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Cast Iron Head wanted


Guest SteveB

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Guest SteveB

The aftermarket aluminum head on my SE coupe finally gave up the ghost to severe electrolosis. I have heard that some of the cars had cast iron heads. I would like to find one; does anyone know where one may be? Thank you.

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Guest JohnArthurSpinks

Hi SteveB,

Unfortunately the SE Airflow was never produced with a cast iron head.

All Airflow Desoto models namely, SE, SG & S2 came with Aluminium Cylinder Heads.

Any cast iron head that you may see from time to time came from the SF or S1 Airstream engine of the same capacity.

The head on these engines will fit up however the water outlet is in the top of the head and not on the side.

Cheers

John Spinks

Aussie C9 Airflow Coupe

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  • 2 weeks later...

Any cast iron head that you may see from time to time came from the SF or S1 Airstream engine of the same capacity.

The head on these engines will fit up however the water outlet is in the top of the head and not on the side.

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That might be a viable conversion if the stud pattern and cylinder spacing are the same. I think there would be enough room under the bonnet to accomodate a conversion to the top radiator hose.

I always look nervously at the cylinder head on my car. One day it will start to leak, I am sure.

Adam..

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Guest JohnArthurSpinks

Adam,

The head stud pattern and cylinder spacing is exactly the same for the SE, SG & S2, Airflow engine and for the SF & S1 Airstream engines so the heads all fit however as the Airstream water outlet is on top of the head you run into air locking issues.

Plenty of clearance under the Airflow hood for the top water outlet.

Maybe a high point tap could be fitted up to the top mounted outlet so as to bleed air out of the system however this would mean that you would have to do this bleed manually at regular intervals.

An automatic high point bleed could be installed as used on a heating hot water system in commercial air conditioning.

Do remember though any air in the cooling system can cause accelerated.

Norm Stottlemyer in the USA will make you a new aluminium cylinder head for the SE. He has mad an aluminium head for the S2 that we recently restoored and it is a gem indeed.

If you are interested please email me, johnspinks@dodo.com .au and I will give you details and photos etc

cheers

John S

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John,

In the Airflow Tech CD there is an article on changing the location of the water outlet from the top to the side on heads that were not intended for the Airflow. Although I have no experience in the modification I was hoping it might help me out in the future, could this be a solution for Adam's problem until a proper head has been aquired ?

Jay

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Hi John

Fascinating. I will definitely bare that in mind in case I ever have to take action with my cyl head, which is quite likely, I suspect. I have sent you an e-mail.

And I guessed that you meant accelerated corrosion, or something similar. ;)

Adam..

Edited by Alfa (see edit history)
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Guest JohnArthurSpinks

Jay and Adam,

The tech tip that you are referring to is only applicable to the Chrysler Airflow with the 8 cylinder engine.

The same conversion is an absolute nightmare on the 6 cylinder engines to the point where usait is virtually impossible to carry out a effect conversion because of the centre line dimensions of the head studs.

Adam the guy to talk to is Norman Stottlemyer, 1 Peach Lane, Conestoga, PA, 17516-9514.

Norm has made a couple of Desoto Airflow heads for us and they are perfect.

He also makes the Chrysler head as well

Cheers

John S

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Thanks John, as always your knowledge and experience are greatly appreciated. As per your suggestion on placing a bleeder near the top of the cooling system we have to do this on the some of our race cars due to the low placement of the radiator and it is rather easy to get an air bleeder into the system even if a hole needs to be drilled and tapped.

Although I considered the head modification for our C-10 when I'm that close to having a correct running Airflow the price of a new head seems well worth it and I believe I will be contacting Mr. Stottlemyer.

Jay

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Jay

Now you have got me interested. What sort of race car? I used to run a Formula Ford 1600 for about 10 years. These days we are doing some vintage racing and hillclimbs with my 1928 Alfa.

I will be very interested to hear your experiences with the new cyl head.

Adam..

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The bleeders are on Northeast style open-wheeled modifieds, I just work on them these days, I have raced karts, pintos, street stocks and late models. My favorite had to be the kart on a road course but never had a first, managed to get 13 features going around in a circle.

As for the head I'm at least two years until needing it and my dilemma is buying it now or waiting until I need it. I have never checked on a delivery time but see Mr. Stottlemyer's add in the Airflow Newsletter.

Mr. Stottlemyer if you read this should I get it now or can I wait?

Jay

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Guest JohnArthurSpinks

Jay,

Don't delay as Norman may not, read may not, continue to produce these cylinder heads for much longer.

As of today I fired up an Airflow engine with one of Normans heads on it and wow what can I say other than its a ripper.

We put some extra compression into it to take advantage of modern day fuels and at 7.5 : 1 compression it is a real gem.

Cheers

John S

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