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What's the difference between '63 OHV 6 car & Champ truck cylinder heads?

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  • #1

    Engine: What's the difference between '63 OHV 6 car & Champ truck cylinder heads?

    I pulled the head off the '63 Wagonaire OHV-6 engine, found the exhaust valve in #5 cylinder stuck and the push rod bent. Maybe I bent it trying to unstick the engine or maybe the car got parked in 1988 because the engine didn't run so well. When I tap (lightly) on the ends of the valve stems with a plastic mallet, 11 of the valves go "boing", the stuck one goes "THUD". My wife could even hear the difference. Everything else looked remarkably good. The cylinder bores are smooth, no scoring, very little of a ridge on top, maybe just varnish. Lifters looked good, tops of the pistons looked almost new once I wiped them off. I have not dropped the pan yet.

    The stamped numbers by each cylinder are "05", which I thinks means they were .0005" over nominal 3.000" bore. Two of the pistons have a tiny "T" stamped in them. What does that mean?

    A true CASO would replace the push rod and valve and button it up. It would probably run pretty well. I plan to go farther, but I'm thinking of just taking it to a decent engine shop for a full tear-down and rebuild. While I would love to have a cheap rebuild, I'm at that point in life where I don't really want to pull the whole front of the car apart again, yank the engine, and do a full engine job if the CASO route doesn't work.

    I got a spare cylinder head that looks pretty good. It came off a truck engine and I noted the casting number (1560959) is different than the one from the Wagonaire (1550583). If the truck head turns out to be in better shape, can I just bolt it on the block? What's the difference between the two? The catalog part number for the car cylinder head is 1553551, but I don't have a parts catalog for '63 trucks.
    Gary Ash
    Dartmouth, Mass.

    '32 Indy car replica (in progress)
    ’41 Commander Land Cruiser
    '48 M5
    '65 Wagonaire Commander
    '63 Wagonaire Standard
    web site at http://www.studegarage.com
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Originally posted by garyash View Post
    I pulled the head off the '63 Wagonaire OHV-6 engine, found the exhaust valve in #5 cylinder stuck and the push rod bent. Maybe I bent it trying to unstick the engine or maybe the car got parked in 1988 because the engine didn't run so well. When I tap (lightly) on the ends of the valve stems with a plastic mallet, 11 of the valves go "boing", the stuck one goes "THUD". My wife could even hear the difference. Everything else looked remarkably good. The cylinder bores are smooth, no scoring, very little of a ridge on top, maybe just varnish. Lifters looked good, tops of the pistons looked almost new once I wiped them off. I have not dropped the pan yet.

    The stamped numbers by each cylinder are "05", which I thinks means they were .0005" over nominal 3.000" bore. Two of the pistons have a tiny "T" stamped in them. What does that mean?

    A true CASO would replace the push rod and valve and button it up. It would probably run pretty well. I plan to go farther, but I'm thinking of just taking it to a decent engine shop for a full tear-down and rebuild. While I would love to have a cheap rebuild, I'm at that point in life where I don't really want to pull the whole front of the car apart again, yank the engine, and do a full engine job if the CASO route doesn't work.

    I got a spare cylinder head that looks pretty good. It came off a truck engine and I noted the casting number (1560959) is different than the one from the Wagonaire (1550583). If the truck head turns out to be in better shape, can I just bolt it on the block? What's the difference between the two? The catalog part number for the car cylinder head is 1553551, but I don't have a parts catalog for '63 trucks.
    According to the 7E-8E parts book, the cylinder heads used before serials E 5-138,701 and E 10- 40,201 used the same 1553551 head as the cars. After those serials they used 1561582 which was also used on the later six-cylinder cars.
    Paul Johnson, Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.
    '64 Daytona Wagonaire, '64 Avanti R-1, Museum R-4 engine, '72 Gravely Model 430 with Onan engine

    Comment

    • #3
      OK, so how do we match up the casting number to the finished part number?

      Thanks, Paul!
      Gary Ash
      Dartmouth, Mass.

      '32 Indy car replica (in progress)
      ’41 Commander Land Cruiser
      '48 M5
      '65 Wagonaire Commander
      '63 Wagonaire Standard
      web site at http://www.studegarage.com

      Comment

      • #4
        Originally posted by garyash View Post
        OK, so how do we match up the casting number to the finished part number?

        Thanks, Paul!
        I (think) I remember seeing a cross-reference casting numbers to part numbers some years ago, but with my advanced CRS affliction, there is very little chance I will find it. Just a WAG, but I suspect the casting number you have is for the later version of the head. I can't imagine there being many different ohv head castings.
        Paul Johnson, Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.
        '64 Daytona Wagonaire, '64 Avanti R-1, Museum R-4 engine, '72 Gravely Model 430 with Onan engine

        Comment

        • #5
          I have a Parts and Accessories Price Book, dated January 1, 1966. If you look up 1553551, it says "use 1561582."
          Last edited by Studebakercenteroforegon; 11-28-2011, 07:17 PM. Reason: typing error

          Comment

          • #6
            Gary, just a suggestion- since you're doing a rebuild anyway, why not go with the head you've got? Start with a professional magnaflux, and if it's not cracked (or repairable), you've got a worthwhile piece, since they have a rep for cracking.

            That said, I can't think of how the truck head would be different. Maybe send that one in for a magnaflux at the same time.
            Proud NON-CASO

            I do not prize the word "cheap." It is not a badge of honor...it is a symbol of despair. ~ William McKinley

            If it is decreed that I should go down, then let me go down linked with the truth - let me die in the advocacy of what is just and right.- Lincoln

            GOD BLESS AMERICA

            Ephesians 6:10-17
            Romans 15:13
            Deuteronomy 31:6
            Proverbs 28:1

            Illegitimi non carborundum

            Comment

            • #7
              IIRC the difference in heads is the takeoff location for the heater hose.
              Last edited by R2Andrea; 11-28-2011, 09:24 PM.
              R2Andrea

              Comment

              • #8
                Originally posted by R2Andy View Post
                IIRC the difference in heads it the takeoff location for the heater hose.
                Right, Andy. I remember Stude Engineer Harold Johnson telling me that when Nelson Bove and I interviewed him a couple years ago.

                He said they did it because it would provide more and hotter water where they relocated it; that there had been complaints of insufficent heat and they decided the take-off location in the head might be contributing to that. BP
                We've got to quit saying, "How stupid can you be?" Too many people are taking it as a challenge.

                Ayn Rand:                 "You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."

                G. K. Chesterton: This triangle of truisms, of father, mother, and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Yes. The later heads AFAIK have the heater take-off at the front of the head. I've also rad somewhere that they "have more metal where they don't need it" supposedly causing more cracks than they prevented...I don't recall the source of that, nor the reliability of it though.
                  Ron Dame
                  '63 Champ

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Isn't the size of the hole for the temp. sensor also different.
                    FWIW, I've always heard that the earlier OHV 6 heads held up better.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Originally posted by skyway View Post
                      Isn't the size of the hole for the temp. sensor also different.
                      FWIW, I've always heard that the earlier OHV 6 heads held up better.
                      I remember reading many years ago...not sure of the source, but it may been one of Dick Datson's writings...that the problem with the overhead valve cylinder heads was the cast iron was too dense or something like that. It couldn't shed heat and would crack. It also went on to say that Studebaker's engineers took the wrong track in trying to solve the problem...they made the cast iron even more dense and aggravated the problem.

                      I can't say if I'm even remembering that correctly or how accurate what I read was to begin with. Maybe someone here can provide more accurate information regarding that or debunking it altogether.
                      Poet...Mystic...Soldier of Fortune. As always...self-absorbed, adversarial, cocky and in general a malcontent.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        It wasn't with mine, I used teh old sensor in the newer head.
                        Ron Dame
                        '63 Champ

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