flathead mercury EAC engine info needed

[harvest]

a friend has this old ford engine he removed today from his fathers garage who passed. the heads are marked mercury. can anyone possibly tell me what year this engine is from?
i think its stuck. he says its complete but cant turn it by hand. what year would you all think this is from and what the value of a non-running mercury flathead? how many hp? Thank you

 

[Merc Cruzer]

Based on the carburetor and the heads: 125 HP from a 53' Mercury. Based on: "he says its complete but cant turn it by hand" and the condition of the crank - $200 +/-

 

[tubman]

"EAC" is a '52 or '53 Mercury engine. They had the highest HP rating of all of the "normal" flatheads at 125 HP. (337 Lincolns and big truck engines are completely different and don't count.) To determine the exact year, check for letters and numbers stamped on the top (intake manifold) surface of the block. If they are there, there is a table somewhere that will allow you to date the engine, although it really doesn't make that much difference.. There is a chance it may not be a Mercury with a 4" stroke crank, but the color says Mercury to me and that ain't a fresh paint job.

That engine looks pretty good. It still has the carb and generator and was stored inside, which probably means it "ran when pulled". I have had very good luck with engines like this, but until you find out whether it is cracked or not, you can't really put a solid value on it. Also, trying to value this without pulling the heads is a crap-shoot.

I see "Merc Cruzer" beat me to it. I will have to say I think he is low on his value.

 

[42merc]

Looking at the carb, water pumps, red oil filter & the bell housing next to it, I say it was plugged into a truck.
Scrape a clean spot on the block, if there is lite green paint that matches the heads, it's a good chance it is a Mercury.
The motor not turning & unknown condition of the block, the only valuable part is the 4" crank.

Edit: The bell hsg is 53 truck - The water pumps are '48 - '52 truck

 

[51 MERC-CT]

From what I see it looks like possibly an 8BA truck engine with Mercury heads.
There may or may not be a date code on the rear passenger side intake manifold mounting surface.

 

[rotorwrench]

It could be a diamond in the rough or it could be a boat anchor. The prices listed previously are in the ball park for stuff that still needs a trip to the machine shop. A block that has some meat left on the cylinder walls and no cracks (will pass a pressure test) is worth a good bit. All 8BA blocks are basically the same and interchangeable. A crank that is 4-inch stroke with usable journals is also worth a good bit but it takes a lot of work to find out if one of these old hunks of cast iron is good. Tearing one down takes some special tooling to do it within a day. Rusted cylinders with stuck pistons can take a lot more time. Just getting the valves out can be a real chore on a crusty one.

 

[51504bat]

Hard to tell from the photos but it appears that the engine has wide belts. If so its a 1949 Merc unless the pumps and related pulleys were changed from narrow belts to wide belts. If the belts are narrow it has the OCM Merc pumps from '50-'51 if I'm not mistaken. In '52 or thereabouts Merc went to Ford narrow belt car pumps. Or if the pumps are wide belt it could have 8rt truck pumps. Lots of stuff got changed around in the last 70 or so years. A photo showing the front of the engine would help narrow the pump issue down but the only way to know for sure if its a true Merc is to measure the stroke. I once bought what was said to be a Merc engine without pulling a head. It had Merc narrow belt pumps, a Merc pan, and a Merc stamped steel 1/2 bell housing. When I tore it apart it has a 3 3/4 crank.

 

[harvest]

Thank you all for this helpful information

 

[skidmarks]

The bell housing alone is worth $125 to $150. Its a one year only bellhousing.

Its also got the truck intake manifold and carburetor

Easiest way to tell if it has a merc crank is roll it on its side and pull the pan off. Merc cranks usually bring $275.to $375 depending on what its been cut to.

Probably has adjustable tappets.

 

[tubman]

The bell housing alone is worth $125 to $150. Its a one year only bellhousing.

Its also got the truck intake manifold and carburetor

Easiest way to tell if it has a merc crank is roll it on its side and pull the pan off. Merc cranks usually bring $275.to $375 depending on what its been cut to.

Probably has adjustable tappets.

Out of idle curiosity, on what do you base this statement?

 

[56markII]

First thing to do is pull the heads! Check for cracks of course and perhaps a piston out of the group of 8 is bottom dead center and measure the stroke. Another thing is after determining you don't have a Humpty Dumpty riddled with cracks regardless of whether or not it's a 255 or 239, soak the valves and make sure they at least move!! I have had to deal with some in the past that were broken loose and turned over with severely seized valves resulting in the hollow non adjustable lifters being collapsed! IMHO a crack free block is worth more than worrying about a 3 3/4 or 4 inch crank. What good is a crank without a block?? As for the bell housing a 49-50 Mercury has an SAE style bell housing like a truck as well.

51 MERC-CT THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR THAT CHART!!

 

[skidmarks]

Out of idle curiosity, on what do you base this statement?

Adjustable tappets?
The majority of junk motors i have taken apart recently have had them. Could just be my luck. The rest is based on actual sales.

A flashlight and a 1/2" wrench would answer that pretty quickly.

Like the way you base the question like its a court case.

 

[harvest]

i found these numbers on the block in the area where 51merc showed a pic of. hope this helps to determine what this is engine is.

 

[Merc Cruzer]

When I bought my replacement block for my car (due to cracks in the original block), I took these pictures after I had cleaned it and before the rebuild. They were all viable once I took the intake manifold off. Hope this helps.

 

[51 MERC-CT]

i found these numbers on the block in the area where 51merc showed a pic of. hope this helps to determine what this is engine is.

What you show is not a date code as per chart.
The code will be a letter (to designate month) followed by a number (to designate day of month ) followed by a letter ( to designate year )

 

[rotorwrench]

That 1BA casting mark in Merc Cruzer's post indicates that it's a block that originally had the rotator valves and the crankshaft that a Ford-O-Matic or Merc-O-Matic torque converter could bolt up to that came along starting in 1951. These markings would have been there through the end of production in 1953 in the US.

There are a lot of characteristics to ID a Ford 8BA family block even if there is no date code. Most have date codes but not all. After a person finds out all these tidbits, it is easier to nail a manufacturing time frame within 2-years or so. Most date codes are around the right side rear of the intake deck surface. Crankshafts can be identified by measuring the width of the counterweight cheeks. Mercury 255 cranks have a 6.5-inch or so dimension across the cheeks. Ford 239 cranks are smaller.

 

[Merc Cruzer]

What you show is not a date code as per chart.
The code will be a letter (to designate month) followed by a number (to designate day of month ) followed by a letter ( to designate year )

So what I have is an undated block, interesting and good to know.

Thanks

 

[51 MERC-CT]

So what I have is an undated block, interesting and good to know.

Thanks

It's not the blocks that were dated but the date that the complete engine was assembled/tested and ready to install.

 

[Merc Cruzer]

It's not the blocks that were dated but the date that the complete engine was assembled/tested and ready to install.

Good to know. Maybe they were on a coffee break when the block went by.

 

[rotorwrench]

It's certainly correct for your 53 Merc since it has the same visual characteristics of the blocks from mid 1951 through 1953. Replacement blocks may not have been date coded. Some blocks still had hardened valve seats and some only had hardened exhaust valve seats. Late ones may have no hardened valve seats. Trucks used hardened valve seats through the end of production but cars may not have.