Many resources are available; these days there really is no excuse for buying the wrong engine. You can use books such as this one, and the Internet is loaded with sites and forums that, if you can wade through it all, contain everything and more than you ever want to know about Ford’s flattie.
This flathead V-8-60 motorcycle, available for a time from Honest Charley Speed Shop, shows the versatility of the Ford V-8.
Mud-caked maybe, but likely a rebuildable engine resides under all that dirt.
The Green Book, also known as the Bible, lists thousands of parts and specifications for the early Ford. It’s not essential, but it’s certainly a handy reference, as it provides all the factory technical specifications you need for a rebuild, including bearing tolerances, valve clearances, timing and lift, valvespring lengths, as well as closed or open pressure specs. If you can’t find a Green Book, many reprints of factory service bulletins are available.
The thousands of flathead Ford V-8s to be found include this selection at the Early Ford Store in San Dimas, California, a great source for original early Ford parts. However, you must do your research before you purchase; not all flatheads are the same.
Before you go looking for an engine to rebuild (if that’s your plan), be honest and ask yourself, “Is this something that I can tackle?” Rebuilding an engine is a lot of work; takes up a lot of space, time, and money; and requires special equipment and tools. Do you want to make that investment? And let’s face it: You’re bound to make a mistake or two. More time, more money.
Literally thousands of flathead Ford V-8s are available. The Early Ford Store, for example, in San Dimas, California, is a great source of original early Ford parts.
If you’re not restoring a car with an existing engine that you want to refurbish, you could be swapping a late-model flathead into an earlier Ford or Mercury or you could be building a hot rod that did not come from the factory with a flathead Ford V-8. Let’s assume that your project is sans engine and that you have to find something suitable.
The best option is to purchase a complete running engine that you can see and hear run. It might still need a rebuild, but you will know two things for sure: It runs and it’s complete.
If for some reason that option is not available, at least buy a complete engine with all of its ancillary parts intact. Maybe it’s an engine that you’ve known about for a long time. As a last resort, buy a basket case, but with all the parts and all coming from the same engine.
Your final option, which is okay if you’re going to build a hot rod engine, is to buy a block. But to use my schoolboy Latin: caveat emptor, which means, let the buyer beware. If you can’t see and hear it run, anything could be wrong, from a cracked block to one that has been so overbored as to be beyond repair. Well, I guess nothing is beyond repair, but at what cost?
One alternative is to buy a new old stock (NOS) French block. That gives you a nice fresh base from which to start, and a lot of the machine work that you might not be able to do at home is already done. It’s certainly an option.
The French flathead V-8 resulted from a collaboration between Ford Motor Company and the French company Mathis. Operating as Matford, the company produced the Matford Vedette, powered by a Ford V-8-60. In 1954 Ford merged its French operations with French manufacturer Simca, retaining a 15-percent share until 1958, when it sold even that. Simca continued to build V-8-60-powered cars until 1960, when Chrysler acquired it. Subsequently, production of the Vedette moved to Brazil.
Beginning in the early 1950s, full-size, 239- and 255-ci Ford flatheads were manufactured by the Ford-Simca operation for use in French military vehicles, primarily for a 4 × 4 truck known as the Simca Unic Marmon Bocquet, or Simca Unic for short. It was a tough, versatile platform built in a number of configurations, including troop transporter, fuel tanker, airfield fire truck, and even mobile communications center. It served the French military well for nearly 40 years and was decommissioned in the 1990s.
The longevity of the Unic can be credited to the robust simplicity of its Ford V-8, which the French constantly improved by combining the architecture of the 59AB block with that of the 8BA. The cylinder decks and improved water jacketing from the later 8BA were incorporated with the cast-in-place bellhousing of the earlier Ford, which incorporated provisions for an engine-speed governor and a vehicle hydraulic system. The casting quality of the French block was markedly better than that of the Ford block from which it was derived, a direct result of advances in metallurgy and foundry technology.
Block or Engine?
Unless you are Mike Herman of H&H Flatheads or another professional builder and you have a yard full of engines in various states of build from which to choose, buying just a block or partly dismantled engine is a daunting proposition, especially if you find the engine outside, uncovered, and with a head or two removed. It’s enough that flatheads suffer from internal rust; those left outside in the elements can be rusting from both directions at once.
Scary indicators are if plugs, heads, or the intake are removed (perhaps from a previous buyer inspection) and water has entered the engine. A quick visual check determines how bad the rust is. Note that even the rustiest engines can be rebuilt if the bones are good. That said, a block can look good visually, but further inspection by measuring, Magnafluxing, pressure testing, and even sonic mapping can reveal a block too far gone to bother with. That will be a major disappointment, but you will not be the first or last to purchase a block only to find that it is no good. Think what a serious racer goes through to find a good block.
The ultimate decision as to whether or not to purchase a particular flathead depends upon a careful and meticulous visual inspection, a measurement of the bore, and, most important, a first-class professional Magnaflux (see Chapter 5).
A good little 59A engine with original Edelbrock heads, Evans intake, and three 97s is probably in this old Deuce three-window. In some cases (not this one, however), an absence of plugs can indicate that water has found a home in the bores.
Here’s a good-looking candidate. It’s in an old jalopy, it’s running, and it’s the right 8BA (or in this case an EAB with 24 studs). It has the thermostat housings in the heads and the correct distributor. And it has no obvious signs of damage.
Once the head is removed, wire-brush the deck as best you can and look for cracks. This block appeared good, but it had several broken head studs. Broken studs are common and not a major issue if you take care when drilling the studs and use a good