Ok. I know the 337 Lincoln/big Ford truck motor was only made for a few years, and I know it’s 300 pounds heavier than the typical v8 flatty…. But someone must have made performance parts for them. I can find new parts at H&H, but I’ve been searching online for vintage stuff and have come up dry. Is anyone on here stockpiling that stuff? I have one in my 50 Baby Lincoln that runs well and I’m trying to get another one that I can rebuild/hop-up and swap in. Anyone…….?
Here’s some pics anyway https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/ford-lincoln-337-flat-head-intakes.1197340/
I don't think that anyone's hoarding it; there was just damned little of it to start with. In my 40+ years of buying and selling speed equipment, I've run across very little for these engines. When it comes to vintage engines, you'll see lots for Ford flatheads, early Chevrolet sixes and, to a lesser extent, Dodge/Plymouth flathead sixes. Anything else is quite scarce. For a lot of them, Edmunds was the only manufacturer that made anything.
That is one tough road to hoe. Only in production for a few years, and only used in big trucks and big Lincolns, not exactly hot rod fare. Your best bet is H&H these days, otherwise plan on searching for old Edmunds stuff that was probably only made in quantities of a couple dozen, 70 some years ago. They do exist...
Depending on your fabrication skills, there's enough meat in the stock intake manifold to cut the top out for a four barrel. I had such an intake years ago, and whoever did it did a good enough job that if you didn't know any better, you'd think it was factory. Also, due to the design of the distributor drive, it shouldn't be that difficult to find a vintage Mallory distributor that advances in the right direction and graft the drive from a stock distributor to it.
If you get creative, looks like room to ad a carb on each end (regular ford carbs) Definitely room to add a 4v
Got out of the USN 1967. Came home to Idaho & immediately hit the only muffler/speed shop in town, which had been in business since '52, hoping to find some Chev 6 headers or a dual intake. There wasn't any Chev stuff, but he had a 3 single big port GMC intake, a Plymouth 6 Sharp head & Isky cam, a bunch of Mallorys, & on the back wall hung a pair of great big Edelbrock finned heads & a dual intake - Nicson, I think. Being 21 & not knowing anything about anything, I thought it was flathead Cad stuff. I gave $30 for the GMC, & came back a few weeks later for the Plymouth parts, $60 I think. The heads & intake hung there for a few more years until somebody pointed out they were Lincoln, so I bought them for a friend who had a '50 coupe. He said it ran too well to mess with it, so they sat in my basement until the late '80s when I subscribed to Bruce Diehl's flathead newsletter. There was an ad from a fella in NC looking for heads & intake for a '50 Ford F7 dump truck. I called him, we discussed what a fair price would be, I sent pix, & he paid $650 for them. I wonder if Mike & his dad's dump truck might still be around. Last year I sent a letter to his '80s address just for the hell of it; it was returned ...
@302GMC I got Bruce's flathead newsletter as well back then. I'll bet there are quite a few of us on here that did.
I still have every newsletter that Bruce ever sent out. I looked forward to receiving that newsletter in my mailbox. I purchased Bruce's old dragster just before he passed and it has been fully restored and probably beyond, to it's former glory. Bruce was a true flathead diehard and he is truly missed by myself and everyone that knew him.
@quickchangeV8 I saved my copies as well. It was always a good day to find the newsletter in my mailbox.
I can probably fab the carb plate to use a 4150 series Holley, I’m going to assume the intake is cast iron and I’m not confident enough in my welding ability for that. I’ll get help with that part.
I'm hoarding a bit of 337 stuff, but not tons of it. I think I have 2 or 3 sets of Edmunds intakes and heads and a set of Edelbrock heads, and a Mallory distributor I think. Between me and my son, we have about 8 337 engines. 337 stuff is rare, but it's out there if you search with persistence. I just saw on another hamb thread a Nickson intake. I hadn't heard of that before just now.
The easy way out for that time period is to find a VS 57 McCulloch and make your own brackets. I doubt they made ones for that engine. I don’t have a clue what clearance you’ve got at the front of the engine, that’ll be the hard part. Build a good clean engine, dress it with paint, etc. maybe throw some chrome in. Drop a reproduction 57 Ford F code bonnet on it. Probably have to made your own drive pulley, and size it for more boost at lower rpm’s. I did that on stock Yblock Ford, one I built specifically, and an F code clone with a VR57. Not as tough as it looks. A lot of the original McCulloch brackets were just bent steel strap, or pretty crude bend and weld. I’ve got pictures to give you some thoughts if you’re interested.
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