Unusual Engine Part

Hello,

I've attached a couple of photos of a part on the engine of my '49 streamliner, and was wondering if someone knows what it is. In the photos it is located just to the right of the thermostat housing. I have taken the top of it off, and it is basically hollow with a wick-like material inside. A retired mechanic I talked to said it was probably an add-on gimmick a previous owner ordered from the back of a magazine.

This is my first attempt at posting with photos, following the directions given in Bob's earlier post. I hope it works.

Bill

Bill,

I'm still searching for an answer, but I would like some clarification. The photo clearly shows 2 distinct sets of "flats" beneath the unit in question; do you know if these are both nuts on a long stud being used to secure the cylinder head? Also, is that wicking material that appears to be sticking out at the bottom of the unit?

Pete,

It was a couple years ago when I had it apart. If I remember correctly, the top part of the rounded section came off using a pair channel lock pliers, with some effort. The bowl shape bottom section, above the threaded rod, stayed in place. There was a crumbling gasket between the two. That is a wick, or something like it, above the threaded rod and it goes inside. The wick was dry. If memory serves me, I think the threaded rod is actually hollow and the wick goes down it.

I hesitate to take it apart again, due to the poor condition of the gasket.

Bill

I agree that there appears to be some sort of spacer between this thing and the head.

I just looked at my '51 and there is no spacer on that head bolt.

I can't imagine how this thing could do anything since the head bolt just goes to a solid hole in the block.

Perhaps this gadget was supposed to vaporoize some sort of mysterious mirable liquid that was to help the engine or reduce corrosion.

Ken

I have over the year work on some bizarre engine, and your interesting "gadget" on your Pontiac head look something familiar to me.

I don't know if your accessoiries is the same as I saw, when you look carefully, the engine bolt is thiker than normal, and another one is over it. The thiker one is for torque the head, and the other one is for the "gadget" to be screw in.

It think is a headbolt block heater. I don't see on your picture a place for the household wire, but if you can confirm there is place for wire, so i think this is it.

I saw this thing on a farm tractor engine.

Fitz.

Fitz,

On closer examination, the "wick" material is actually frayed cloth insulation surrounding two small gauge rubber insulated copper wires. The copper wires had been cut off so close that they aren't real obvious. I think the 'headbolt block heater' explanation is a likely one. Thanks.

Bill

It's been a few years, but I have definite info on this part.  Fitz was right.  The engine on my 49 Streamliner is being rebuilt.  The photos below show what it looked like when removed from the engine.  It is a "headbolt heater".  It was electric and would heat up when plugged in.  I found an article about the inventor of the device.   It was produced by Five Star Manufacturing in East Fargo, Minnesota.  My car spent part of its life in Minnesota, so this heater was probably put to good use.

Here's part of an on-line article about the heater and it's inventor:

Freeman concluded that he needed a way to get heat directly to the water in the engine block. He discovered that in most cars the headbolts extended directly into the water. After much experimentation over a period of three years, Freeman developed a system that transmitted electricity via a brass tube through a replaced headbolt into the water. The electric lead extended from the heater through the radiator grill to the outlet.

In 1947, with two colleagues, Freeman formed the Five Star Manufacturing Company of East Grand Forks to manufacture headbolt heaters. The company did not do well at first, not least because there was a manufacturing error in the first 25,000 heaters. But soon the product was refined and the manufacturing process mechanized until the company was turning out 200,000 heaters a year for sale in the United States and Canada. Altogether Freeman estimates that he sold as many as two million headbolt heaters.

The engine has reached the reassembly stage.  I asked them to clean up the headbolt heater and reinstall it instead of replacing it with a regular headbolt.  I think it looks pretty good.

Bill