Aluminum Canadian flathead heads help needed

Anything special about these?? Have not seen them they are on a 47 ford running car. Believe they are 59ab style but maybe 8ba style. Thanks

 

They have more water capacity, and I think they were a bit higher C.R. Besides that, they look cool if you shine 'em up!

 

Yeah!

wanna set!

 

Polishing them will hold in the heat. Just an fyi.

-Brad

 

I have a pair someplace in my stuff, new in the box. As I recall they are stamped 8.0 or 8.5 which believe would indicate the compression ratio. They are 58A style. Sorry they aren't for sale for those who might ask.

 

How much heat would they hold in?
Could you measure the difference?
Can you point me to the information you have?
I have several sets of these laying around.
Most of them are corroded.

 

I'm not sure they have any more water capacity, but I wouldn't bet much on that. I base that on the fact they use stock studs, so unless the castings are significantly thinner than the cast iron heads, there's not much difference in water capacity.

Offered by Ford of Canada and copied by Weiand as cheater heads (check back of water neck). I have some pics somewhere.

Look great polished. Yes polished heads will retain slightly more heat than unpolished, or even painted, but it's negligible and if your cooling system is coming down to whether or not your heads are polished, you've got other issues to deal with.

 

I've been told that the early dirt track racers used them for weight saving so they became the hot lick.

 

Anyone have a good left alum head for 49-53 for sale.My swap meet find turned out to be cracked!

 

don't know what alloy was used, but I know cast alum. is much easier to weld up than iron/steel. should be repairable

 

I don't have specific numbers anymore. I did a story a few years ago with TCI, testing transmission pans on their trans dyno. We'd baseline the temperature in all the pans so the starting temp was the same, then we ran it for a set period of time and took the temp of the fluid after that time. We tested chrome steel, bare steel, cast aluminum, coated cast aluminum and polished aluminum. Chrome steel and polished aluminum were far and a way hotter than the others. Bare steel, cast aluminum and then the coated cast aluminum kept it colder, in that order.

Again, I don't have the numbers anymore, but after that test I will never run a chrome or polished trans pan, oil pan or differential cover. And because of that, I'd be hesitant to polish aluminum heads.
-Brad

 

Unfortunately the crack is 6 " long!

 

you'd be amazed at what I've seen done with VW heads........

 

One of my buddies made a lot of extra money back in the 70s welding up L88 aluminum BBC heads after the engines dropped a valve. Our other buddy had the machine shop to re-do the combustion chamber. They were the best option at the time. He did it on government time so it was cost effective.

He welded up my block letter Sharp heads including rebuilding some broken fins. He built them up and I carved them into shape. You can't tell they were repaired. A non-complicated 6" crack can be welded and restored pretty easily. Some times it's cheaper to find one than to pay for an expensive repair but I'd check before I lost hope.

 

As Flat Ernie stated, there are two versions of this head; the honest to God Canadian heads, and the high compression "cheater" heads that Weiand cast to look like stock heads in an effort to get them by the tech inspectors at the stock car tracks. The Weiand heads have a small "weiand" cast on the underside of the water neck. Make sure what type you have before looking for a mate.

 

Don't think Weiand made a cheater for the later flatties. I'd lay money the stock Ford alum Canadians are pretty rare in the later years as well.

 

I picked up a set awhile ago 24 stud and really no name or it doesn't say Canada or Ford It's a NOS set as far as I know .. Had planned on using it but just collecting dust now. Anyone else make them?

 

A few years ago I had a set of Canadian aluminum heads.
Out of curiosity, I taped the water neck outlet on the aluminum head closed; leveled the engine side of the head, and filled it with water. Measuring how much - in cc's - it took to fill it.

Then I took a cast iron head and did the same thing.

The difference was NEGLIGIBLE. The aluminum head took about 5 cc's more; but they were pretty corroded inside, which would explain the minor difference.

Ford Canada cast heads out of aluminum, mainly due to shortages of steel - cast iron - during the war. And Canada had a large aluminum smelter in the east.
They were NOT a huge success mainly because of the m***ive corrosion problems.
(causing leaks)
The corrosion was caused by the dissimilarity of the metals.

The aluminum heads bolted to a cast iron block, set an electrolysis action going.
(the grade of aluminum Ford used at the time was VERY sensitive to the electrolysis action)

Of course, now days the problem of electrolysis - aluminum heads on cast iron blocks - has been overcome by using different alloys of aluminum.

 

I have one good one 59AB 21 stud style. I picked a pair up, one was bad, one was perfect- go fugure! I paid 75.00 per head, and don't need it...open to offers if anyone needs a good one!

 

I have a set of 59a style heads. They were called Denver heads, too, since Denver is a mile high, they needed more squeeze to retain some power.

 

Look up Minnakers Auto Wreckers in Prince Edward County (Picton), Ontario, Canada. They will have these heads....

 

electrolysis is still a problem with dissimilar metals. modern coolant is formulated to be a non electrolyte. in the 60s when we built flathead's to run in the salt water we would hard anodize the inside of the aluminum heads.

 

I have always been under the impression that these came on trucks and that some engines had only 1 aluminum head. Even in Canada they are not very common.

 

ONE HEAD? Not normally. May have had one side replaced with a cast iron one.
(re-build shops often would do it)

ONLY TRUCKS? They were available on cars too.

UNCOMMON? Well they were only manufactured for a couple of years by Ford Canada.
Mainly because of corrosion problems.

Still considered a swap meet FIND!

 

Yeah, I missed that "little point!"

I'll ***ume we're talking about BOAT engines! Got any pictures of one in a boat??

 

So how much are these things really worth - like some 59A style heads?

 

I could be incorret. They made to my knowlege a Denver head (aluminum) for 21 stud and a Canadian 21 stud ( was told higher compression ratio because of al***ude). They also made a 21 stud (aluminum) center water neck outlet 1937/1938 Denver/Canadian head as well (59ab style). I am not sure if they made a 59ab 24 stud aluminum head. As someone else asked what the alloy was. It should be a 356 casting to eliminate porosity in the casting process. I have tested before and the ones I have were a 356 alloy, but Henery did alot of different thing back then.
Steve Glucoft
Amocat Speed Emp.

 

I have never scene one before. That is what I love about this hobby it always puts you in check. Thanks for the info.
Steve