Engine numbers

[Kb65]

Hi, I'm new on this forum and was hoping someone could help me to identify my engine. On the manifold surface I believe the numbers/letters are G26M (pic1) and on the bell housing A1906?, can't see the last one clearly... and I have only this photo available right now. Is it enough for an identification?
Thanks

 

[deuce lover]

Numbers most likely don't mean much but your engine is 1949-53 era.

 

[rotorwrench]

The one on the manifold is a date code. Ford didn't put numbers on engines to track them. The numbers were only put on the vehicle frames and sometimes on body tags for the later 8BA family or vehicles.Here is a link. http://myflatheadford.com/5988-2/

 

[Kb65]

Thanks, so it means the engine or at least the block is manufactured on the 26 of Jan 1950. Is there anyway, without open It up, to find out if its a ford or merc?

 

[19Fordy]

Pretty hard to tell unless you remove one head and check stroke. Even then, it could be a Ford 8BA block with a Merc crank. Does the distributor have a Ford or Merc part number? It looks like some of the green paint has worn away and a bronze color paint is underneath. That bronze color was for Fords, I believe. Water pumps are wide belt, but they might be 8RT truck pumps. To be honest, tearing it apart won't give you definite confirmation it's a Merc.

 

[tubman]

Measuring the stroke will tell you if it's a Merc crank. For all practical purposes, everything else is the same. If you have the original bypass oil filter, I have found that the inlet fitting with the bypass is "squarish" on the Ford engines I have had and "roundish" on the Mercuries. This may be a year to year or manufacturing plant difference as well; it's just something I've noticed.

 

[Kb65]

Thanks guys. does the marking on the bell housing mean anything?

 

[rotorwrench]

It has no known meaning now. It may have had some meaning during manufacture processes but there is no known explanation for most casting numbers that I'm aware of.