I am assembling my '71 455 engine. I understand that the heads are interchangable from the left to right side of the engine, Is this correct? On my heads, in the center of the casting, on one there is a large "3" and on the other a large "2". Does this mean anything? And if they are the same, does that mean that the rocker assemblies are also identical? I need to assemble the rockers on the shafts, I see there is a left and right rocker arm and the push rod detents are a little off center. They go where the detents are closest to each other at each bolt hole correct? Thanks, Randy
Randy, Heads are interchangeable, but check the holes for the dipstick tube/heat riser .. unless both heads are clean and all the holes have been tapped out. Other wise, putting the head that was on the LH, on the other side, could raise an issue if the bolt holes in what was the RH head are not good for those items. Sometimes they can get pretty rusty, since they did not have anything in them for a long time. The offset in the rocker arms always goes toward the rocker shaft tower. JW
Is there not a big number 1 and a big number 2 casted in the rocker area to id which side. I do not have any 455 heads so I can't verify for sure.
Don't forget this is Mass produced. I believe the "1", "2", "3", etc. were casted in to identify the EXACT cavity of the mold the head was casted in. They were probably casting as many as 4 heads (or more) at one time, and this way they could trace a problem to the specific cavity, then either fix or block off the cavity. We do the same with injected rubber parts, standard practice. Nothing to do with which side. I could see the assembly line now looking like the freeway at rush hour (all because somebody installed the heads on the wrong side)! ou: ou: ou:
