HOW RELIABLE was the flat 6cly. in a 1950

BILL WZOREK

BILL WZOREK

Well-known member
The Title asks the question,Also what size was it ~
( Well I guess it still may be :))
Are parts readily available ??
 
When we were kids, my Brother-in-Law and I had a '51 F-1 with a flat I-6. Even though the engine was tired and smoked and pushed oil, it always started and, for the most part, ran well, that is until one day when we blew it up...:eek: Yup, two rods right out the passenger side of the block...:mad: To your original question; they are/were good engines, especially if you take good care of them...;) which we obviously did not.:o
 
The 215 was Fords first OHV 6-cylinder for passenger cars & light trucks in 1952. I've never really heard of any major problems with the H-series 226 flathead 6. In fact, most folks that had them liked them well enough. The horse power and torque rating were not much different than the 239 V8. The flat 6 just never had the following that the V8 had though.
 
Word has it that the 6 cyl Ford flathead was designed by a group from Hudson and had allot of similarities. Fact or fiction???
 
The flathead 6 is a tough engine 226ci and the big trucks 254ci. I think. That 254 was good stock engine, a lot of torque, back in the 50-60s Walt
 
I had a 51 Ford 6 cylinder 3 speed. I was young and i out ran some V8s and ran it as hard as you can run a car. The block never cracked, It never overheated, and it never vapor locked. It always ran fine, and never blew. I traded it and do not know what happened to it.
 
Parts are a challenge for them now. Water pumps have to be scrounged or have yours rebuilt. The carbs were the Holley single-barrel and parts aren't as easy to get as for the 94. Pistons are the same as some other engine but pretty pricey. Bearings are tough to get from what I've heard. I think the worst part of them is the exhaust manifold, which frequently crack just from looking at them wrong.

I've never run one, but everyone I know who has them says they are just as powerful and perhaps a little torquier than a 239 V8.
 
Personally, I never cared for the flathead six. But opinions are like belly buttons, everybody has one. Back in the 50's we called them `Hot Water Sixes'. I have no idea how that expression came about. I have also heard that the six would beat the flathead V-8 off the line and up to a certain speed before the V-8 caught it. More low end torque maybe?
 
I had a 53 6cyl company car that I loved. Nice looking and ran like a scalded dog. I could lay rubber in all 3 forward gears. Powerful little engine.
 
I rebuilt the flathead 6 in my 1949 ford pickup. I bought the piston rings from macs auto parts and i got the bearings from advance auto parts. I happened to find a NOS rebuilt carburetor on ebay. The parts were not that hard to find and not too bad expensive. I only saw one two carburetor intake manifold on ebay for $500 and an aluminum head was $1000. So i would say speed parts are pretty much non existent.
 
Like many of us, I never liked the 6. Maybe because Henry didn't. But now that I have one in a 49 pickup (for 21 yrs) my opinion has changed. It doesn't overheat, vapor lock, always starts quickly, and blocks don't crack like V8s. It just doesn't sound as good. So I changed my mind about the 6. It's a fine engine. And back in the 50s a buddy with a 49 tudor 6 with overdrive was a feared downtown dragracer who embarrassed unsuspecting challengers. It was real fast up to the next stoplight.
 
Dick Webber said:
Like many of us, I never liked the 6. Maybe because Henry didn't. But now that I have one in a 49 pickup (for 21 yrs) my opinion has changed. It doesn't overheat, vapor lock, always starts quickly, and blocks don't crack like V8s. It just doesn't sound as good. So I changed my mind about the 6. It's a fine engine. And back in the 50s a buddy with a 49 tudor 6 with overdrive was a feared downtown dragracer who embarrassed unsuspecting challengers. It was real fast up to the next stoplight.
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I wonder if they had a lower rear?? G.M.
 
I've driven my '226 flathead six over 40,000 miles in 23 years without issue. Parts are readily available. I got all my engine overhaul parts from Kanter. The parts were all NOS US made in their original boxes. No China junk. Engine parts are also available from Egge. I am currently building a 254 for a project. I obtained all the overhaul parts fron E**y and Egge. The engine is quick, torquey and runs cool.
 

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Same rear, but better torque curve. When I was a kid it was well-known that a 49-51 six would beat a V-8 off the line.
 
My 56 F-500 w/223 & 4 speed no brownie made for the army corp of engineers was a work horse & 1/2. There was nowhere it would not go loaded or not & I had it in some pretty mountainous country.:D
 

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I have a 226 in my '49 sedan and am prepping a 254 flat six to install. I would guess the "hot water sixes" were the pre-war -G model (1941-1947) which had a galvanized sheet-metal water distribution manifold (insert) inside the block. There were certainly many trucks on the road with this engine. I drove an 1949 F-6 wrecker with the 254" six back in the Sixties that would pull anything that it would hook to. It is not as amenable to hop-up as the V-8, but was said to outrun a V-8 up to 40 MPH....Bob L
 
Around 1960 I had a '42 Ford pickup with a six in it.
Good rig. Always started, good power and I ran the holy hell out of it for 5 years.
Don't remember ever changing oil. Still ran good when I sold it to make room for kids.
 
amodel25 said:
I've driven my '226 flathead six over 40,000 miles in 23 years without issue. Parts are readily available. I got all my engine overhaul parts from Kanter. The parts were all NOS US made in their original boxes. No China junk. Engine parts are also available from Egge. I am currently building a 254 for a project. I obtained all the overhaul parts fron E**y and Egge. The engine is quick, torquey and runs cool.
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That is a sweet looking little 6!!!!!
 
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