MTFCA Forum

I decided to remove the old, rattle can paint from my open valve motor and found some curious numbers stamped on the drivers side of the cylinder head. I know the head looks like it has a pink hue, but the sun was coming indirectly into my pole barn and gave it an unnatural color. The indirect light also revealed the mystery numbers. They are stamped upside down, almost above the water inlet, and there is a space between the first four numbers (7404) and the last, which is a 2 (I know it looks like a 3, but under a loop it's a 2). I've also checked to be sure there wasn't a faint number in the space between but there isn't. Does anyone else know what the numbers represent, or have you seen them on other early motors? My engine block is stamped 158XX and was cast in early February, 1910. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Bruces book s kinda foggy on the number between Oct 1911 thru December 1912, no day break down. That number would be Oct 1911(start of the 12's) so maybe at one time the block number was stamped on the head so it wouldn't get mixed up with others in a shop. Then at some point at a later date it got put on your engine.

Is there a date on the head at the center bolt hole?

Keith, there are no other numbers stamped on the head anywhere. Mark, I assume you're thinking that small number is actually 74,042, meaning the head came off of an Oct. or later 1911; but I didn't think Ford stamped both the cylinder head and the block with the same number. And why stamp it upside down? Also, does anyone know if the 1909/10 cylinder heads were the same as the 1911/12 heads? If not, what were the differing factors?

For what it's worth, when I worked for and engine machining company back in the 80's we would typically stamp the heads and other parts with a code that showed the amount machined from the part. This would let the next shop or us, if the parts ever came back, know how much material was already gone and how much more we might be able to take off. I don't recall the format "code" that was used as as it has been many years. Looking at how sharp these stamped numbers are and where they are located makes them suspicious as far as production dates or other information applied at the factory. On a 100+ year old engine it would be very possible that it was rebuilt at least once in it's life and had the machined surfaces machined during that rebuild.

I was suggesting that maybe the engine that the head went to in the first place was repaired at some time and the shop that did the work stamped that engine number on the head so it wouldn't get mixed up. But after 108 years, who knows. I do not recall ever reading anything that suggested that the engine number in the Model T era was stamped on any other parts besides the block. I am far from an expert in early T's.