1941-42 Flathead teardown-progress report

[GaryU.]

Started a thread earlier this week about this "raised deck" flathead I acquired off Craigslist. Just to clarify the deck is not raised,it actually has some extra milling to give that appearance. So I thought it best to just use year of engine in new post. The car it came from was purchased new in 1940,used till approximately 1970 then parked till sold to current owner. He plans to put a mildly massaged 8BA in it and didn't need this engine. The engine started out as a 221 c.i. sleeved flathead than when reconditioned had sleeves pulled,overbore done so is now a 239 c.i. engine. After pulling heads I decided to continue teardown and have been using many tips and procedures learned through Fordbarn, Things like a pipe wrench to remove oil pump and many others have helped a novice like myself with the teardown. Yesterday I spent quite a few hours in my garage and have made some real progress. Started out by using some kerosene and brushes to clean the gunk from the valley area around valve assemblies and letting the whole mess drip into a very large pan underneath while engine was hung by lift plate. Next I lowered and tipped it onto the bell housing for access to crankshaft and rods. Was able to remove 4 connecting rod caps easily and tapped out 4 pistons that had been soaking in penetrant with not too much difficulty. Now came some tricky maneuvers to get at 3 additional caps. By loosening main bearing caps and getting timing gear out of the equation I had access to those, the last one was the easiest.the piston was so far down in cylinder the skirt was visible. So of course that is the piston that is still stuck. Will keep soaking it and the valve assemblies and hope to get more done this week. Was able to use fiber timing gear to rotate cam and most valves are free except for 2 that are in open position and stuck. Thanks again for the years of knowledge I've gained from the members and sorry if this post is a little long winded. Last thing should a rack for crank be made? Gary

[38 coupe]

I think the biggest benefit to a rack for the crank is having a steady place for the crank that keeps the crank from tipping over, rolling over, etc. Depending on how far a crank moves not much damage would occur to the crank, but it could squish something valuable (like toes, car parts, etc) on the way down.

[outlaw]

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If you have floor space you can bolt the crank up to the flywheel & stand it up on end someplace out of the way. Bill