Hot Rods Flathead question

I just dragged home a 1952 flathead out of a ford crest line. It was a driver that the guy wanted to modernize. It has a slight dome piston and eab heads. I should have took his word that it was good to go but curiosity got the best of me. I noticed a few things in question.
1. it has a slight ridge around the cylinders but not nearly as bad as other engines I’ve had.
2. If you grab the top of the Pistons, you can physically wiggle them side to side.
3. While sweeping out the cylinder, I noticed oil being ****ed thru the rings.
4. On of the Pistons on the p*** bank has a few chips out of the radius.
5. On the same cylinder, there is a questionable spot between the valve and cylinder, it looks more like an old repair than a crack.


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Wish I could help but I'm new to this flathead world myself. Good luck hope it turns out good.

 

judging by the photos looks like a teardown and check for cracks is in order. If good time for a rebuild.

 

See that little line all around the top edge of the bore? Looks like a sleeve has been installed in that hole. Maybe it was part of the previous repair? It does sound like this engine needs a complete rebuild.

 

Carefully take engine apart making sure to mark the main bearing and connecting rod
caps so they go back in their exact same positions. Reinstall them so they don't get lost after
you remove crank and pistons. Label all nuts and bolt and do not use a tap to clean out any
threaded holes. Use a thread chaser or make one out of an old bold. Taps remove metal
You don't want that on head bolts.. Take plenty of photos along the way.
Looks like you have a good engine for a rebuild but,have the block checked for cracks
and baked clean inside. My 8BA has one sleeve installed 40 years ago. Still working fine.
Be sure to ask questions on Fordbarn if you need to know about how to rebuild a flatty.

 

I took both cylinder heads off and found that the block has multiple old repairs. This pictured is indeed an old repair. They pinned all the cracks around the coolant p***ages as well and the cylinder in the picture as well as one on the other side has been sleeved.


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I may continue tearing it down, measure the piston in question, source a single replacement and try honing and re ringing it. It’s for my A that won’t see much more than cruising the town


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It has two “8’s” stamped into the deck on the p***. Side as well.


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Can you over bore a sleeve usually? I imagine it would be based on current thickness of the sleeve


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After tearing the other side down I concluded the same. Sure seems to have been sleeved in two of the cylinders


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I'm no expert, but I would hesitate to rebore an old sleeve.
Replace old sleeve.

 

I understand where you're at and I have a similar situation. The 8ba in my truck is in pretty good shape, but has a tick that I'm sure is a valve. I know that if I go inside the engine I'm going to find more things that need to be fixed. These old engines with iron rings have accelerated cylinder wear; this can be corrected with modern parts and I believe it should be. Rather than looking at one or two cylinders to repair, check out upgrading all 8. JMHO

 

This might be stupid of me but I may clean it up and run it. It’s an in town car and if boring the sleeves are not an option, I don’t feel any of my local machine shops are flathead savy, I’ll run it till it becomes a problem and source another block. A friend has a crack free 59a that’s been machined and is ready for re ***embly, I may just run my eab until I have the funds to buy his nice 59a. I know they are slightly different as far as mounting goes. My fear is dumping money into the wrong one. This engine was a running, functioning engine and the p/o swears it didn’t use oil or smoke.


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Go until she blows love it.

 

Clean it and run it. I wouldn’t be scared. It may not have a ton of power and will probably smoke a little. But it will run. Adjust vslves and lube it all up well. Spin it a few times and have fun. I bought a valve grinding machine to do my valves and found these engines to be pretty simple. I learned a lot for sure as I bought 4-5 flatheads over the last year or so. Most seized to learn about them. I had two sent out for machine work. Some stripped and junked and some ***embled on the cheap. Peet’s aren’t cheap which is BS. Pumps, bearings etc...

 

I haven't been yelled at all day so I might as well pipe in. Old Flatheads can endure a lot of punishment mostly because they didn't make enough power to hurt themselves. Some engines left the factory with sleeves installed and loose pistons usually quit knocking when they warm up.
After a few beers the bench racers start talking about how long the Flatheads have been around and forget the SBC has been around longer.

 

dad always said oil is cheaper than a rebuild...

 

sbc been around since mid fifties . Flathead been round since 32 . . . ?

 

For sure-since 1932. SBC's are like belly ****ons-everyone has one-not so Flat Heads. I'd measure the cylinder taper cut the top ridge-pull those pistons out and if cylinders are still standard bore-not badly egg shaped- hone it out and re ring it. Lord knows enough of us did that as teens to get them back on the road.

 

I appreciate the insight but to my knowledge, sbc came out in 1955? Flatheads came out in 32


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