41 Flathead Help

[Tterrag67]

My family lost our patriarch, our daddy, last October. He left my sisters and I 3 classic Fords, 29 Model A Business Coupe, 41 Ford P/U with Flathead V8 and a 66 Mustang Coupe. Thanks to this site I've made great progress on the A and now I'm starting to work on the 41. He and I rebuilt the truck chassis and he had the engine rebuilt by a specialist in Flatheads. it was running good but at some point he started tinkering and now it won't fire. The last I've been able to confirm is he was trying to adjust the carb and that's when it stopped firing. It's been sitting for probably 4-5 years so I figure the carb needs to be rebuilt. Looking for ideas for checks I need to make or thoughts on where to begin.

Any help will be appreciated.

[JSeery]

Is the engine in the PU? Are you using the original fuel pump? First thing to go is establish if you are getting a spark to the plugs. Then check to see if the fuel pump is outputting fuel.

[corvette8n]

As my dad said, you need 3 things to make a flathead run, spark compression and fuel. Take things one at a time, I save compression until last.
Be systematic in checking each system.
Here's how I do it.
Pull the fuel line off of the carb, crank and check for pressure and volume, let the fuel run into a cup. Look down the carb throat and see if fuel is getting into the motor.
Check for voltage at coil, pull a plug wire and crank get it near a ground you should have a good spark.
Check compression with a gauge, flatheads can still run with pretty low compression.
Hope this helps.

[alanwoodieman]

do you know for sure the year of the engine? what is on the heads A, 59ab, 8ba? carbs usually gunk up pretty easy with bad gas, drain out any existing gas. squirt some fresh gas down the carb bowl vent tube and pump the accelerator as you do look down into the carb to see if gas is going in. idle jets should be out about 1 1/2 turns to start, check the points, they have also set for 4/5 years and most likely need a little touch up, pull some fine grit paer thru them and check for continuity across the points, next check for spark, should jump about 1/2" and be blue--lots of things to check. do you have the 40 car service book? if not get one and read up on this type systems

[A bones]

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Nothing wrong with a little prime of gas down the carb first.

However before pulling apart the fuel line, ( having the chance of gasoline splash in your work area ) do the spark check. First at the plug, if bad, then the coil and points.

With the spark being confirmed and still no life, it's time to see if the valves are sticking open.

Do a compression check. Remove all the plugs. Disconnect the coil.

Squirt Marvel Mystery Oil into the cylinders. (Actually I prefer to do this before cranking any motor that has been asleep that long. )

Tie open the throttle!
With a strong battery, have a helper crank it for you. Read the gauge while cranking. Give each cylinder ( With the gauge connected ) three or more compression strokes to get an optlmum reading. Write down the readings of each cylinder as you go.

Bad gas as alanwoodieman stated can and or will give trouble.
When dealing with disposal I am committed to saying, work outside! ( check pathway to exits, if you can't ) Have a charged extinguisher. A bag of oil dri is also handy. I hate fire.

Check back with us, with details of your search. Good Luck