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I need help (if possible) to know more about the following cylinder head:
- Bought in a joblot of early mk1 S parts, came in a Taurus box
- Used AEG163 casting, some areas still painted blue (not faded green), bare head
- Measures 2.75'' high, so not skimmed before
- Seems to have hardened seats, doesn't seem to be cracked between the valves
- Straight exhaust valve guides, tapered inlet guides
- LT stamped upside down on the manifold face

Sorry for the dirty pictures, but it's all I have now. I always assumed this was the head replaced by the Taurus head, so a standard head, but having a second look at it, I'm not so sure. I never had an unmodified 163 head in my hands, so my main question is: does this look like it has been modified?

I'd say it looks too good to be standard, even the bosses around the guides seem too small and perfectly shaped when compared to a 940 head. The chamber roofs seem flattened and don't have the usual rough casting as they have on the sides. Also, they don't have the ridge around the valves as the 940s have (right hand head on the pic with 2 heads). LT stamp... has anyone seen that before on a head? Any relation to Taurus? What do you think?

That looks like a stage 1 head to me.

The chambers have definitely been polished but the ports look the standard shape under all the crud.

M

Hmm, I've just put my 163 casting up for sale on eBay and I must say yours looks a lot less modified than mine. I thought mine was relatively untouched but there is definitely more distance between the plug holes and the face and much more space between the valves on yours. I hadn't thought to measure the height - I'll do it now! I have stated un-modified in my advert so I'd better change it pronto!

Thanks Mark, I'll clean it up when I can and see how the rest of the casting is.

This is my spare AEG163 head which came off my 1967 "S" I owned for 36 years since it was 6 so I am pretty sure it's untouched, sorry they are not close up shots.
The photo of the 2 heads, the top one is the AEG163 and the bottom one is a Rob Walker 12G940 Stage 3 head which I chose to have performance on unleaded fuel to be close to original performance on the AEG, this is the one I fitted to the car.
If you want a sorted AEG163 head mine is for sale and I am open to sensible offers.

Some more pics of a 163 head which is off my late 68 S and a modded early 163 head.
The unmolested head is the lower one in the pics.



Unmolested head.



Molested head.



Ports of both heads. Unmolested, bottom of pic.

Thank you all for the pictures, it was helpful. My head definitely had some chamber work.

Does anyone know if 940 valves will work on this head? C-AEG544 and C-AEG107 with 940 top caps?

Yes. You might have to use shims to get the spring tension correct though as the valves are 1-2 mm longer.

Better to get the correct ones, they are a little more expensive but are better.

M

In simple terms the head is not reworked by Taurus.They used to be accused of chroming the ports and chambers in their heads they were that shiney.

Not entirely true Ivor.

Remember there were a number of incarnations of Taurus, the original one in Child's Place that was founded by Ted Marchant was the first & best version of Taurus, it was the heads that were done during this period that were super shiny.

M