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Old 08-05-2020, 02:10 AM   #18
DavidG
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: southeastern Michigan
Posts: 10,070
Default Re: 21 stud flathead

Obviously the heads are post-production service parts and therefore aren't helpful in identifying the model year of the block except to suggest that when it was rebuilt it was equipped with domed-top pistons. With drain cock location you mention plus it being un
vented, all that is left is to distinguish it between a '33 and a '34, but depending on the extent of the rebuild, that may be almost impossible. I am assuming that it has cavities in the front face of the block book-ending the timing gear cover. If there are no cavities, in concert with the drain cock location you can rest assured that it is an early '33 block. Beyond that, the rebuilding process likely equipped the block with the '34+ valve guides, springs, and spring retainers and hardened exhaust valve seats were added to the block. If that's the likely situation and it has the cavities on the front face of the block, it can no longer be narrowed down between a other-than-early-'33 and a '34 block. As your stated intention is to sell it, just list it as a '33-'34 block with later heads and pistons. For 99.9% of the prospective buyers, those distinctions will be far more important than the disappearance of the means to distinguish it specifically as one or the other.

Last edited by DavidG; 08-05-2020 at 02:31 AM.
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