Re: [FWDLK] Wanted: 383 cylinder head(s) for '59 Dodge

[Mike Apfelbeck <moparmike72@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just about any B/RB cylinder heads will bolt on your block, anything 
post 1971 will have the bigger valves as standard (even the 383 
two-barrel), later heads will even have hardened seats for unleaded 
gas. The later heads will have a larger combustion chamber volume 
which will drop the compression ratio, something to keep in mind when 
you are swapping parts around. They can be milled down to decrease 
the volume, then you will need to deal with making the intake 
fit(more milling) and possibly shorter pushrods to get the valve 
train sorted out. Starting to sound like a real can of worms isn't it?
I think I would just fix the cracks.

Mike

At 07:12 AM 8/22/2010, Lou Vecchioni wrote:
> Does anyone have anything for sale that would work for me?
>
> I'm having my '59 Dodge (D500) engine rebuilt and the machine shop 
> found hairline cracks on one of the heads around the bolt holes for 
> the intake manifold.  They said they can probably repair the head, 
> but I thought I'd see if anyone is selling any.  I think I have 3 choices:
>
> 1) See if I can find a single matching head (same valve and port 
> sizes to minimize machining requirements)
> 2) Buy a pair of heads that match each other.
> 3) Have the machine shop repair what I have.
>
> Given that I was also going to retrofit the car with an alternator, 
> I was considering having the bolt holes tapped in the passenger side 
> head to match the '62 alternator bracketry I have instead of using 
> an adapter on the exhaust manifold generator mount (in an attempt to 
> minimize risk of exh manifold leak).  Now that I have to replace at 
> least one head, perhaps it would make most sense to use a head that 
> is already tapped from the factory ('61/'62, right?) but I don't 
> know if any of those heads would match the "good" '59 one that I 
> have or if I need to plan to buy a matched pair (not that I expect 
> it to be easy to buy a single head instead of a pair).
>
> IIRC, they were all over the map on valve sizes, etc over those 
> three years and across models.  As for port sizes/runners etc, I 
> have no clue.
>
> Hmm, also, what about 413 heads?
>
> Any leads or advice is welcomed!
>
> Thanks,
> Lou
>
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