1952 side valve engine

[karlcouchMM1952]

Hi,

I am changing the head gasket on my 1952 side valve engine. When being cleaned off we noticed that ’22 12 52’ is cast into the top of the head. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what it means… is it the date the engine was made or put together? Or is that to simple?

Many Thanks,

Karl.[frame][/frame]

[seriesmm_1]

That date signifies when the head was cast

[karlcouchMM1952]

Thanks very much… I thought it might be the date the engine was made/cast… but I thought that might be too easy.

[mike.perry]

Cylinder head manufacture was outsourced to several companies including Qualcast.

[TvdWerf]

one of my sidevalves have the date, the other one and the spare head not...[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

The engine without the date, has the oldest serial number, the original engine, with the same number as written below the chassis number, has the date from the car, November 1951
So not all the manufacturers had the date in the head.

Is there a logic system in the manufacturers? before 1951 and after, or did they deliver day by day?

[mike.perry]

The date is not the day that the head was manufactured, it was when the casting was made