1953 or 54 Merc Flathead engine?

W

Woody Willy

Junior Member
My friend just purchased a Flathead V8 that the previous owner, an older gentleman, could not confirm which year for sure. It is missing some parts like the flywheel/ clutch pressure assy and housing for same, along with the starter. His question is how to tell the engine and year? The block is tangerine in color, has markings on the rear upper side with the numbers "23" and "37A3" stamped into the casting. There were no heads on, so the block doesn't appear to have any cracks in the normal places and the engine crank can be rotated. The old fellow gave him a set of heads for it and is looking for other parts that he thinks went with it. Any help would be appreciated, he is located on the coast in Central Florida.
 
Which coast is he on, East or West? I'm in the Tampa Bay Area (West Coast). If the paint on the flathead is original, it's most likely not a Merc. (they were a light green color). Rotate the crank to bottom a piston, measure from the top of the piston to the top of the cylinder wall. If it's a Merc it will measure 4 inches. '53 was the last production year for U.S. Flatheads, Canadian built Fords & Mercury's used Flatheads through the '54 production.
 
Vic Piano said:
Which coast is he on, East or West? I'm in the Tampa Bay Area (West Coast). If the paint on the flathead is original, it's most likely not a Merc. (they were a light green color). Rotate the crank to bottom a piston, measure from the top of the piston to the top of the cylinder wall. If it's a Merc it will measure 4 inches. '53 was the last production year for U.S. Flatheads, Canadian built Fords & Mercury's used Flatheads through the '54 production.
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.... and the French built and cast a hybrid version of the 59 and 8BA series blocks up until 1992!
 
Vic Piano said:
Which coast is he on, East or West? I'm in the Tampa Bay Area (West Coast). If the paint on the flathead is original, it's most likely not a Merc. (they were a light green color). Rotate the crank to bottom a piston, measure from the top of the piston to the top of the cylinder wall. If it's a Merc it will measure 4 inches. '53 was the last production year for U.S. Flatheads, Canadian built Fords & Mercury's used Flatheads through the '54 production.
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Canadian built '54 Fords and '53 and '54 Meteors used flathead EAC 255 flatheads (base models with 239 EAB), but the Mercs had 256 OHV in '54. ..B.
 
Per one reference I read 1952 Merc engines could be tangerine or green.. Mine is tangerine.
Not sure about the color on 53's as I didn't look.
 
and 60 year old engines could be repainted to any color, blocks, cranks and other parts cold be exchange between 1948 (trucks) and 1954 (Canada) and other dates in Australia, South Africa, France and who else knows where.
In other words there is no proof perfect way of determining what year flathead it or any other , 48 and later engine is.
 
The date code on the right rear of an 8BA type block is as close as it gets and that's only if the stampings were done (not all were) and are still ledgible after 60 or more years. All the FoMoCo blocks were basically the same in that time frame unless they were still casting replacements for the earlier 59A block for a period of that time.
 
Ford Canada blocks had the second vertical oil port already drilled and tapped for full-flow filter option, and did not reduce the number of intake bolts in the C8BA or the C1BA block as did the US blocks. ..B.
 
Barlea said:
Ford Canada blocks had the second vertical oil port already drilled and tapped for full-flow filter option, and did not reduce the number of intake bolts in the C8BA or the C1BA block as did the US blocks. ..B.
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Do you have a reference for the US v CA heads being different from 1948 ubtil production ceased - I have not ran into a problem with the use of Canadian heads on US engines - Just looking to beware of the difference when grazing swap meet and such

Thanks
Dick C.
 
Hi I have a 53 Merc. engine. The head #s are (J23 3 )& (J21 3). That makes it Oct. 23, and Oct. 21, 1953. The original color on the block and heads is green. I don't know about tangerine.
 
Woody Willy said:
My friend just purchased a Flathead V8 that the previous owner, an older gentleman, could not confirm which year for sure. It is missing some parts like the flywheel/ clutch pressure assy and housing for same, along with the starter. His question is how to tell the engine and year? The block is tangerine in color, has markings on the rear upper side with the numbers "23" and "37A3" stamped into the casting. There were no heads on, so the block doesn't appear to have any cracks in the normal places and the engine crank can be rotated. The old fellow gave him a set of heads for it and is looking for other parts that he thinks went with it. Any help would be appreciated, he is located on the coast in Central Florida.
Click to expand...

See VanPelts web site Flathead specifications. You can Google it. It does say that it could be green or tangerine. Jim.T.
 
If you are taking it apart, mine had the year on the back side of the bearing inserts. Must have been original bearings. May be yours are also.
 
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