163 - had it?

[Will Grant]

I found this over the weekend - no cracks between the valves but I can see this - a doorstop or typical for the casting?


IMG_2379

[Vegard]

100% doorstep. Unfortunately.

[Frogeye61]

I'm sure somebody out there would try to fix it somehow. But is it worth it, cost vs reliability.

[36inter]

Bugger!!

Pete

[YMJ]

You may not be able to salvage it for your own purpose (a 940 will do the job) but it is still worth money to an obsessive enthusiast, who will spend more than it is worth mending it.
You just have to place it in the right market and you'll be able to salvage some cash to pay for a replacement.

[850man]

Any decent machine shop will be able to repair it for you. Welding, Inserts, loctiteing are all available and will fix your head, they are very hard to find these days and well worth spending the money, they are a better head than the 940.

[Pete]

Any decent machine shop will be able to repair it for you. Welding, Inserts, loctiteing are all available and will fix your head, they are very hard to find these days and well worth spending the money, they are a better head than the 940.

I recently had to find a decent 163 and it didn't take me long, didn't think they were that rare to be honest. I did offload one with welded repairs on good advice.

[mk1]

I too reckon the rarity value of 163 heads is WILDLY over stated. In my experience there are a lot of cracked ones about, but there are also a good number of excellent non cracked ones too.

If someone needs a good 163 it doesn't usually take that much finding.

For me, the one pictured at the beginning of the thread is beyond economic repair, that's not to say it can't be done, just that it would cost a lot more to repair than the head would be worth in a repaired state.

[850man]

ok, more to the point, they are rare in Australia. That one doesn't look too bad, as I said any good head shop should be able to fix it easy enough.

[Vegard]

Welding, Inserts, loctiteing are all available and will fix your head, they are very hard to find these days and well worth spending the money, they are a better head than the 940.

What exactly do you find better on a 163?

[rich@minispares.com]

Welding, Inserts, loctiteing are all available and will fix your head, they are very hard to find these days and well worth spending the money, they are a better head than the 940.

What exactly do you find better on a 163?

ease of cracking?.......

[Pete]

Thing is, how reliable are the repairs even when you go to the expense ? I'm having a decent one ported at the minute but I won't be massively surprised if I have a problem down the line, but it's my risk. If it wasn't important (to me) to have the "right" head on the Unipower I wouldn't bother with a 163 at all, they usually have more cracks than a bunny ranch.

[Spider]

These heads may be in every other corner store in the UK, but, as 850man has said, they are quite hard to come by out here in the colony, I've only ever come across 4 or maybe 5 in 30 years.

For us convicts, that head is definitely worth saving and wouldn't be too expensive, far cheaper than what we might find on ebay.

Yeah, with a good few hours work, a 940 casting can be ground up the same as a 163, but for a head straight out of the box, the 163's did flow very well, it's not just got bigger valves than a 940 but superior ports. Yes, DR really did know what he was doing, no question.

[YMJ]

These heads may be in every other corner store in the UK, but, as 850man has said, they are quite hard to come by out here in the colony, I've only ever come across 4 or maybe 5 in 30 years.

For us convicts, that head is definitely worth saving and wouldn't be too expensive, far cheaper than what we might find on ebay.

Yeah, with a good few hours work, a 940 casting can be ground up the same as a 163, but for a head straight out of the box, the 163's did flow very well, it's not just got bigger valves than a 940 but superior ports. Yes, DR really did know what he was doing, no question.

A good point very well made. "Straight-out-of-the-box" is a phrase not oft used in racing circles and because the first thing we do when we find a 940 is ship it off to Slark, Selby, Swift, etc, we have never experienced fitting a bolt-on mod as good as this.

[BRI MK1]

I picked up a very good 163 head last week looks like it could be a speedwell conversion but has no valves, can you still buy the valves thank you cheers Brian.

[Vegard]

I picked up a very good 163 head last week looks like it could be a speedwell conversion but has no valves, can you still buy the valves thank you cheers Brian.

Both Minispares and Paul Ivey have got 163 valves.

[Will Grant]

do either of you aussies want it? pay the postage its yours, i cant bring myself to scrap it...

[NZmember]

Yeah, with a good few hours work, a 940 casting can be ground up the same as a 163, but for a head straight out of the box, the 163's did flow very well, it's not just got bigger valves than a 940 but superior ports. Yes, DR really did know what he was doing, no question.

http://www.calverst.com/articles/CH-Cyl ... hieved.htm

Small valve 940 maybe.

[mk1]

In all fairness DR did the development work on the 940 as well as the 163, and was always more than a little concerned about the valve sizes employed by BMC on the 163.