I bought this v8 60 today from a local yard. It had been sitting in a small shed for quite some time. When I tipped it on its side I saw the stainless panels that had been welded on to the block. Both sides are the same and seem to be very well done. Was this a kit, or a fix for something, or??
To be fair I've never seen one in person either. I've just seen information/photos here and there. Cool find either way
I have one in the garage, waiting for me to finish up a '30 ' s slab side, rail job midget. Full Offy equipping with the bell cut off. Should be a hoot when done.
Tin side 60's were made 1937 through early 1939. The sides were stainless. I have never yet heard an explanation of how the factory was able to weld stainless to cast iron.
I seem to remember an earlier thread about this that said Ford had patented the process and the thread provided a link to the patent. Some looking should find it.
The early 1937 blocks had stainless steel sides as apparently Ford had production problems with casting the block. The late 1937 - 1939 blocks had cast sides. Only the early 1937 blocks had the stainless steel sides. - Daniel
I posted the welding patent on here a while back. Too tired to search it out again right now! Sort of like the Model A gas tank, it was a highly automated and precise job.
The welding machine that Bruce alludes to was patented by Ford in 1936 with the application being applied for in 1934. I did some research and it looks like it was a modernization of the welders that had been used previously for purely sheet metal where rollers ran over the joint and formed the electrodes and resistance welding as they moved along the seam. This wouldn't work for an engine block and thin sheet as the difference in material thickness caused extreme warping. The new invention did numerous location spot welding (72 electrodes) at one time to hold the plate flat in many places and then the engine block was moved half the diameter of the last weld to create overlapping spots. The procedure was repeated until a continuous weld was formed. It is quite an interesting read and pretty advanced for 1934. They also claim in the patent that it was done to reduce the weight of the engine block. So while there are many way to weld Stainless to Iron (as I had posted , but then deleted as it was wrong for this discussion) this was a pretty wild way to do it. I think it was abandoned because of cost compared to a slightly heavier single casting block. I would never consider removing the plate and trying to replicate this!
Might be what the book says, but there is one of our midgets in the JB museum with a mid year '38 tin side block in it.
It took Ford a while to get up the nerve to try it! The 60 was actually introduced for sale in England and Europe only in late 1935...the first blocks, only a few hundred sold I think, were bizarre. FOUR exhaust ports, with intake and exhaust valve locations reversed to suit that, FOUR main bearings, but conventional iron sided block. I actually saw one of these early blocks in a French junkyard a long time ago. I really did nor believe my eyes until 30 years later when I found some documentation on the thing. After a few months of production, that thing disappeared and was replaced with the normal block, sold in England for about a year before it was offered in the USA. There was at least one odd bit of fallout from the whacko early block...if you look in some 1930's Motors type manuals you will see in the spec sheets that the 60 had an electric fuel pump, something never actually seen here! The electric pumps were just used with those few hundred oddballs. Then after a few thousand of the normal types were sold in Europe, the thing was brought over here, pretty much a mistake except for midget racers!
Stainless is actually great for welding to regular steel. Ever notice old machinery with stainless patches all over the buckets and worn out joints? An old timer told that. For what it's worth. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
High nickel rods. http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/consumables/nickel-alloys/Pages/tech-rod-nickel-stick.aspx
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