My next flathead build

busmania

busmania

Well-known member
Hey yall. Been a while since I seemingly posted every single day but I’ve mostly just been driving and enjoying my car now that it’s close to being “done.” I have 1000 miles on it now so soon I will do a 1000 mile check up and tune and make sure everything is tight and correct.

In the meen time, I’ve gotten bored so I decided it’s time to start thinking about my next flathead build. I have two complete engines in my garage so I figured I’d start tearing into them to see if either is worth building. Started on the first one today. Here’s what I have. Are these cracks killers? There are two definate cracks between the valves and cylinders in 2 cylinders. All 8 cylinders are sleeved. Thoughts? Any ideas on year?im thinking this block is probably junk?

Cylinder sleeves are 3 1/16. Stroke 3 3/4 so nothing special.

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From the pictures posted, there are at least two valve pocket to cylinder bore cracks. That block needs to be thoroughly crack-checked (pressure test and Magnaflux) because of the possibility of other hidden cracks. Given the cost of such testing and the fact that it's a 221 block, I believe your time and money would be better used finding a better (both condition-wise and displacement) block.
 
Time to open up engine #2…….then follow Tubman’s advice on testing…..pressure test will find what you can’t see…….Mark
 
As for ID'ing engine number one, the sleeves and the fact that it looks like it would pass the pencil test, makes it an early '40's Ford. I can't see clearly if it has a "raised" (or lowered, depending how you look at it) intake. That would get you closer.
 
tubman said:
From the pictures posted, there are at least two valve pocket to cylinder bore cracks. That block needs to be thoroughly crack-checked (pressure test and Magnaflux) because of the possibility of other hidden cracks. Given the cost of such testing and the fact that it's a 221 block, I believe your time and money would be better used finding a better (both condition-wise and displacement) block.
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I'm with TubMan . . . I'd not invest in that engine. Also, tell us what you WANT out of the next engine? What are your expectations and what are you thinking of sinking into it?
 
Alright I started into number 2 last night. It looks much better. No cracks that I could see upon initial inspection. No sleeves. 3 3/16 bore that looks unbored to the naked eye (yes I know that means nothing without truly measuring but it still has the factory looking chamfer at the top of the cylinders but definitely has a healthy wear ridge from pistons) Looks like mid 40’ a block. Does not pass pencil test. Heads had AB on them and it says “59” on bell housing.

I want my next engine to be a little more powerful than my last (4” crank, dual carbs, max 1 cam) but not totally sure what I’ll do yet. I’d like a 3 carb set up, 4” crank, better springs, maybe a little bit more cam. Nothing crazy but I’d like a little more power with good street manners.


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Now yer talkin'.:D How are you doing for "part number" cracks? Every block I've had without them tested good.

P.S. Don't scrap the other block.
 
What do you mean by part number cracks?

I won’t scrap the block. I will probably give it away for free and let somebody else else make that decision. Along with all the internals. Anyone in Denver want free parts?
 
The cracks between the bolt and water holes in the middle on the block. They are harmless and common enough that some wag said they must have come with their own Ford part number.
 
I know cracks between water holes are normal. My last engine had a few. In the first block though there are cracks between cylinders and valves which I don’t like. Block 2 appears to have no cracks even between water holes but I didn’t do much cleaning of it yet. but I did run a yellow bottle torch to see if any cracks would expand and show themselves…plus it burned off some carbon that was blocking the view.
 
tubman said:
The cracks between the bolt and water holes in the middle on the block. They are harmless and common enough that some wag said they must have come with their own Ford part number.
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Took me a full day or two but now I follow. lol. I’m surprised as of now I see no part number cracks. Haha.
 
Got #2 down to just the valve train left in the block. The mains use bolts. I also see more oil holes than there were on my 40 block so I found that cool. Were these locking nuts stock or aftermarket?

Overall by naked eye this block looks great with exception to the amount of rust that fell out of it. That worries me a little but I should be able to get it to the machine shop in the next week or so to find out for sure.

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Those locking nuts are commonly known as 'Pal nuts'. I have seen a lot of them in tearing down these engines but have never used the method upon reassembly. They just don't inspire confidence in me. Can't say if Henry used them or not. Will be following your build as flathead builds interest me greatly. Thanks for posting!
 
They have to be factory. Just about every flathead I've ever torn down had them. I always use them on re-assembly.
 
They're stock factory stuff. Necessary or helpful? No. I know old Henry wasn't one to spend on stuff that he didn't think was needed, but this is one place that he and plenty of others of that era were just wrong. Properly torqued rod nuts don't come loose.
 
I wonder if that is a "remanufactured" engine. I'd look for a tag somewhere on the block. Most 8BA engine that I have torn down had the "Pal" nuts, leading me to believe that a 59 series engine with those nuts and bolts in the main caps could be the sign of a factory or reman engine.
 
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