Steve welder
Well-Known Member
taking my 48 Willys 134 flathead to the machinist ( he's 76 been doing engines awhile) I asked him why there was a letter stamped in the block deck near each cylinder hole, Two had the same letter and the other two different letters....he told me back in the day when a cylinder was bored and honed they did not hone to each specific piston and so they had pistons that were the stock bore but a few thousand's difference. The bores would be measured and they could use a specific sized piston which was identified by a letter stamped in the block
He told me that this practice was common back in the day and was used by most auto makers. Seeing that he does many older engines including a lot of flat heads he's seen this before
He looked at the head I had for this engine and felt it was never resurfaced. When I took the engine apart it had all head bolts except for four head studs. I found out that this engine was suppose to have all studs, the studs remaining were never taken out and I had some nail biting to get them out without breaking in the head
He told me today he hones each cylinder to the piston going in and it takes time but back then that wasn't the case
learning something new all the time
He told me that this practice was common back in the day and was used by most auto makers. Seeing that he does many older engines including a lot of flat heads he's seen this before
He looked at the head I had for this engine and felt it was never resurfaced. When I took the engine apart it had all head bolts except for four head studs. I found out that this engine was suppose to have all studs, the studs remaining were never taken out and I had some nail biting to get them out without breaking in the head
He told me today he hones each cylinder to the piston going in and it takes time but back then that wasn't the case
learning something new all the time
