Cylinder Head Oddity

[Roadster Rich]

I just got my 5.5 Snyder head to replace the cracked head on my latest project. I notice something strange on the cylinder head that was on the car when I got it.


You can see that the elongated coolant hole between #2 and #3 is filled in on the head that came off the engine. I have not idea the background of this car, but can anyone tell me why this would have been filled in on the head. I clearly was a hole at one time and some filler was added and machined flush.

 

[ursus]

That hole was not filled in - you have an early head. The hole was added later in early 1929, supposedly to improve coolant flow. I have run a head just like this and noticed zero difference in the water temperature. The early head was also slightly higher in compression than its replacement, but the difference in performance is imperceptible.