1950 4 bolt heads

[Holger Metzger]

Hi pre-A experts,

I have a set of very early 1100 heads with 4 bolts for mounting the intake mainfolds. My
books and the WWW can´t help me much. Does anyone know when the heads were
exactly built? I have a parts catalouge from 1953. These heads were not pictured, but
the intakes with the commend "old style" I believe the heads were only built in 1950.

The next issue is, that some 550 have 1100 engines mounted. Does anyone have pictures
or something how I can identify? Im asking because the air intake chamber is bigger as at
other 1100 or 1500 heads I have. It is something strange.

Thanks for your answers.

[James Davies]

Hi Holger,

Yes, those look like the first 1100 heads. What's the spigot diameter (where the cylinder fits in)? I see Kolben Schmidt (KS) stamped on them, but I don't see any "101 x" mark on them. Later KS heads were marked "101 1", "101 2", etc.

The intake port looks the right size to me, but the flat area around the port is smaller and a different shape than later 1952+ heads. I suspect these heads are from 1950 or early 1951, but this is mostly an educated guess. =)

[Spencer Harris]

Holger,
The '53 parts supplement (March '53) describes the 4-stud head as "old model parts". No chassis no. references are given, so this is possibly another instance of the factory using up all the old parts before integrating the new, improved version - which could have occurred well before March of 1953.

[Vic Skirmants]

The 1100 engine used in a 550 was a 4-cam.

[Martin Benade]

What was the HP of that engine, any idea?

[Holger Metzger]

Hi guys,

thanks for your posts. I checked the spigot diameter, Its not really larger as at a standard 1100 head, but it has a better and rounder finish.
I take some pics of different heads. Were the 4 bolts necessery for mounting two single intakes? I know there was double intakes with 4 holes.

Has anyone pics of such single intakes (if they exist)

@ Vic: I saw some pics of 550´s with push rod engines, but perhaps they put a standard engine into the cars for transport?

[Vic Skirmants]

550-01 and 550-02 used 1500cc pushrod engines. As did 550-03 and 550-04. 550-04 came back to Mexico in 1954 with a 4-cam engine.