Cylinder Heads

[Rick Allen]

Recently purchased a 63 R2 289 engine which come out of the machine shop but hadn't been assembled.

My question is concerning the cylinder heads, they're not marked in any way that I can see whether they're left or right, driver or passenger side, I'm just wondering if it matters which side of the engine they go on and if it does, is there a way to tell by numbers Etc?

[64StudebakerAvanti]

left and right are the same.

[64StudebakerAvanti]

Just anticipating, the exhaust manifolds are the same left, right as well. the passenger side should have longer studs to accommodate the heat riser.

Edited Sunday at 01:06 AM by 64StudebakerAvanti

[mfg]

On 4/25/2026 at 8:12 PM, Rick Allen said:

Recently purchased a 63 R2 289 engine which come out of the machine shop but hadn't been assembled.

My question is concerning the cylinder heads, they're not marked in any way that I can see whether they're left or right, driver or passenger side, I'm just wondering if it matters which side of the engine they go on and if it does, is there a way to tell by numbers Etc?

I’d make sure that the cylinder head casting numbers, which are located on top of the center exhaust port, are both the same….. Over the years I’ve seen a few Studebaker’s where a cylinder head has been swapped indiscriminately with another to replace a damaged original head…..which could result in a slight compression ratio difference…..If the casting numbers are the same, you’re good to go!