New true L-head one piece cylinders with heads for 1913 Cadillac?

[sagefinds]

I don't know how long I've collected early Cadillac parts(mostly) and cars because I haven't lived that long yet. Mainly 1903 to 1933. A few projects survived the divorce including a 1913 that was pretty low on the priority list. Now it's getting a little more attention,just a speedster is all I want. A fellow in Rapid City 35 or 40 years ago told me the airfuel mixture fires in the head but then has to squeeze through the threaded nipple that holds the head and copper water jacket to the cylinder. It has a hex hole for a tool to slip into it and tighten everything together and only has a hole about 1 1/2" in diameter. Over the valves are plugs that screw into the head but can be removed to get the valve out,one has the sparkplug,the other a priming cup. I'm putting in a couple pictures,the one of a head is actually 14 with a separate hole for the sparkplug. The pressure is so great in the head that it commonly blows one of these plugs out into the top hood panel. I was back at Charlie Kulchars(Mr 1913 Cadillac) three or four years ago,he gave me a ride in his 1913 touring,and it has dents in the hood from these incidents. Former AACA president Howard Scotland lived here for awhile,his 1913 blew a plug out and he got rid of it. In 1914 they made the plugs with more threads and maybe other refinements and pretty much solved the problem. Many of these heads had internal cracks from the excessive force on and off as fast as the fuel ignited. I would think power would be lost also because of the restricted expansion of the explosion. If I get a speedster built I'd like to head off this condition. I have an Overland cylinder that is true L-head just like your small block Chevy has four in a row. I've talked to guys at a foundry and patten maker in Longmont Colorado. They are willing to cast them,but someone with C.A.D. experience has to engineer them,get all dimensions,etc,then they have a C&C machine make the mold pieces. A set of pieces will be required for each cylinder. The top of the cylinders will be larger and not look original but will have the valve holes,water outlets,etc in the same place so everything will bolt in place after machining. This is going to run a several thousand dollars and may be cost prohibitive. I'm still in the very beginning of all of this but I'd like my car to not work so hard when running and should get down the road a little easier. If anyone else is interested in getting in on this if it materializes,let me know. The guys at the foundry are tired of doing pump parts,other mundane items and are very willing to work with me on this. Thanks for listening.( They updated this electronic box and now I can't find the pics,will enter when possible)

Steve Grisbee

Cheyenne,Wyoming

[sagefinds]

[Layden B]

Steve,

If it is the valve plugs that are getting blown out of the head casting, perhaps the threads are not coarse enough for them to hold into the head. With different coefficients of expansion and different temperatures of the 2 parts, maybe the threads loose their mating faces. This picture is of 2 different valve plugs, unknown on the left with 12 threads per inch and Wisconsin T head on the right with 16 threads per inch.  

[sagefinds]

Layden,

  They did some things in 1914 that helped but the blast still has to squeeze through that pinhole and still cracked the heads internally. I'm still going to go ahead with this if I possibly can. What I can't understand is why no one has done it before with all the complaining I've heard about it over the years. I also have some crankcases that if you cut and spliced you could make a 1913 Cadillac 6-cyl engine but that may be one for dreamland.