Head for 51 1500cc 4AD

[wmcvey]

Long story short, I need a head for my 1500 CC 4AD motor. My old head had cracks that were welded, but upon finally starting up the engine after 30 years of inactivity and after much work $$ almost every major component replaced or refurbished, there is still water getting into one of the cylinders, from one of these welds not holding.
Would anyone have a head for a 1500cc Singer for a reasonable cost? Thank you very much as I'm in a bind after spending thousands of dollars on this car and now not being able to keep the motor running for longer than 15 minutes.

[mikeyr]

The only "good" head I have is a twin-carb which i am keeping for a project. I do have several single-carb heads but they are rust buckets from being outside, you are welcome to one if you want it, they "should" clean up, no idea if they are cracked or good, so its your gamble. Unlike the oil pressure release valve though these will have some shipping costs.

[Peter McKercher]

Do tell, Mike?

[wmcvey]

Just found this online, obviously you can only tell so much from a picture, but do these look like the real deal?

[mikeyr]

Yes, that does look like the real deal. Time for a history lesson. In mid/late 1955 Singer changed the head design and this is one of those heads. It will fit your car and all 4AD's. Notice the 3 intake holes though, that is because the head can be used as a Twin-carb OR a Single carb. There is a steel plate that goes between the intake/exhaust manifold that plugs up the unused intake holes.

Both the Singer Single or Twin carb manifold will bolt right up with the right steel plate between manifold and head. If you want to make a hot rod, you have to machine out and thread the 4 holes on either side of the outer intake ports (looks plugged up in your pics), make a custom intake manifold (and now also exhaust headers) and put on some side-draft carbs and burn rubber, at least until you break the rear axle shafts from the extra power.

(this part is a guess) I have never seen a 53 or 54 that I could confirm from the factory with that head but I have seen 55's with that head that is why i think its a 55 change in design, I think they were trying to minimize the number of parts to save money.

[wmcvey]

Yes, that does look like the real deal. Time for a history lesson. In mid/late 1955 Singer changed the head design and this is one of those heads. It will fit your car and all 4AD's. Notice the 3 intake holes though, that is because the head can be used as a Twin-carb OR a Single carb. There is a steel plate that goes between the intake/exhaust manifold that plugs up the unused intake holes.

Both the Singer Single or Twin carb manifold will bolt right up with the right steel plate between manifold and head. If you want to make a hot rod, you have to machine out and thread the 4 holes on either side of the outer intake ports (looks plugged up in your pics), make a custom intake manifold (and now also exhaust headers) and put on some side-draft carbs and burn rubber, at least until you break the rear axle shafts from the extra power.

(this part is a guess) I have never seen a 53 or 54 that I could confirm from the factory with that head but I have seen 55's with that head that is why i think its a 55 change in design, I think they were trying to minimize the number of parts to save money.

Being my motor is a single carb and I know the manifold will bolt up against this head with the plate that I currently have. My question is what about the other components that made-up the complete head assembly. Valves, rockers, cam etc. Will I still be able to use all those components from my existing setup? My valves, rockers, rocker shaft and cam have all been resurfaced, or replaced. But the parts I got with this head are all worn to one extent or another.

[mikeyr]

As far as I know, yes all the parts will fit. I am not aware of different head parts for the single vs. twin.