Well I posted about 6 hemi barn find about 3 months ago and we finally got the deal w****d up due to weather and schedules. While getting everything for the hemis I noticed a tarped covered engine in the corner of the barn, so I asked Jay if I could take a look at it. He was ok with that, so we took the tarp off. It was a complet flat head from a 1946 school bus, Jay pulled it himself years ago. The serial # as best as we could make it out is C-2233M. Now this serial # wasn't exactly clear, but we think that's the number. Acording to Jay it's a thicker block flathead that was built for the military, specifically for tanks to prevent them from overheating in such a confined space. Acording to Jay when the war was over there were 1,400 leftover flatheads that were leftover and found their way into dump trucks and schoolbuses. His aunt worked for some government agency and helped him get alot of this information. Jay tells me that this flathead is a rare highly sought after flat head due to it's thicker walls by the bonneville and saltflat racers. I've been checking serial #'s and searching on the web but I'm not having any luck. Can anyone help or substantiate any of this information?
Here is one site you can do some searching on ... http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_home.htm
The thick walled flathead is a story that has never been substantiated from what I've heard. There are plenty of rumors of these blocks being cast differently, (better material) but nobody really knows if it's true. My money is on urban myth. (Until some old timer from Ford tells me different. Chances are it's been subjected to all the abuse that every other flahead has seen. Until it's hot tanked and clean you'll never really know.
I think that C number is a cast number, not any sort of serial number stamping-- that general type of number is generally regarded as a foundry code, possibly date and shift or some such, but no one seems to actually know. Does this thing have a "59" cast in large characters on bellhousing?? If so, it is a postwar engine, and any special military version is highly unlikely. There are rare odd 59's with Z, X, and Y letters, all rumored to be super duper metal or thick walled, but I've never found anything more than folklore on their origins. A wartime engine would be some variant of a prewar 81A or 99 type. 99's had very thick walls. USA used flatheads generally in light vehicles closely similar to civilian model cars and trucks. Only combat vehicle use I can immediately think of is a sort of Bren carrier like British and Canadian ones, very little used by USA forces. British, Canadian, and German armies used far more flatheads in tactical type trucks and in combat vehicles. They used a mix of British 21 studs and Canadian versions of 81 and 99 types.
Bruce, once the Canadian Ford foundry got under way; the letter "C" was used in front of the block numbers. e.g. - "C59A." (or "C69A" - a '46 to '48 Canadian Merc. or Ford block) From my experience, there is/was no difference in the casting quality. As far as "thicker walled"; the "99" series is supposed to to be better; because Vern Tardel is always on the look out for them for the Bonneville LSR. A couple of years ago, I attended an auction at one of the Canadian military bases that was selling off military Bren Gun Carriers - the local farmers like them for dragging things around on the farm - along with a lot of spare parts. (engines included) Sadly they had not been stored under cover, so the rust and cracks had taken its toll. Water down carb. openings rendered the 12 I was able to check; absolutely useless. When you have temps. that drop to -35; that water freezes!! (and there was a couple of "99's" in the lot)
Yes, most Canadian engine parts had the C at the beginning to indicate Canadian design or variation-but that C isn't part of that system as the number is not a part number or a model designation number. I'm pretty sure tha foundry code explanation is reasonable...on 59's, I think (though I can't prove) that those codes are mostly on post-production replacement blocks, and that 59's used in vehicle production rarely had any markings beyond the 59. USA 99's have almost no cast markings and have to be identified from minor stampings on early ones and detail ****ysis on late ones. Canadian bloacks I think often got yearly cast-in model updates, as in 99's beconing 19's and 29's to match car model, whereas USA Ford designations like the 59 stayed the same until design change significantly... I've never had a Canadian block, but I have a pretty good heap of Canadian manifolds and heads. These are absolutel beautiful castings, better surface and detail casting quality that USA equivalents or speed equipment castings. They are automotive jewelry.
A PS on a military detail: Canadian WWII engines and many of the postwar ones had 3 instead of 2 oil ports at back, part of Bren carrier cooling sustem and truck full flow filter system. I think this may also be true of USA military engines. Postwar engines, the 59's, retained a circular pad on block right where 3rd hole would be drilled. Found the designation of the USA version of the carrier: T-16. I believe these were little used by US forces. and don't know for sure what special features their engines would have had. Australian and Canadian built carriers had 24 stud Canadian engines, British had the basic '37 Ford 221 21 stud.
While these guys are discussing military apps, here's something to work on. Ford didn't place serial numbers on the flathead engines. Only place you find serial numbers is on the car frame rail and transmission half of the bellhousing. Figuring the engines would be changed out Ford avoided ***le nightmares when it was time to switch blocks. Long answer short, there is no way anyone could find the specifics you're asking for. Sorry. I love these urban legends, but it's just an old bus engine.
Your number sounds familiar to the casting on the bellhousing of a VERIFIED "99" block in a car I built. If it is numbers about 1/2 inch tall on top of the bellhousing, looks like they are part of a tag on the casting core, I bet you have a 99 block too. Check on the top intake manifold surface in the right front corner for a small (about 1/8 inch) "99" stamped there. Was stamped after machining, not cast in. The walls on 99's really are thicker, not some urban legend. Obvious to the naked eye.
But only about '39-40 99's had that little stamping...about '41-2 have to be ID'd by basic prewar design and those ridiculously thick walls--your naked eye can see that and indeed measure it through the t****zoidal water hole. A 221 block has a clearly thinner casting there--a 99 could probably go to 3 1/2" bore if the whole bore happened to be as thick as that place by the hole! Urban legend, possibly true, certainly true in some details: Early 99A and 99T engines were green, just like 221's, and really had no identifying features for the ***embly dudes...hence the tiny 99 stamp on the manifold surface. Later ones, mostly the '41-42 engines with the raised manifolds and no core plugs, were painted blue like the postwar engines, clearly IDing them on the line.
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