61 Silver

461 X Heads ?????

I have been researching the use of the 461X head for the 1961 315HP engine. I would like to confirm casting dates with the end head symbols (double hump, double hump with flat tops and rectangle symbols). The dates I am interested in are form August 1960 to August 1962. Pictures with dates for documentation would be appreciated, but all information is welcome.

Please email:

ray63@rochester.rr.com or post on forum and I will cut and paste.

Thanks for any information!
Ray

wesmigletz

Ray,

These were on our 62.









Hope this helps.

Wes

AZDoug

Pardon my ignnornace, but where does the X come in?

is that the X mark i see in the third pic on the left on the underside of the intake runner area directly under the water passage?

BTW, nice intake manifold collection.

Thanks,
Doug

wesmigletz

Doug,

I think all the early 461 castings had X on the bottom side. This carried through, at least until some point in the 63 MY. They are supposed to have slightly larger runners.

A few years ago, I had a set of 487X heads. These were big chamber heads, but had 2.02 and 1.6 valves. IIRC, they had a 72 or 73 casting date.

Wes

Re the intakes: I have a bad habit of grabbing them every time I find one at a decent price. I got the darn things stashed everywhere. I'm getting better, I used to be the same way with cylinder heads too...

61 Silver

Thanks Wess,

Is there any chance you may have a close up picture of the casting symbol? The symbol looks to be the round top symbol in the picture and I would like to confirm this? I believe that the symbol changed occurred sometime mid-1962 and your heads fall right in line.

Thanks very much for the photos and information!

Ray

Workin On 59

When researching the heads on the 400 smallblock I bought last week, I found that the 487X heads were Corvette and 487 heads were for other applications. Both are 2.02 intake valve heads. I do not know what differences there are between the two.

As for 461 and 461X, maybe it's a similar situation. I do not know.

Doug

wesmigletz

Ray,

These are the best pics I have. The engine is in the car, and I don't think I could get a decent pic if I tried. If I remember right, I was told my car was built on April 9, probably making it a fairly late car. Also, One of my heads has a different (later I think) date than the other. I didn't really pay attention to it, because the car was beat-on in it's previous life, and that sort of thing is to be expected.





Wes

61 Silver

I believe the reason for the "X" on the early 461 heads was to provide information or control of an initial casting run. Maybe someone else will provide information about the X.

Ray

devildog

Ray,

The 461x have bigger intake volume.

Go to http://users.erols.com/srweiss/tablehdc.htm neat stuff about all the heads. Those old 461-462 are still impressive performance.

Seems the x is not just a control number but better intake flow

Nothing better than a Sateen Silver 61 270 hp...I have had one for 40 years, Wes and his wife have seen it at BG

Joe

Last 62

Back in the 70's I was racing a 67 ChevyII when the information about the"X" heads came out (bigger runners). I made all the necessary changes to my car to make it a 1966 to conform to NHRA rules.

That said, the word back then was the x heads were iron casting of the alum. head for the fuel injected 283 in 1961 that was never used in production.

So if you have a set of 461x heads that would be correct for a 1961 Corvette, you have a very hard to come by part.

Jim

wesmigletz

Joe, I remember you and your car. The wife and I appreciate the hospitaity the Texas group extended to us.

BTW, I don't remember your car's heads. Did yours have the camel humps on it? IIRC, you were running low 14s at 98-99 mph.

We finally got the 327 back in the 62 and running. As long as I can keep the car in one piece, we'll be bringing it to the Corvette Forum Cruise-In next year. I have the car dialed-in fairly well, and it's an animal... looking forward to running it at Beechbend.


Wes