I just came across the deal of the century, i think. I got a 1937 chevy coupe which was buried under ivy and a flathead motor with elco twin heads, both in good condition. about how much do those heads go for?
Valuable if you can get them off the block. Most aluminum heads bond to the block after too many neglected years. Love to hear how it turns out. I've seen a couple pairs of rare heads chiseled off blocks in pieces to reuse the engine.
Cut the block down and fly cut the remaining metal off of the heads until you start to see aluminum. If you are serious about saving those heads that is. Hell, maybe you will get lucky and they will just fall right off!
worth as much as some one gives you,and there condition. If you got the deal of the century ,, I take it that means yo have them ,,so why not use them ?
The last set of Repop Eleco twin plug heads I saw were at the Turlock swap meet in 2006, and they were going for $1900, but they were brand new. The issue is not with the heads, but with the ignition system to fire all those 16 plugs..... this is where the real money is............if you have that setup with the motor along with the heads................and everything is good condition................you could easily double your original investment or more.
Here is a picture of the Elco heads on Ken Fuhrman's Model A roadster. He built the car back in the 40's and is still driving it. That is one sweet engine and the car that goes with it.
Set the whole engine in a barrel of diesel for a month. Then carfully undo all the bolts and turn the crank over by hand. You might get lucky and the diesel in the cylinders will push the heads off without damaging them.
I thought the same thing at first, but read it again...37 Chevy AND a flathead Ford with Eelco heads.
i have seen a couple ways around the big 16 plug distributor. the first was a modified 8BA timing cover that had allowed the stock distributor to run as well as a second 59AB crab style distributor to run off the front. not exactly space saving, but it seemed to work. the second set-up i have seen looked awesome, but looked like a ridiculous amount of work. it was an early diving bell/ princess leah style distributor that had been gutted and geared inside and had a plate so it stuck out from the block. where the stock caps went on either side, the owner had made flanges and bolted on 2 crab style distributors. one ran the standard direction and the other went backwards (i think). it was the biggest and baddest set up i have seen, but i don't want to know what he had to do internally to make it work. i will see if i can post pics later. -drZ
My friend Shaun's engine (copper one above with front draft blower) has a Nash set up to work with the 8BA timing cover/cam.
Here is Bert Letner's Deuce roadster with Eelco Twin heads on this V8. This is his original Deuce restored some years back. Bert also race his famous Eelco Twin T roadster back then too. Gaters -
Nash Twin fire eight was the ignition of choice. I like that set up with the 8ba front cover. Mine is on an angle drive and is proving to be a pain in the *** as I am struggling to get a fan on the engine... Good score BTW, hope you can save them.
I saw a roadster at last years hollywood hotrods open house with elco heads...I thought the thing looked awesome...I belive troy was building it at the time and thought it was very cool. he also had on that roadster some kind of a dummy generator of some sort that was actually being powerd by an alternator mounted in the frame...preety cool stuff....I dont know if anyone here knows what im talking about or would like to elaborate on that....a set of elco heads would be awesome.....im just thinking that a magneto with 16 points must be a little hard to come by! even if you manage to evenn find a set of elco twin heads. <table style="width:auto;"><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From iphone</td></tr></table> <table style="width:auto;"><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From iphone</td></tr></table> <table style="width:auto;"><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From iphone</td></tr></table>
I actually laid my hands on a set yesterday, here in sweden OK these are all Made in Sweden patterned from a NOS unmachined Elco Twin set. These heads was produces by two brothers (twins actually), some years ago, then the guy that had did the casting company went belly up. After nagging them for some years i got the chance to buy the last set. Anyway now i can start working on my German built 29GT flathead, the have a Bosch dizzy in the back. And a will add a Lucas dizzy in the"normal" position. I think I have the ignition problem solved, since i will start with an German Built 29GT engine, that has one Bosch distributor in the rear. And I'm currently running the 29Gt cam cover on my 59AB with a Lucas dizzy mounted on it, so it should be a bolt on for the 29GT engine. The 29GT More pics of the 29GT here http://www.brandow.eu/div/29GT/index.html The 59AB with Lucas Distributor. Four lobes ;-) German camcover. Ive been planning this for some years now And Im a happy guy ;D PS: I have also an 29GT Aluminum oilpan.
Thats a good idea! So Lars , no more ELCO heads for sale in Sweden? I have G29T engines and Lucas distributors!!! Michael
same here... interesting way to tidy up an engine bay... i'd like to know where that flex shaft is driven from
I'm surprised that no has mentioned that Don Orosco is repopping these heads and has some Nash twin 8 distributors in stock also. his ads are in Hemmings every month
if you look at the middle picture of the three you will see something that looks like an old generator/alternator or whatever that is on the engine....then theres a cable that starts there and runs all the way to the alternator on the 3rd pic. i dont know exactly what that is on the engine that this alternator is driving but sure is cool.
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