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10-24-2021, 12:08 AM | #1 |
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So Which Flathead Do I Have?
Just picked this up now I need info...which flathead did I get?DF752513-D378-4B12-99A7-1B82CDEFEB94.jpg
72185164-EBA1-46C2-912D-0A8EDBEA43CB.jpg |
10-24-2021, 12:50 AM | #2 | |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
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Fortunateson....Because you have likely heard me say this before....you seem to have either an 8BA-type Ford, or an 8CM-type Mercury. Your pictures show NO half bell, and those numbers mean NOTHING of significance that anyone still breathing can remember. Why....because Fords and Mercs SHARE a single, COMMON block! Peripheral, bolt-on parts, in addition to crankshaft used, determine Ford or Merc heritage. DD |
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10-24-2021, 01:16 PM | #3 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
Well stated Dick!
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10-24-2021, 05:04 PM | #4 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
In addition to what V8Coopman said, many many 8BA era flatheads these days are found with a mix-and-match selection of parts from different year cars and trucks. Pictures of the whole engine, then more specific pictures of the various parts will allow us to determine what you have.
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10-24-2021, 11:33 PM | #5 | |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
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The heads are the ever popular Merc “instant improvement” bullshit. The crank is a Ford not a Merc so I know that much even though the Merc crank I was hoping to find wasn’t there. Even though I won’t be having this block Magna fluxed any time soon I did take a hard look at the decks, pan rails, and cylinders and could not see any cracks whatsoever I feel good about the purchase. It will be a backup to my backup... Came out of a ‘51 pickup but I suspect it may have been rebuilt at some point as there is virtually no ridge at the top of th cylinders. I suppose I should have simply titled this thread... “What Do These Numbers Mean?” Last edited by Fortunateson; 10-24-2021 at 11:38 PM. |
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10-24-2021, 11:36 PM | #6 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
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What would you like to know? Casting peripheral engine parts numbers? On a 1970's bmw there was a window/hole that looked down off the bellhousing to set initial timing. off the flywheel. Last edited by Tinker; 10-24-2021 at 11:50 PM. |
10-24-2021, 11:52 PM | #7 | |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
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As Denny ("tubman") .....a seriously-afflicted old Corvette "numbers-matching" kind of guy has stated in the past .....in the case of these old late model 8BA-types, nobody still living today that we have found, has any documentation referring to almost ALL of these cast-in number/letter references. It just so happens that I am also one of those sick-o, old Corvette numbers freaks that just knows that those markings once meant SOMETHING, but with these late flatties, it's just info likely lost to the wind for the duration. Also, the Merc heads are the exact opposite of "instant improvement", because they are lower compression than comparable year Ford heads! DD . |
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10-24-2021, 11:56 PM | #8 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
I agree they mean something. Like parts numbers. Henry was too cheap to include them for the fun of it. They are part of the cast, not stamped in later. Probably like the 59a casting. Nothing to tell you what block you have from what I know.
Well if you put a blower on the lower compression heads might be okay. or mill them. Last edited by Tinker; 10-25-2021 at 12:12 AM. |
10-25-2021, 12:06 AM | #9 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
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10-25-2021, 12:17 AM | #10 | |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
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I don't believe there will be too many 8BA or 8CM-type parts (1949-1953) listed in the 1928-1948 "Green Bible". DD |
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10-25-2021, 12:20 AM | #11 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
Maybe you should make one. It would sell well. Well maybe not make you rich. But it would be interesting. Maybe just a pdf to be added by a few that can be printed. Printed by me but certainly not added by me.
Write it down. I'm a decent illustrator. . Last edited by Tinker; 10-25-2021 at 12:49 AM. |
10-25-2021, 01:36 AM | #12 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
That’s why I called the Merc heads “ instant improvement” bullshit. I presume in the old days most knew the Merc engines had more horsepower so swapping heads would give the illusion of the engine be a true Merc.
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10-25-2021, 01:40 AM | #13 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
If you put truck 8rt heads on a merc, you wouldn't do much on a merc car motor, but make it slower. Merc's had a 4" crank. So putting merc heads on a regular 3 3/4 stroke isn't going to do much or anything.
You could do better milling some stock heads. There is no replacement for displacement. Last edited by Tinker; 10-25-2021 at 01:59 AM. |
10-25-2021, 02:08 AM | #14 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
You could take two identical blocks. Same heads. One is bored 40 over. The other is 120 over. The 40 over has a 4" crank and the 120 doesn't. Which one would you take?
Last edited by Tinker; 10-25-2021 at 02:56 AM. |
10-25-2021, 03:12 AM | #15 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
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10-25-2021, 03:26 AM | #16 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
I'd leave a little meat on the bone. As a driver. We all are not making drag records. But i get what you are putting down. With a good re-builder you could do a 4.25 scat crank too.
Guess is my thinking is leaving something and still going faster, it's been done.. Not sure it matters. Probably a lot of good blocks out there bored to sleeve without understand power. probably easier to get power with a bit of boost and a solid cylinder wall then a small bore difference. The real power of a flathead is in the lower end of the block. Sometimes I just want to cruise along a lake drive at 35 mph. Last edited by Tinker; 10-25-2021 at 04:08 AM. |
10-25-2021, 06:25 PM | #17 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
2C265E38-20DD-40A3-8103-059AAB9048D7.jpg
0428FCEE-270E-417F-BA1F-5117FBAC1342.jpg Contrast the pics I posted pics at beginning of this thread epics of my Merc block I posted last year. Anyone know why they did away with casting the type of block it was in the post ‘49 blocks? And I consider it a Merc block because it was bone stock, never rebuilt, had all the Merc components, and came out of a Mercury... |
10-25-2021, 06:32 PM | #18 | |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
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The only thing nice about being imperfect is the joy it brings to others.... "Silver rings, your butt! Them's washers!" "We shot our way out of that town for a dollar's worth of steel holes!" - from 'The Wild Bunch' - 1969 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NReUd2_0u0 |
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10-25-2021, 07:51 PM | #19 |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
Seems we're splitting a lot of hairs here. As there are no known differences between the Ford block and the Merc in 49-53, a Ford block could be a Merc block or a Merc block a Ford block. There is no more value to a block that came out of a Merc than a block that came out of a Ford.
They're all just 8BA blocks to me and just about everybody else . . . |
10-25-2021, 10:59 PM | #20 | |
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Re: So Which Flathead Do I Have?
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Your second statement above brings THIS comparison to mind. Thousands of Jeep Cherokees, model years around the 1998 timeframe had 318 cu. in. Dodge engines in them from the factory. So, would using your logic above arbitrarily make all those Cherokee powerplants "JEEP" engines? DD . |
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