59A refresh / rebuild advice

What year is your truck? I would start out by making 100% sure that the block is good to build, and then go from there. Doing a lot of hot rod upgrades to a heavy truck would not be worth the money spent unless you are going to haul heavy loads. You mentioned 4X4, is it 4WD? If it is I would recommend staying close to stock and enjoy it. Ray
 
Raybee, It's a 1943 Marmon Herrington 4 wheel drive with a dump box. We have a lot of mountains/hills in my area which was one of my concerns. Atm it as 6:61 gears in it I believe. Hoping to change that to 5:14 at some point. I don't plan on hauling anything heavy. Just thought it would be cool to take to town if I needed a load of lumber or something. I also don't plan on making it a trailer queen. She's gonna get driven. Granted a 4-5 hour ride may be pushing it. She won't be the smoothest ride by and stretch.
 
Sceptre155 said:
Thanks for the feedback CSArno. I've never driven a flathead, so not sure what to expect. I read they have decent torque. Building something just to get going then maybe build another down the road with some more go like your suggesting. Forks here have way more experience driving these motors then I. Unless I come across some smoking deals I can't resist lol

How's your truck drive, can you get highway speeds? 55-60 is plenty. What gear ratio are you running?
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Sceptre155 said:
Any reason to not just use an old good head other then it adds another variable to seal the block?

I'm sure someone has tried it.
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The engine is still out of my truck. It should be done right off. My truck has a 4:27 rear and a 3 speed trans. Wont be blasting down the highway by any means but should be good to cruise around town in. Can swap rearend to a 9 inch with 3:73 pretty easy if I don't like it.
Don't think you want a head on to do a pressure test. Could hide some cracks that go from the water Jacket up to the block/head surface.
 
Sceptre155 said:
Any reason to not just use an old good head other then it adds another variable to seal the block?

I'm sure someone has tried it.
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I has seen several pressure test setups that use an original head, but it takes a lot of work to get a head usable. You would need to cut out the cylinder and valve area of the head and then do something to seal the water passages into the head. To me the test setups are two cheap for all this work! Speedways price is $250. If you own a mill and enjoy that sort of thing, might be a different issue.
 

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I hear ya JSeery, I have enough to do as it is. I was looking at that kit the other day. I couldnt tell if it comes with bolts. Not that that is a big deal.
 
For a truck I would think that changing to a better diff ratio would be a must. Then I would keep the engine near to stock. If you grab a copy of JWL's book Flathead Facts, you'll see the mods that will give you best torque increase for your buck, and torque is your friend, not hp. My choice would be stock with milled heads to give 50thou over the pistons, and later on maybe a small 4 bbl carb.
 
Bassman/NZ said:
For a truck I would think that changing to a better diff ratio would be a must. Then I would keep the engine near to stock. If you grab a copy of JWL's book Flathead Facts, you'll see the mods that will give you best torque increase for your buck, and torque is your friend, not hp. My choice would be stock with milled heads to give 50thou over the pistons, and later on maybe a small 4 bbl carb.
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Yes, but wouldn't he have to change the front Diff to match the rear where its AWD? If he wanted to use it that is..

The Ford Dealer in my town has a '37 Ford PU that's has MH all wheel drive. Its one of only two known in the country. I'm going to get a better look at it this spring. Its been completely restored. They used to have it on display in the dealership but its in storage now. Never seen it being driven in town.
 
Sceptre155 said:
I've heard of those 37's, is that don chews?
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Nope, the other one. This thread shows the truck in gray after it had been restored. It used to be the purplish one shown in the pics. There is a link for chucks trucks and Hub garage. They keep track of these old MH trucks I guess.
 
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Well my good news for the day. Tore down my 59ab some more and can't find any cracks. Pan rail looks good, valve seat area looks clear. I found one water jacket to head bolt crack, but not a big deal. Anywhere else I should look visually?
 
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