Coolant Passages, 263 Straight Eight

[Pete O]

I pulled the cylinder head on my '51's engine yesterday. The plan is to clean out the water jackets, as it tends towards running a little hot, especially after a high speed run. It stays cool as long as I'm moving, but if I come to a light after a few miles of highway speed, the temp will creep up. I've already re-cored the radiator a couple years ago, and flushed the block as best I could, so I figured pull the head and see what we have.

One of the first things I noticed is, between cylinders 1 and 2, on the manifold side, there's a large water passage in the head, in the head gasket, but no corresponding passage in the block. There is a similar large passage between cylinders 7 and 8, but back there, there is a passage in the block that matches up to the head. Is this normal for a 263?

[Guest Straight eight]

Your answer is right here in this forum, go to the search up at the top and type in cooling problems - 1950 263 . These are the other 263s that had the same problem. Lotsa luck looks like you came to the right place. Sorry it took so long to respond.

[Pete O]

Thanks for the reply. Yup, I'm aware of that thread and the one that's linked within it. They're what convinced me to pull the head. Sure enough, the water jacket around no. 8 cylinder is packed with crud. I've been picking at it and snaking coat hangers and rinsing, but it's going to take some time to get it all broken up and cleaned out.

But my specific question concerning the mismatch of the water passage between the head and block between cylinders 1 and 2 doesn't seem to be covered in those threads. Anyone have knowledge of that?

[Guest Straight eight]

Keep looking, but I think that Buick changed the water flow on the 263 to circulate to the back and then up thru the rear passeges into the cylinder head and then to the front, and the fronts were blocked on purpose to permit this circulation.