1173s on Ebay

[Tom Kochtanek]

Set of small port heads on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250503502706&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

What are these? New numbers for me. Note the "379" casting in the underside. I forgot if the 1147s had this "379" or not...

Cheers,
TomK

 

[oldskydog]

Tom,
I believe the 1173 heads were 320/335 hp heads before the 1147 came out in March of 60. All of the 1173's I've seen (which is very few) were Jan/Feb 60 castings. Note the smaller valve guide bosses for the high perf dual springs like the 1147s used, but without the bigger valves. I also believe that the 738 heads may have been the early version of the 320/335 hp heads as the factory drawing shows them to also have the smaller guide bosses for the dual springs and the drawing date is 11-59. Before that, I think the HP heads were 379 castings with dual springs and better valves.

 

[oldskydog]

So who bought these, speak up......TomK?

 

[gearhead409]

i would like to know just what GM had in mind with this head. i have a 335hp engine with one of these heads. the 3781173 has the 78 stamped not cast. the other head is a 3758379. engine build date march 29th 1960. i have not had this engine apart but i bet the casting is identical to the 379.

 

[PAINTJOHN1]

This E-Bay seller MomsPops always seem to come up with rare items.I've bought from him a couple of times as well.I cannot understand where and how he able to get all the good items that he sells.He always seems to have "W" items and hard to find performance stuff that no one else has. John.

 

[petepedlar]

I bought a 348 block from Mom&Pops about a year ago. I drove down to get the block and met him. He has a ton of stuff. He said that most of the W engines & parts had come from an old friend of his that was in an old folks home. His old buddy had been collecting the stuff for years. He didn't have any 409 stuff..... at least none he was showing me..... but he had a an school bus full of 348 engines. They were lined up along each side of the bus. Some 4 barrel and some tripower engines all complete and most looked like they could be runners. I got a tour of one other small building but there was more he wasn't letting me into.

I tried to buy a couple of things..... asked him for prices on a couple of engines..... he has a complete 427 there that I would have liked to have purchased but he wouldn't give me a price. He told me that it would all go on Ebay eventually and he felt that was the only way to be sure he got a fair price for things.

Dave

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Sounds familiar....

There is a local retired machine shop guy here in my zip code that has been collecting SBC and BBC engines for years. He used to do the tractor pull thing, has a ton of trophies from over the years. He has shelves and shelves of blocks, parts, you name it. He also has a few school buses full of parts, you can't even walk down the center aisle. He doesn't have any "W" parts any more (I got 'em!) except for a mint set of valve covers that I purchased a few years back but we could never find them... He's good for them, I don't doubt that some day he'll call me when he stumbles on them .

That said, I fess up and tell you that I was the one who purchased the 1173s from MomPops or whatever he goes by. Seems like a good guy, did a good job of packaging and communicating. I just took the heads to the shop last night, to be dismantled and cleaned up. Will try to post my findings when I get 'em back. Cost more to ship them than it did to buy them .

I'm going with Cecil's description that they were "in between" the 379 and the 1147 castings, will see how different they are once apart and cleaned up. I have a standard bore 1960 HA block (280 horse tripower TurboGlide suffix) that they might go with. Gotta love that 348 stuff, right Cecil?

While I'm in the confessional mode, I also snatched up those parts from Michigan about 3-4 weeks back. Not much competition on the bidding, I got a pair of 348 blocks, one of which was the service replacement "962" casting (one bad hole) the other was the legendary FH casting for a 1961 tripower 350 horse build. Comes with the 1147s but not the intake and carbs. There were other parts in there as well (crank, cam, rods and pistons, all used) along with some flat pieces (timing chain cover, oil pan). The parts are sitting at my buddies' place in Ohio, waiting for me to swing by in November when I visit Mom in Cleveland for her 80th . Road trip for "W" parts, yippee!

I might have just unofficially tipped the scales, and now have more 348 blocks than 409 blocks...

Cheers,
TomK

 

[oldskydog]

There is a local retired machine shop guy here in my zip code that has been collecting SBC and BBC engines for years. He used to do the tractor pull thing, has a ton of trophies from over the years. He has shelves and shelves of blocks, parts, you name it. He also has a few school buses full of parts, you can't even walk down the center aisle. He doesn't have any "W" parts any more (I got 'em!) except for a mint set of valve covers that I purchased a few years back but we could never find them... He's good for them, I don't doubt that some day he'll call me when he stumbles on them .

That said, I fess up and tell you that I was the one who purchased the 1173s from MomPops or whatever he goes by. Seems like a good guy, did a good job of packaging and communicating. I just took the heads to the shop last night, to be dismantled and cleaned up. Will try to post my findings when I get 'em back. Cost more to ship them than it did to buy them .

I'm going with Cecil's description that they were "in between" the 379 and the 1147 castings, will see how different they are once apart and cleaned up. I have a standard bore 1960 HA block (280 horse tripower TurboGlide suffix) that they might go with. Gotta love that 348 stuff, right Cecil?

While I'm in the confessional mode, I also snatched up those parts from Michigan about 3-4 weeks back. Not much competition on the bidding, I got a pair of 348 blocks, one of which was the service replacement "962" casting (one bad hole) the other was the legendary FH casting for a 1961 tripower 350 horse build. Comes with the 1147s but not the intake and carbs. There were other parts in there as well (crank, cam, rods and pistons, all used) along with some flat pieces (timing chain cover, oil pan). The parts are sitting at my buddies' place in Ohio, waiting for me to swing by in November when I visit Mom in Cleveland for her 80th . Road trip for "W" parts, yippee!

I might have just unofficially tipped the scales, and now have more 348 blocks than 409 blocks...

Cheers,
TomK

Tom,
I suspected that you were the perp. You should have told me you wanted them and I would have quit bidding. I only wanted them for scientific and historical research.
Glad they went to someone who cares.
Let us know what you find. My theory is based mostly on the machining for the high perf dual springs which, according the parts catalogue, were use on all the heads for solid lifter engines regardless of casting number.
Nice score on the FH block and 1147's. What are the dates ?
:

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Checked out OK

Guys:

The 1173s turned out to be OK, one valve is still kinda stuck but we'll get her out (hopefully without damaging things!). No cracks! The posts were turned down for dual springs, as Cecil mentioned. Valves were the small ones you see on truck heads, etc. Looks like they will accept larger sizes, though . Didn't have my camera with me, and they still need to be steel-a-brated to clean them up, so I'll try to go back tomorrow, pick them up and compare them to 379s and 333s, then report back . Not much going on at my local machine shop, racing season is near over and no one has any money. The two guys were fighting over who'd tackle my clean up request... They even begged me to "make the call" of the Budget 409 build, but I'm a bit short at the moment, and only do things out of pocket....

Cecil the FH block isn't in my hot little hands as yet, but the head numbers are B1561 and A1361 for the 3781147s) so I'm hoping that the "011" is an late 1960 or early 1961 casting...

Dang the luck, I've been hunting for a 1961 FH block for nearly 5 years, and I settled for an FA tripower build (379 heads 280 horses) and went and built that engine for my 1961 Belair Sport Coupe. I really wanted the high horse configuration so I plopped the 1147s on top and figured that's as close as I'll ever get. Then this block/heads comes along! Who knows what kind of shape she's in though (the FH block and the 1147 heads), those are the chances one takes when purchasing sight unseen...

Must mean I have to get another 1961 full size passenger car .

Cheers!
TomK

 

[oldskydog]

Guys:

Must mean I have to get another 1961 full size passenger car.

Cheers!
TomK

I think I can help.
61 Impala 2 dr sedan original 348 3spd

 

[dq409]

This is a little off the subject but do you know why parts collectors use school buses to store parts?



No building permits or taxes to pay on buildings!!

I have a friend that had a wreaking yard and when he closed it he started to collect John Deere tractors and instead of putting up buildings that would have raised his taxes he bought buses !!!
Many of them and cut the backs off them and drove the tractors into them as garages and used some others as parts houses!!

Dry and portable,,,,