248 straight eight head question ?

[Guest buickkuhn]

I am in the process of collecting parts to rebuild my 1941 buick 248 engine . I have just come across a head for sale that has been rebuilt but the casting numbers are not the same as my 1941 motor . My original head casting # is 1319408 THEN THE ONE FOR SALE IS casting # 1328393 - what is this head originally from and will it work for my water pump and block situation . Thank you for any help and input you may have to offer .

[Dynaflash8]

I am in the process of collecting parts to rebuild my 1941 buick 248 engine . I have just come across a head for sale that has been rebuilt but the casting numbers are not the same as my 1941 motor . My original head casting # is 1319408 THEN THE ONE FOR SALE IS casting # 1328393 - what is this head originally from and will it work for my water pump and block situation . Thank you for any help and input you may have to offer .

Casting numbers mean nothing. They aren't even in the parts book. Only the part numbers in the parts books mean anything. No box, no number tag, no assurance of anything. Casting numbers could represent a different casting for the same car or cars, or the head could be from another car. A quick look and it may look the same, but then not be. The 131 number was usually 1941. The 132 number was usually 1942-1948, but some 1941 parts have 130 or 132 numbers and some even 128-129 numbers. The 133 numbers were mostly 1949, but some 1940-48 numbers were also 133 numbers; especially if there were number changes due to some minor little change that was made in a later run of the part.

What you have to do is make sure the water pump housing is the exact same. Prior to 1941 it was different, and after 1949 it was different.

If that is the same turn the head over and make sure all of the water holes are in the same place because sometime after WWII more water passages were put into the block and the head to improve cooling, or so I've been told for years. I've been told that was in 1948, but you can't always believe what you are told. Maybe somebody else knows more about that here on the forum.

The pistons were all the same from 1941-1949 on all 248's and also 1950 on the Series 40, except perhaps material. The 1942 original pistons were not aluminum as were the others. Buick had a name for them and it was a wartime thing. The Series 50 got a new engine in 1950 that carried over on both the Series 40 and 50 through 1953. It was a 261 cid engine and much more of its parts does not interchange with the 248 than does.

If I had to take a guess, the cylinder head you've found is 1946-1948, but guesses are like opinions; everybody has one.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Dynaflash8 (see edit history)

[Guest buickkuhn]

Thank you for the opinion/ guess input Dynaflash8 on the head situation . I am just tempted by the the low rebuilt price . Maybe it is for the better, just to redo my own and I know what has been done to it .

[Dynaflash8]

Thank you for the opinion/ guess input Dynaflash8 on the head situation . I am just tempted by the the low rebuilt price . Maybe it is for the better, just to redo my own and I know what has been done to it .

You've heard, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" before. So, if your head isn't cracked, you are correct, take it to a machine shop, have it magnifluxed and rebuild the head in hand. Then you know it is fixed and guaranteed and it is a correct fit.