolve the problem and they had problems getting more used heads because the ones in the junkyard were mostly there because of cracked heads
The later heads did a lot better.
I was tempted to get a print of 1561582 from the Studebaker Museum archives to see what was changed. http://www.studebakermuseum.org/p/archives-and-education/archive-collections/
I have not found any shop that will recondition these heads for a reasonable price.
Anyone has any recommendation?

Robert Kapteyn

[2R2]

The problems stem from the engines put in the postal vans.
It seems that these engines developed problems because of the way they were used.
Start stop and than full throttle again by indifferent postal workers.
Studebaker studied the problem and made some changes in the head to prevent cracking.
The Postal service threatened to sue them.
At first they were buying cores from dealers and junkyards to recondition but that did not resolve the problem and they had problems getting more used heads because the ones in the junkyard were mostly there because of cracked heads
The later heads did a lot better.
I was tempted to get a print of 1561582 from the Studebaker Museum archives to see what was changed. http://www.studebakermuseum.org/p/archives-and-education/archive-collections/
I have not found any shop that will recondition these heads for a reasonable price.
Anyone has any recommendation?

Robert Kapteyn

Bob, while I do not have any interest in the six cylinder head, I DO find it interesting that Studebaker (or Studebaker-Worthington) could engineer and have produced a new head design at this late date. It is my understanding that service letters were produced through 1968, so this letter in question must have been one of the last one issued. Thanks again for the background.