Chasing some info on some Eddie Meyer heads that I just recently picked up, according to the Monterey web side these heads are pre WW2. They appear to be NOS I can see no evidence of them ever being used, someone has drilled the water outlets to screw thermostats in. Both heads are stamped 400 & S21, I presume the 400 means they suit a 400 lift camshaft not sure what the S21 means perhaps a production # anyone have any info would be great thanks. They have a cool old polish job, came with matching intake.
This is the intake which I found some info out from a previous post, apparently Eddie Meyer # his intakes starting at 100 meaning X101 would have been # 1 this intake is stamped X224 making it #124 of this style produced. Also has a cool old polish job makes a great set.
please - more info on 2 Buicks in background. Do I see injection or webers on one & multi carbs on another.
In looking at your chambers, I believe these are his second design - which will be after the war. It is really hard to find the original design chambers - as from what I understand, he only cast a few sets. Also, I believe the manifold you have was not produced until after the war. The early pre-war manifolds used a water-heater setup - instead of exhaust heat. I like your manifold the best (I think it is by far his best work) - I'm using the same one on my build. Here is a photo of the production numbers on the early heads that I have - have no clue as to what they mean. They definitely didn't have 525 lift cams back in the day! Below is a picture of the early combustion chamber design - notice the shape. Also, in these early designs, the area above the valves is actually canted to match/mimic the valve angle. I believe this is one of the few head designs to take that into account. These small chambers should be good for compression, but probably don't flow all that well (at least on the exhaust side). Without a dyno . . . who knows! I'm currently creating a 3D model of the chambers - so I can enlarge them a bit for larger valves and a high lift cam, but keep the original design. This will make it possible to redo the chambers on old EM heads to match the originals - yet 'tweak' them for certain performance situations. I'll post a picture later on. I might even make a 'right and left' 3D design - as the valve angles are not the same - side to side. Nice to see some other folks running early EM stuff - there are not that many of us around! Dale
Manifold Sequence Numbers: I checked my manifold today - it is numbered 'X88' (top and bottom), so the theory that he started at '100' can't be true. Anybody else have one of these manifolds - would love to know your numbers? I just took my manifold to be re-polished today - will post pictures of it when I get it back in a few weeks. Love this early EM stuff!
One of my hot rod mates has had them sitting on a shelf for 20+ years, he purchased them of a guy who went to the US in the early 80s that brought a pile of early flathead parts home, the guy scribed his initials and date 1984 into one of the carb bases on the intake and yes a great score and really cool.
Dale great information thanks, I knew the intake was post war and thanks for clearing up the # sequence up, I was just going by the Monterey web site about the heads, but going by your info on the combustion chamber design my heads must be post war as well, sure would be nice to be able to work out the number stampings on them. Thanks for the info again, I do love them I think they are one of the best designed heads and intakes to be had. Cully
Have you read the articles in Hop-Up about Eddie Meyer - where Bud talks about the original castings, how they canted the valve pockets over the valves (what I mentioned in the heads that I have), how they borrowed the money for the original castings, etc? It is this article that leads me to believe that there were very few copies of the original heads - but I have no real way of knowing (though I've had my nose to the ground for 40 years). I've attached a copy of the pages below - the details are worth reading (you'll learn a lot about the original designs). Also, there is a guy in Sparks Nevada named 'Doug Clem' - he has created a little museum for Eddie and Buy Meyer - knows a lot about their history over the years. (Bud just recently passed away). Here is a link to an article: http://www.hotrodhotline.com/bud-meyer-celebration-life#.VG1ErvnF_sk
Doug Clem talked to Bud Meyer before he passed and he didn't recollect what the letter/numbering codes actually meant - so the mystery may be 'lost' to us! I'd love to know!
Dale, thanks for posting all this great information, please post some pics of your intake when you get it back from being polished. Cully
I'll dig mine out tomorrow and give you the number. Now you have me really curious. Okay, looked at my manifold X513 , maybe indicative of a date.
By the way, isn't the LAST page of the article the coolest! To see all those logos - probably made by George Duvall - that is really cool stuff.
If Richards manifold is #513, makes you wonder how many were produced, better still how many originals are still out there, that did not end up at the scrapyard.
In the late 50's early 60's a big part of his business was Mark II Lincolns. There would always be 2 or 3 sitting outside the shop. It was pretty prestigous for the Beverly Hills folks to have an Eddie Meyer installed McColloch w/ an Eddie Meyer decal on the window. The midget had its corner usually with multiple notes from Eddie for things to be fixed by Bud.
i think the number 400 probably is the depth of the valve pocket in those heads. offy heads are numbered that way. you can measure at the top of the valve pocket and see. if that is .400" you'll have to use a cam with less lift or you'll probably bend some valves!
That is what I originally thought, but since mine are marked '525', figure that it is highly unlikely that they made valve pockets for .525 lift cams in 1940 . . . heck, they really never made .525 lift cams that you could just throw in the block. So - I'm not really sure what it meant?
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