Anyone good at Decoding a speedwell or Taurus markings

[Nevsmini]

Hi Lads,
I have a car with a tuned engine and from the markings/stamps on the head we have worked out it's not Downton. The engine is fitted to a Radford and the only other two engine builders that done work for Radford was Speedwell and Taurus, so it must be one of these two. Any help much appreciated.
Nev

[App K]

Hi Nev.
If its a Taurus head, it will say "Taurus" on it near the thermostat housing complete with the cc's. This is the case from the 940 head's onwards...not sure about the 163's.

[rich@minispares.com]

and if its faulty it will be a 'porus-taurus'


sorry..............................

[Nevsmini]

Thanks App K, it's a 1963 head, so an early one. Rich a porus head can be the way to go water injection!

[Pete]

I would think the vast majority of Taurus S heads would have been 163's, they were almost done with engineering by the time the 940 came out.

[App K]

Pete, Ive got a Taurus anti-smog head head on my 970. Thats got to be a fairly late head then..68/69ish I would have thought??

I have to say that the chambers and inlet valves are a work of art!

[davidnutland]

Taurus was still trading in the 80's in Bournemouth, the 12g940 heads that I saw at the time to be frank were a bit shabby, to be fair they were into Ford and Vauxhall/Opel by then.